www.nfl.com/news/brandon-aiyuk-still-believes-it-s-likely-he-s-in-a-niners-uniform-in-2024-despite-stalled-contract-talks
Brandon Aiyuk still believes it's likely he's in a 'Niners uniform' in 2024 despite stalled contract talks
Sounds like he understands the negotiation game just fine. They told him he wasn't worth the money, he called their bluff, and now you just wait.
Not really because he's approaching this like social media is going to change the minds in the front office. It isn't.
If it won't change their minds, it also won't hurt his cause, so there's no downside.
I really don't get what he's doing that's so egregious even on social media. Yup, he's adamantly saying that he wants to get paid. He's adamantly saying the 49ers don't want to pay him what he thinks he's worth. Is any of that untrue? He skipped voluntary practices and one mini camp which isn't uncommon for players in contract disputes, even among 49ers.
He hasn't demanded a trade like Deebo did. He hasn't thrown anybody under the bus. He's said repeatedly that his ultimate goal is to remain a 49er. This is relatively mild as far as these things go.
Our fanbase is stupid and like to attack the coaching staff, players, and front office any chance they get.
Some fans take contract negotiations so personally.
That and acting like they know more than the staff that is consistently making deep playoff runs.
Our fanbase is stupid
Every fan base has stupid fans.
Thank you.
He’s honestly been pretty mild, from a diva WR standpoint. He’s just been very open about the process and that makes him a diva to a lot of fans
It's minor in the grand scheme, but there will be teams putoff by a prolonged media tour, even if he is just repeating the same things. They may not want to have to get in bed with that if there is a similar level alternative available.
Feels like there are redditors saying this every contract negotiation and it feels like I can’t remember a time it has been proven correct
Yeah. Plus, BA hasn't historically had any sort of annoying or controversial social media or broader media presence, and all the contract related social media stuff is pretty transparently a negotiation tactic.
So a team won't realistically need to worry much about his social media usage being a PR liability once they've signed him to new contract.
He only needs one 1 out of 32 who are willing to pay him what he wants, and it's highly likely there is at least 1 out there.
At this point, there aren't many teams who haven't dealt with a player who has gone through a rough and/or public contract negotiation. The 49ers certainly have before.
He is under contract for another year and also the franchise tag. Not saying the will happen but he also doesn't have crazy leverage. I think he is a great player and should stay a niner but they aren't going to give him Jefferson money, which sounds like what he wants, and is somewhere around amon-ra money. If anything, I think you could argue that ra has to do more with less playmaker but you could also argue that the lions OL is significantly better and gives the QB more time to allow ra to get open while aiyuk has to get open faster.
Reports are that he isn't asking for Jefferson money. He's asking for St. Brown money.
I think the argument is that with Aiyuk's efficiency stats, he's as good as ASRB if he were given similar targets. If the 49ers don't value him like that, they could always trade him.
The point if contention in this argument is that it’s an unknown. He’s not worth Amon-Ra money based on his current role in their offense. Note that he might be capable of it, but they can draft a WR (like they did) to do what they’re asking him to do
"If the 49ers don't value him like that they could always trade him."
Except, given reports that they're asking for more than a first for him in a trade, I think they do think he's capable of living up to an ARSB level contract.
It's not that the 49ers don't think Aiyuk is worth ARSB money. They just don't like that ARSB money is $30M/year. They chose to let others set the market for Aiyuk by delaying rather than setting it themselves and got surprised Pikachu face when the market was set higher than they wanted. Tough titties.
The one additional leverage a player has with his current team is to encourage the fan base to pressure the team to keep "their guys." I don't see any problem with that, especially if you would actually prefer to stay.
I'm not one of the vocal "I hate what this guy, just trade him!" types, but I can say that without a doubt Aiyuk ranting on social media is not encouraging the fanbase to pressure the team to sign him. If anything it's having the opposite effect.
