The Pros of the 49ers Potentially Trading Brandon Aiyuk

The 49ers potentially could trade Aiyuk for a first-round pick and draft a player who's younger and cheaper than Aiyuk -- maybe a franchise cornerstone offensive tackle.

I'm not saying the 49ers definitely should trade Brandon Aiyuk. But if they do, there would be some potential benefits.

First, it certainly would help the 49ers not to have to spend roughly $26 million per season on a wide receiver who ranked 36th in targets last season. The 49ers have an extremely expensive roster and they'll need to create cap space in 2025, and not having Aiyuk's extension on the books would free up lots of space.

Aiyuk is an excellent wide receiver -- one of the top 10 in the league. He certainly deserves $26 million per season and 10 targets per game. But the 49ers give him less than 7 targets per game, because they run the ball so much and also throw to Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle. It would be hard to justify spending a ton of money on a wide receiver the 49ers use like a second option, especially in big games, such as the Super Bowl, when he was an afterthought.

The 49ers potentially could trade Aiyuk for a first-round pick and draft a player who's younger and cheaper than Aiyuk -- maybe a franchise cornerstone offensive tackle who could protect Brock Purdy for the foreseeable future. That would be a good trade.

Finally, if Aiyuk simply doesn't want to play for the 49ers anymore, it would be wise to trade him. They don't need a malcontent in their locker room. If he still harbors resentment toward Kyle Shanahan for putting him in the doghouse early in his career and not calling his number more often in the Super Bowl, it might be time to part ways.