Will the 49ers Keep Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk Together Long Term?

If they keep Samuel and give him an extension worth roughly $25 million, will they give Aiyuk a similar extension next year?

Grant Cohn | Apr 12, 2022

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San Francisco 49ers

If the 49ers feel hesitant to pay one wide receiver top dollar, they almost certainly won't pay two wide receivers.

Contract negotiations between Deebo Samuel and the 49ers appear to have grown contentious, because the wide receiver market has exploded beyond what the 49ers expected. Suddenly, wide receiver has leapfrogged defensive end as the second-highest-paid position after quarterback. And Samuel is coming off an All Pro season, which according to the market means he's worth roughly $30 million per season and $70 million guaranteed.

The 49ers reportedly don't want to pay Samuel more than $22 million per season and $50 million guaranteed. It's likely the two sides will meet in the middle eventually, because trading Samuel would be the dumbest, least popular move in franchise history.

But if they keep Samuel and give him an extension worth roughly $25 million, will they give Aiyuk a similar extension next year?

Remember, Aiyuk is entering his third season in the NFL, which means he'll be eligible for an extension next offseason. And as we see right now with Samuel, one elite season by a wide receiver makes him extremely expensive. And valuable.

So if the 49ers decide they're too cheap to pay two wide receivers top dollar, and they extend Samuel this season, that most likely means they'll trade Aiyuk next year if he plays too well. And from the looks of the current market, the 49ers just might be able to trade Aiyuk for a first-round pick if he makes the Pro Bowl.

You know how much the 49ers love draft picks.

Published Apr 12, 2022

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.