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Why 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk Wants to Play for the Steelers

The 49ers think Aiyuk is immature and want to take him down a peg. Meanwhile, the Steelers want to build him up and have him set the standard and the culture on their team.

Grant Cohn

Dec 23, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) kicks the ball into the stands after catching a touchdown pass during the second half against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 23, 2021; Nashville, Tennessee, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) kicks the ball into the stands after catching a touchdown pass during the second half against the Tennessee Titans at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports / Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
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It's clear why Brandon Aiyuk is unhappy with the 49ers. It's unclear why he wants to play for the Steelers.

The 49ers frustrate Aiyuk because they treat him like the little brother on the team. He's not a captain, he doesn't get the same respect that Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle and Deebo Samuel get and the 49ers won't offer him $28 million per year for his contract extension. They're sticking at $26 million per year, which is below his market value.

The 49ers think Aiyuk is immature and want to take him down a peg.

Meanwhile, the Steelers want to build him up and have him set the standard and the culture on their team. Their current no. 1 wide receiver, George Pickens, refuses to block. Aiyuk is one of the best blocking wide receivers in the NFL. So he can show the Steelers offense what an All Pro plays like.

In addition, the Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, is the opposite of 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. Tomlin is a true player's coach who will make Aiyuk feel special and important. Shanahan plays favorites, and it's clear Aiyuk is not one of his favorites. Deebo Samuel is his favorite player on the team -- they're dear friends. They talk to each other every day during practice. So Samuel gets treatment and privileges and targets in big games that Aiyuk doesn't get.

It's not that the Steelers are offering so much more money than the 49ers or that their offense is better than the 49ers. They simply can offer Aiyuk the respect the 49ers never will give him.

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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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