It's not going to affect anything, it will create some media chatter but ultimately its Aiyuk's agent vs Paraag. Everything else is background noise.
It worked for the Lakers and they are a top tier organization, or something,
if he enters the season unsigned you can bet it will really fast if the offense isn't looking great.
I like BA, but if they are offering $26 million to play on a team with a chance to go to the Super Bowl, I'd rather have that than $30 million on a team with nearly no shot. You are still making bank and you get to win.
I mean if he likes money he has to play this year.
And next year, and possibly the following year.
The franchise tag, or the threat of it, wasn't intended to be used as contract leverage to coerce players into taking lesser deals. Yet, here we are.
I assumed that’s what it was for. What else would it be for?
It was supposed to be a way to work out a long term deal with a franchise player.
Tag is a guaranteed $22 million for his 1st year, then closer to $30 million and they tag him again. Him playing 2 years on the tag would be around what his signing bonus would have been if he had signed a long term deal instead of being on the tag.
But without the long term security and without the multiple years of guaranteed money.
Yea, one injury away from losing that
that's his gamble to take. The 49ers have cap issues next year, it's going to be difficult for them to franchise him without making some other big moves to get under.
If the Cap goes up 20mil for 2025, they'll still be 24mil over the cap, and Aiyuk's franchise adds another 20mil instantly when done, so 44mil over before draft picks or re-signing anyone.
Feels like they either get him signed or trade him.
there was another recent post about this where someone broke down the 49ers cap flexibility, but the tl;dr was that the niners can get a ton of cap space next season with post june 1st cuts, salary conversions, and a potential trent williams retirement. so the idea that aiyuk can’t be tagged is not really true
it doesn't sound like trent will be retiring anytime soon, and that is good for us bc he is are only elite OL.
Tag and trade.
Raise rookie salary by 20%, cut the contract length to 2 years, have the option for a 3rd and 4th year that are
3rd: the average salary of the top 30 players at the position
4th: the average salary of the top 10 players at the position
And then axe the franchise tag
Superstars taken first round will not have the threat of the tag, be looking at an extension a year earlier, and make way more on their rookie contract
Teams won't have to pay big guarenteed money to failed rookies for 4 years to help reduce the risk of bad draft picks, so losing the value of the rookie contract hurts less
Bad draft picks lose out, but they're still making a lot of money to crack into the league for a year or 2
Personally, I don't even think it needs to go that far, though I do like the idea of raising rookie contracts by 20% across the board.
I think they should just remove one year across all rookie contracts. Make them three years with a year four option for first rounders. Teams know what they have in a player after three years. They certainly don't wait four full years to get rid of a player if they think he's a bust. This also reduces the value of picks by 20-25%, and will encourage more trades, bringing more excitement and more content to the league. It won't hurt the bad players much as they'll be compensated by that 20% raise you talked about.
I'd prefer to get rid of the franchise tag, but even if they just reformed it, it would be a massive improvement. Ban it's use against players on rookie contracts, and ban teams from being able to trade players on the franchise tag. Those two tweeks would eliminate almost all of the ways the tag is abused.
Yup... and If he doesn't like it, he shouldn't be blaming the 9ers... He should call his union rep
Has he blamed the 49ers? Or are people just mad at him for not succumbing quietly to the 49ers using the threat of the franchise tag as contract leverage?
When did he blame the 49ers?
Not sure if you're genuinely asking but yes, he has. On social media a few times for instance, he had a chat with Jayden Daniels saying the 9ers didn't want him back, another quote basically saying I'd you can't afford me you can't have me.
He's very much directly stated that he's willing to negotiate and stay but the 9ers aren't giving him what he wants.
That's not blaming the 49ers for the threat of the tag being used as leverage against him. He's simply stating that he's not being offered what he thinks he's worth from the 49ers.
