Report: 49ers Finally Extend WR Brandon Aiyuk

After a bizarre last two months of negotiations, the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk have finally agreed to a contract extension.

Oct 1, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) celebrates after the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports / Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports

There it is.

The San Francisco 49ers and All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk have agreed on a contract extension, per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network. Finally, after a bizarre last three months of negotiations, the two sides managed to lock in a deal with each other for the long term.

Aiyuk's extension is for four years worth over $120 million with $76 million guaranteed. It seems the 49ers realized that trading Aiyuk was not in their best interest. The same goes for Aiyuk. Of all the interested teams, none of them presented the best opportunity for him to flourish. Both Aiyuk and the 49ers need each other for, not only 2024 but beyond.

Aiyuk now gets to be paired with Brock Purdy for the foreseeable future, which is the best part of this. Every talented quarterback needs at least one receiver to be their go-to. Aiyuk is that guy for Purdy as he was targeted the most by him last season with 116. An investment in Aiyuk is an investment in Purdy, so the 49ers made the right choice in getting him extended.

Even if they didn't, trading him was certainly not a wise option with the regular season near. The time to trade him was before the NFL draft. That way the 49ers could've used the draft capital from trading him immediately.

Trading him now would've garnered draft capital at a time when it was useless for the 49ers. They needed an impact player in return, which is something the Pittsburgh Steelers were not willing to do. Thankfully the 49ers smartened up by keeping Aiyuk and then finally extended him.

All a trade would've done was give them a potential risk of regretting it by weakening their offense. One thing that is for sure is that they wouldn't regret retaining him by keeping the offense at its optimal form. Now all eyes will be on Aiyuk to see if he can find his groove quickly.

The last two players the 49ers extended, Deebo Samuel and Nick Bosa, had slow starts to their season due to negotiations dragging on. We'll see if Aiyuk follows the same path or if he can manage to shake that trend.