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Is the 49ers' Contract Offer to Brandon Aiyuk an Insult?

Let's compare him to Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle.

Grant Cohn

Jan 16, 2022; Arlington, Texas, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) in action during the NFC Wild Card playoff football game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 16, 2022; Arlington, Texas, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) in action during the NFC Wild Card playoff football game against the Dallas Cowboys at AT&T Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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Brandon Aiyuk is personally offended that the 49ers reportedly have offered him "only" $26 million per season. Is their offer an insult?

You and I would love to make $26 million per year, but we're not NFL wide receivers. Their careers don't last long. They have to get what they're worth when they can. And the question is how much is Aiyuk really worth?

Let's compare him to Dolphins wide receiver Jaylen Waddle. Waddle is a former first-round pick who signed a three-year extension worth $28 million per season a couple months ago. He is Miami's no. 2 receiver and he has never been an All Pro or a Pro Bowler. In his best season, he had 1,382 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Aiyuk was a second-team All Pro this past season when he had 1,342 yards and 7 touchdowns. So he's at least as good as Waddle, which means Aiyuk is worth at least $28 million per season.

Either the 49ers think Waddle is better than Aiyuk, or they feel they can pay Aiyuk less than he's worth and there's nothing he can do about it. Either way, their offer absolutely is a slap in Aiyuk's face.

That's why I expect the 49ers ultimately to offer Aiyuk's $28 million per season eventually, perhaps in the next few weeks. It's a fair offer and he probably would accept it. It's more money than the 49ers would like to spend, but it's the going rate for quality young wide receivers in the NFL.

Pay up.

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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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