NFL Insider Dan Graziano predicts the San Francisco 49ers will trade Brandon Aiyuk this offseason.
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00:00 This should not come as a shock to you.
00:02 The 49ers have to make a big decision on Brandon Aiyub.
00:05 This offseason, either extend his contract and give him more than $25 million a year,
00:11 which is what it likely would cost to keep him,
00:14 considering they gave Deebo Samuel almost $24 million a year,
00:18 and Brandon Aiyub is both better and younger than him.
00:20 Or trade him for a first-round pick and draft his replacement
00:25 and pay him, you know, the rookie wage scale, which is much, much, much, much cheaper.
00:30 Well, four years ago when the Niners lost the Super Bowl,
00:33 they had the same decision to make with DeForest Buckner,
00:37 and they decided to trade him.
00:39 Here's what Dan Graziano says the Niners most likely will do with Brandon Aiyub.
00:45 "The most likely way this shakes out is Aiyub ends up getting traded to a team
00:49 where he's the number one wideout and where he can get the extension he wants,
00:53 leaving the Niners to draft his replacement in the first round.
00:57 That's the cleanest way for them to address all of their needs.
01:01 I see SF extending Talanoa-Hafunga and coming to some sort of an agreement
01:05 with Kyle Juszczyk and Joy Greenlaw that keeps them both around.
01:08 That leaves the Niners to run it back with the same basic core,
01:12 some upgrades and key spots, and Aiyub cheering them on from afar."
01:17 Yeah, he'll be cheering them on after they trade him.
01:20 So it seems like they're positioning themselves to trade Aiyub,
01:23 and they're positioning, here's how they're going to sell it if and when they do it.
01:27 Well, we could keep Aiyub and lose Hafunga, Greenlaw, Juszczyk,
01:32 and not really upgrade anyway.
01:34 Or we could trade Aiyub, keep those players, find some upgrades.
01:39 It's the same thing they did when they tried to sell the trade for Redknight,
01:43 for DeForest Buckner.
01:45 Keep Buckner with his arms in, Jim Moore, you couldn't do this, you couldn't do that.
01:48 Sure, sure, but you're going to trade an elite wide receiver who's getting better,
01:53 whose best years are ahead of him, who only does everything right,
01:55 who blocks just all the little things, doesn't complain, at least publicly.
02:00 If I were a GM for another team, I'd be all over this.
02:03 Yes, I'm trading a first-round pick for Brandon Aiyub, absolutely.
02:08 He's underrated.
02:10 So, look, the Niners clearly, they're just looking for a number two or number three option
02:16 on a rookie deal that they can throw six targets a game to.
02:20 Aiyub outgrew that.
02:22 They never thought he'd be this good. Frankly, he's way better than they thought he'd ever be.
02:27 He needs to go be the number one wide receiver somewhere, and frankly,
02:29 it seems like a little resentment from the Niners fans, from the Niners side.
02:31 Like, look, man, you want to go be a number one wide receiver and make a lot of money?
02:35 Go play for the Raiders. Go enjoy last place somewhere.
02:38 We're winning championships over here, although not really, NFC championships.
02:42 If I were Aiyub, I'd want the targets and the money.
02:48 Sorry.
02:49 [Music]