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Why Brandon Aiyuk Still Hasn't Accepted the 49ers' Contract Offer

If the Steelers have offered Aiyuk roughly $27.5 million per season, then Albert Breer makes it sound as though the 49ers have offered somewhere in the realm of $27 million per season. So why can't the 49ers close the deal?

Grant Cohn

Oct 9, 2022; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) is tackled by Carolina Panthers cornerback Myles Hartsfield (38) and safety Juston Burris (31) during the second half at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 9, 2022; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) is tackled by Carolina Panthers cornerback Myles Hartsfield (38) and safety Juston Burris (31) during the second half at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports / Jim Dedmon-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk seem closer to a deal than they really are.

Aiyuk is holding out for a contract extension and has requested a trade to the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are willing to give Aiyuk the extension he wants. But on paper, the Steelers offer isn't much better than the 49ers' offer, according to Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer.

"The Steelers’ price point was less than $28 million, which put Pittsburgh right in the neighborhood the Niners were inhabiting—with Mike Tomlin’s presence there the drawing card," writes Breer. "That, in turn, pushed Aiyuk back to the table with the Niners."

If the Steelers have offered Aiyuk roughly $27.5 million per season, then Breer makes it sound as though the 49ers have offered somewhere in the realm of $27 million per season. So why can't the 49ers close the deal?

It's important to remember that the state income tax and the cost of living in California are much more expensive than those things are in Pennsylvania. So even if the 49ers were to offer Aiyuk the exact same contract that Pittsburgh has offered, Aiyuk still would be better off financially playing for the Steelers.

Which means to truly match the Steelers' offer, the 49ers would have to pay Aiyuk roughly $31 million per season. And I strongly doubt they will they'll do that.

Instead, we'll hear that they're "close" to matching Pittsburgh's offer, even though they really aren't, and that the two sides are "close" to getting a deal done, even though they clearly aren't.

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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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