The Brandon Aiyuk trade saga finally wrapped up last week as the San Francisco 49ers inked the All-Pro wideout to a four-year extension worth $120 million. In many ways, Aiyuk staying put appeared to be the most likely outcome, but it did seem like San Francisco came pretty close to granting his trade request.
In particular, there was a lot of reporting done on three interested teams— the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, and Cleveland Browns. All three appeared to have trade packages in place for Aiyuk at one point or another but the deals, obviously, never came to fruition.
On Monday, Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer revealed the details of those trade packages.
For the Steelers, Breer reports Pittsburgh “came closest” to landing Aiyuk, The team was prepared to offer second and third-round picks but no players. Interestingly, the Steelers were also unwilling to offer Aiyuk a new contract that would have paid him more annually than T.J. Watt, superstar edge rusher of the Steel City.
On the Patriots’ front: New England was willing to fork over a 2025 secound-round pick, a 2026 third-round pick, and a player. Breer reports the 49ers asked for Kendrick Bourne, who suited up for the franchise for four seasons before heading to Foxborough. Furthermore, the Pats were willing to pay Aiyuk as much as $32 million annually.
As far as the Browns are concerned, Breer reports a deal would have looked something like a second and a third-round pick, along with Amari Cooper, for Aiyuk. It would have been complicated given the extension Cleveland gave Cooper but that was the general outline.
Aiyuk isn’t going anywhere, of course, but the finer points of potential trade packages for his talents shine a light on the trading team’s motivations and what the Niners were looking for if they did, in fact, trade Aiyuk. San Fran clearly wanted a veteran to replace Aiyuk, one who was capable of contributing to their NFC title defense efforts. The Patriots were willing to go above and beyond when it came to annual salary. The Steelers, staying true to form, were not going to overpay for Aiyuk and certainly were not going to reward him with more money than their franchise player.
An intriguing batch of what-ifs to look back upon as the season gets rolling.