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Will the 49ers Trade Brandon Aiyuk to the Browns for Amari Cooper?

It seems like Cooper fits the 49ers' salary-cap structure much better than Aiyuk does. And Cooper is a similar player.

Grant Cohn

Dec 17, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper (2) runs the ball along the sideline for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears during the fourth quarter at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 17, 2023; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper (2) runs the ball along the sideline for a touchdown against the Chicago Bears during the fourth quarter at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports / Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports
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The 49ers don't seem to want to spend more than $26 million per season on a wide receiver.

Unfortunately for the 49ers, the wide receiver market exploded this offseason and elite ones suddenly are worth more than $30 million per season. And Brandon Aiyuk was an All Pro last season, and now he wants an extension that pays him what the market says he's worth.

The 49ers could cave and give Aiyuk what he wants, or they could trade him for another wide receiver who's almost as good and much cheaper. Someone such as Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper.

Cooper also has one year left on his deal and wants an extension, but he's 30 years old so he's not worth as much as Aiyuk, who wants a three- or four-year extension. Cooper wants a two-year extension that won't pay him anywhere near $30 million per season.

It seems like Cooper fits the 49ers' salary-cap structure much better than Aiyuk does. And Cooper is a similar player. Last season he had 72 catches, averaged 17.4 yards per reception and caught 5 touchdown passes while Aiyuk had 75 catches, averaged 17.9 yards per reception and caught 7 touchdown passes.

The question is whether Aiyuk fits the Browns' salary structure. They have a ton of money invested in quarterback Deshaun Watson and might not be able to invest in a top-level wide receiver as well. It's possible they simply want to get cheaper at the position. But if they want to spend their money on a receiver in his prime, they should call the 49ers.

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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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