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Why the 49ers Took So Long to Extend Brandon Aiyuk

It almost seems like the fan base shamed the 49ers into extending Aiyuk.

Grant Cohn

Oct 23, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) is unable to make a catch against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 23, 2022; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) is unable to make a catch against the Kansas City Chiefs in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
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For four months, the 49ers refused to increase their offer to Brandon Aiyuk. So why did they suddenly change their mind at the last minute?

The 49ers seemed adamant that Aiyuk was worth no more than $26 million per season to them. That reportedly is what they offered him in April. And when he asked for more, they started listening to trade offers.

Before the 49ers ultimately caved and gave Brandon Aiyuk everything he wanted, they had trades in place with the Browns and the Patriots, deals that Aiyuk vetoed because he didn't want to play for those teams.

Then on Aug. 7, it was reported that the 49ers had a trade in place with the Steelers, a team that Aiyuk was open to playing for. But the 49ers didn't pull the trigger right away. They hesitated. And their fans were extremely upset. Trading Aiyuk to Pittsburgh for draft picks would have been an extremely unpopular move for the 49ers.

So rather than make a move that would infuriate the fan base, on Aug. 12 the 49ers finally offered Aiyuk $30 million per season. And a couple weeks later, he signed the deal.

I could be wrong, but it seems clear that the 49ers strongly believed that Aiyuk was asking for too much money and that it would be smarter to trade him than to overpay him, and they changed their mind only when the fan base reacted in anger to a trade that almost sent Aiyuk to Pittsburgh.

It almost seems like the fan base shamed the 49ers into extending Aiyuk.

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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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