Well have the 49ers actually threatened the franchise tag, or is that just assumed? Seems both sides are implying a lot
Right... I don't think anyone has reported that... But it is obviously something I'm sure he's thinking about. I don't think BA is going to be happy how this is going to play out. I expect th 9ers are going to force him to play on his last year or sit out
He’s valuable. I know Deebo has some great gadget play, but Aiyuk has been a great deep threat receiver. Our backfield is also stacked between CMC and Juice when it comes to plays starting behind the line.
I’ve said it before but Deebo’s injury history is def a consideration. I can see us moving on from Deebo next season, but right now I can also see this all resulting in a delayed extension for Aiyuk.
It’s insane to me how people can sour on him or want him gone because of all the chatter. Aiyuk is a top 10 receiver and has plenty of reason to want a massive extension.
You really think he's top 10? Genuinely asking, I didn't watch a lot of 49ers last season though he looked good in what I did watch. I know all the stats are insane.
Is the consensus he took the jump to elite last year?
Aiyuk ranked 7th in receiving yards and averaged 17.9 a reception (1,342/75) last year. Among the notable receivers, only Pickens has a higher average.
Those numbers alone are incredible. He’s looked great every time I watched him. He’s still only 26 and was very healthy, safe to assume that age won’t affect his production going into next year. That warrants being top 10.
His volume is also capped because our offense is so fucking stacked.
His effort blocking for other players is really good too. I like him a lot. For a team that at one point had fucking Jerry Rice and TO on the same team we went a hot minute with no real talent at WR.
These last couple of years have been the first time in my adult life that could watch our QB air it out and it actually land in the hands of our team.
It drives me mad when I look in your sub and see people think you’re fine without him. He’s very much someone you want to pay and retain for multiple years. The current offense makes it difficult to grade him adequately, but I feel confident he’s within the top 10 and that won’t change this year.
Man, I hate our sub. I feel like there’s just so much sky is falling shit with us.
I’d rather get my 49er takes from the fucking Seahawks sub.
Our beat reporters outside of Matt Maiocco though are totally obnoxious too so of course their tweets flood it.
Good lord, yeah that checks out. Just checked and he had over 71% catch rate as well. Would you put him in like the 5-7 range? Or higher?
I wonder how much we'd have to pay him to get him here.... Probably have to match JJ's contract
Top 5 seems pretty clear cut when you’ve got juggernauts like Hill, Jefferson, Lamb, Brown, and St. Brown. You’ve also got guys like Moore, Chase, Nacua, and Collins. So, I can’t confidently say where I’d put him in that 6-10 range.
Considering how the market goes, he probably will end up close to Jefferson’s number.
Also 81.3% of his catches resulted in a first down, the highest rate for an NFL WR.
Absolutely.
He's massively underrated by everyone outside of the NFCW, especially because of the players around him.
I've considered him their best receiver since 2021. I think Deebo is way overrated in comparison.
People are still sucking Deebo off over 2021.
Yes that guys is nuts. He’s wide open so much because of his route running
Top 10 is silly when there are so many talented WRs in the game right now.
I think he is firmly in the "if he were my WR1 going into the season I'd be totally happy" Tier.
I cannot stress to you how valuable Ayuik is over 60 minutes of a game. any film bro that's nutting over him on twitter is entirely justified. he even blocks elite
I think he is in 4-8 range, behind only Jefferson-Adams-Hill.
I could easily name 10 receivers I'd rather have than Aiyuk. Tyreek, Jefferson, Chase, CeDee, Garret Wilson, Kupp, Nacua, Amon m Ra, Aj Brown, Davante is 10.
There's plenty more who are arguably higher with DK, Devonta, Dj Moore, Keenan, Deebo, Mike Evans, Waddle, Higgins, Collins, Pittman.
Him being on 49ers in 2024 is by far the most likely outcome. If he was going to get traded it likely would have happened already.
This is so annoying by now
When you think you playing 4D Chess but all you brought to the table were checker pieces.
