SANTA CLARA — Bring on Brandon Aiyuk.
After sitting out training camp practices and the preseason, after requesting and rebuffing trade proposals, after stoically observing from the sidelines, Aiyuk is ready to join the 49ers’ on-field preparation that ideally will yield their first Lombardi Trophy in 30 years.
Three hours after they practiced yet again without him, the 49ers reached a four-year, $120 million extension with Aiyuk, a league source confirmed. NFL Network first reported the deal, which includes a $76 million guaranteed.
Aiyuk’s months-long angst is over after social media outcries, a seemingly soft trade request, and an extended “hold-in” at camp. Those are not factors as to what got him a contract extension from the 49ers.
The booming market made time and pay grades for Aiyuk’s place. Yet it was his on-field excellence that got the 49ers’ star wide receiver a much-deserved raise.
Teammates hoped for such a resolution with the Sept. 9 regular-season opener approaching, although the 49ers still have to settle left tackle Trent Williams’ contract holdout.
On Wednesday, general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan hoped Aiyuk would begin practicing as they revealed he’d been medically cleared, after citing back and neck issues kept him off the field amid his training camp “hold-in.”
“John and Kyle and the owners know what they’re doing, so hopefully they get it resolved soon and we can get this season pushing to have a great year,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said Thursday, roughly three hours before news broke of Aiyuk’s deal.
After an up-and-down start to his career as a 2020 first-round draft pick, Aiyuk led the 49ers with 1,015 yards and 1,342 yards the past two seasons, respectively. The 49ers hadn’t seen back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons from a receiver since Anquan Boldin (2013-14). Prior to that, Jerry Rice crested the 1,000-yard mark in 11 straight years (1986-96) and Terrell Owens hit it over each of his final four seasons with the 49ers (2000-03).
Now Aiyuk gets his shot this year at joining Rice and Owens as the only receivers in 49ers history with three straight 1,000-yard seasons.
The 49ers’ biggest personnel drama this offseason, at least publicly, had been Aiyuk’s status, even if an extension was the most logical route rather than trading him or coercing him to play under his fifth-year option. He was otherwise set to play out the final year of his rookie contract for $14.1 million.
“At some point you have to play,” Lynch said Wednesday without getting into specifics about the extensive contract talks. Aiyuk accepted the same deal the 49ers offered two weeks ago, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.
So, no hard feelings after a tumultuous time away from the team?
“It’s just football, right? As soon as they walk in the doors, it doesn’t matter what everyone is getting paid,” center Jake Brendel said. “We’re all football players. We’re all here to get one thing done, and that’s win games. Within the building, everyone is still on the same page as we were for however many years we’ve been here. We just want exactly what we did last season, but with just one more win.”
A week before training camp, Aiyuk’s camp went public with a trade request. Aiyuk reported to Santa Clara with his teammates but did not practice on Day 1 of training camp. Fellow offensive star Trent Williams, the 49ers’ blindside protector and offensive line anchor, did not report to camp, beginning a holdout. With Aiyuk’s deal done, the 49ers now will turn to the 36-year-old Williams, whose agent has been having under-the-radar talks with the club throughout the offseason.
Aiyuk’s standoff began as he did not attend the 49ers’ seven-week voluntary offseason program nor their mandatory minicamp in early June. He posted several cryptic posts on social media throughout the offseason, insinuating that the 49ers were not going to pay his asking price. In mid-June, he shared video of a FaceTime call (with close friend and Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels) in which he presumably said of the 49ers: “They said they don’t want me back. … I swear.”
The 49ers’ brass insisted all offseason it wants to retain Aiyuk. Lynch, entering his eighth year as general manager, said during the NFL Draft in late April that they did not entertain any trade offers for Aiyuk or fellow wide receiver Deebo Samuel.
Two weeks before the draft, Aiyuk’s agent, Ryan Williams, squashed an online rumor that Aiyuk had officially requested a trade; three months later, such a request went public. Aiyuk reportedly rebuffed potential trades to New England and Cleveland, and although one was on the table to Pittsburgh, he’s staying put.
