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How the 49ers Have Botched Brandon Aiyuk's Contract Extension

Had the 49ers simply offered Aiyuk an extension worth $26 million per season last year, he almost certainly would have signed it and the 49ers wouldn't be in this mess.

Grant Cohn

Dec 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) rushes for the first down against Baltimore Ravens safety Geno Stone (26) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 25, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) rushes for the first down against Baltimore Ravens safety Geno Stone (26) during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports / Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers only have themselves to blame for their current contract impasse with Brandon Aiyuk.

Talks between the two sides have stalled and they're not optimistic that they'll come to an agreement on an extension, according to reports. It seems the 49ers have offered Aiyuk roughly $26 million per season and he wants closer to $30 million per season and neither side will budge.

And Aiyuk shouldn't budge. He's worth more than $26 million per season in the current wide receiver market, which has exploded. The 49ers want him to play for a discount, which he doesn't owe them.

Had the 49ers simply offered Aiyuk an extension worth $26 million per season last year, he almost certainly would have signed it and the 49ers wouldn't be in this mess. But the 49ers like to wait as long as possible before handing out extensions. That's just how they do business.

Maybe this strategy worked for them in the past, but it's costing them money now. They could have extended Nick Bosa in 2022 but waited until 2023 and his price tag went up drastically. And they just made the same mistake with Aiyuk.

The trend in the NFL is to extend quality young players as soon as possible, especially if they play lucrative positions. The Jaguars just extended Trevor Lawrence after his third season in the league. The Eagles recently extended De'Vonta Smith after his third season in the league. And the Dolphins also recently extended Jaylen Waddle after his third season in the league.

Smart teams understand that the longer they wait to extend a young wide receiver, defensive end, offensive tackle or quarterback, the more expensive he'll become.

So why wait?

The 49ers need to answer that question.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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