Aiyuk thus joins an annual parade of homegrown stars who’ve been rewarded beyond their initial contracts, a club that includes tight end George Kittle, linebacker Fred Warner, wide receiver Deebo Samuel and defensive end Nick Bosa.
A slew of NFL wide receivers also scored extensions this offseason, topped by the historic pact Justin Jefferson signed with the Minnesota Vikings (four years, $140 million; $110 million guaranteed). Jefferson’s $35 million average per year surpassed Bosa by $1 million for the NFL’s highest among non-quarterbacks. Dallas’ recent deal with CeeDee Lamb also put him in that stratosphere ($34 million annually).
The NFL’s next highest-paid wide receivers: A.J. Brown (Eagles, $32 million annually), Amon-Ra St. Brown (Lions, $30 million), Tyreek Hill (Dolphins, $30 million annually), Jaylen Waddle (Dolphins; $28.3 million), Davante Adams (Raiders, $28 million), and, D.J. Moore (Bears, $27 million) and Cooper Kupp (Rams, $26.7 million).
The 49ers previously invested in their receiver corps this offseason by drafting Ricky Pearsall with their first-round pick, and by extending Jauan Jennings to two-year, $15.4 million extension during May’s organized team activities.
As quarterback Brock Purdy enters his second full season as the 49ers’ starter, he’s grateful he can continue to build chemistry with Aiyuk. Purdy becomes eligible next year for an extension that could approach $50 million annually, making him the highest-paid quarterback in the 49ers’ QB-rich history. “What he’s done for me, giving me an opportunity to come in and throw him the ball, I’ll always be thankful for that,” Purdy said earlier this summer about Aiyuk.
Two days after losing the Super Bowl to the Kansas City Chiefs in overtime, Purdy expressed regrets over not throwing more to Aiyuk, who had just three receptions for 49 yards on six targets. Aiyuk broke open across the goal line on Purdy’s final pass of overtime, which fell incomplete toward Jauan Jennings once Chiefs defender Chris Jones hurried Purdy.
Coach Kyle Shanahan acknowledged this offseason that having top-notch targets is key to Purdy’s success, stating: “It starts there with Brandon. It’s real big for Brock and his future, to make sure we have a good group for him going forward.”
Aiyuk posted multiple social media messages after the season questioning whether the 49ers would put their money where their mouths were in terms of committing to him.
When he and his teammates packed up from the 2023 season two days after the Super Bowl, Aiyuk was visibly distraught, saying he’d want to stay with the 49ers “if that’s the right move, yeah.” He then noted that “a championship” would be the driving allure.
Aiyuk has only one touchdown in nine career playoff games, but that lone score helped spark the 49ers’ comeback in the NFC Championship Game over the Detroit Lions in January, coming three snaps after he miraculously hauled in a 51-yard pass from Purdy that ricocheted off a Lions defender near the goal line.
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Samuel is making $23.9 million annually as part of the deal (three years, $71.1 million) he signed in 2022 after a failed trade request and a brief camp holdout. Samuel is due a $21 million salary next season, with a $28.6 million charge on the salary cap.
Aiyuk has appeared in 62 of 67 games since 2000. He missed four during his rookie season (two on the COVID list; the season’s opener and finales because of hamstring and ankle injuries, respectively). The only game he has missed since then was last season’s home-opening win over the Giants due to a shoulder injury.
The only healthy game he hasn’t started in the past three years was the 2021 season opener at Detroit, symbolizing Aiyuk’s place in Shanahan’s doghouse until a bye-week chat that struck a chord and got Aiyuk’s career back on track. Last December, Shanahan scoffed at that storyline and offered this rebuttal:
“It was just tied to just consistency of the game. I can’t believe how long that stuck because every three weeks I got to talk about how far he’s come since then, which I think is kind of an insult to him. So that’s why I don’t like always getting it repeated,” Shanahan said of the 2021 doghouse tag. “… I think he came to camp a little off and that’s what happened. I think he corrected that about halfway through the second game. So, it’s been really good since then.”