"So I threw the Senate at him. True story".
- Emperor Palpatine
Honestly gettin tired of these constant updates. Just tell me when he signs.
Aiyuk has ZERO leverage here. If he wants to sit all year and make no money then fine, He'll make even less the year after that.
His leverage is we need him in peak form to fulfill our championship aspirations. We lost last year with him playing like a top 10 WR and blocking his ass off. If he plays but scales back his effort, or goes the Deebo route and stops blocking, that could be enough right there to sink our title hopes.
If he scales back his effort and stops blocking, he's not going to get a big contract from literally any team.
Why not? When people say he's not worth $30M/year they only bring up his volume receiving stats.
Blocking, apparently, isn't worth anything. So why not just do what you're being paid for and let the stuff they don't want to pay you for go?
"People" have very little say in what goes on in contract negotiations. The 9ers aren't looking at reddit comments to determine what to offer.
There is a sentiment to fan favorites or fan perception being valuable in negotiation, but I don't think that's really applicable here.
No, they're not looking at Reddit comments, but there are definitely traits that get you paid and some that don't. Dominant run-stopping defenders, even if they're good pass rushers, don't get paid like elite pass rushers who suck at run defense do. Blocking doesn't earn WR's a dime. Being good at blitz-pickups doesn't earn RB's money.
That’s complete BS. The top 10 tape is already out there. Ridley missed half his prime, put up rough tape when he came back, and still got a bag. Aiyuk is both better and younger, he’s getting paid regardless.
Maybe I'm the only one who thinks it, but if Aiyuk and Higgins sat out this year, they're both STILL getting paid next year.
Deebo gone next year and aiyuk will get that money.
Niners tell me he’s guaranteed to stay
Well he’s under contract
Either play or don’t goddamn. You’re not good enough for all this news and speculation.
He's under contract and the 49ers literally can't afford to give him a new contract.
49ers have to pay this guy.
They don’t. He has no leverage. He can Le’Veon Bell himself if he wants, but it doesn’t change the fact that they have team control for one year and two franchise tags.
People always say the player has no leverage, his leverage is playing. The 9ers need him to win a SB, if they aren't getting him at 100% then it would make more sense to trade him than have some disgruntled player
I’m an active trade Union member. I understand worker leverage. He’s got three years of team control left. No amount of hold out or work slowdown (which looks horrible in pro sports) is going to change that.
The horrible look here is you thinking it's appropriate to keep a man from earning what he's worth because it will make your football team better. Even worse is that you think the tags could be abused to get Aiyuk(and those like him) to fall in line and learn their place.
Hate to be the one to ruin the power fantasy you have, but there's a reason no team has ever utilized the full extent of the power granted to them in the CBA to control a hold-out. Aside from being bad business in general, anti-competitive contract language has a history of being ruled unconstitutional in court.
Luckily, the Niners are far more competent than you give them credit for. Aiyuk will have a fresh new deal before the season starts.
WTF are you talking about? Just what exactly do you think the owners created the franchise tag for?
Their union leadership negotiated, and the players ratified the current CBA. Like it or not, those are the rules, including franchise tags. I have absolutely nothing to do with it. Nor did I offer what I think about the matter, just facts.
This whole holdout/negotiation is great for me as a Niner fan cause it’s about the Niners attempting to lock up a very talented player long term. But, again, that doesn’t change the circumstances of Aiyuk’s employment.
You think the NFL CBA is bad, you should go see what team control in Baseball looks like. Absolute dereliction of fiduciary duty for the MLBPA to allow it to get where it has.
Niners are a serious contender. There's no way a player like BA, dials it back with a SB on the line. Niners may need BA but BA is in a really good position to be the best receiver on a SB team, he's not going to half-ass it it.
"We need everyone, but no one person is necessary." sic
-Bill Parcells
They really don't. Being offered 26 million annually and him wanting 30 million annually are really not that far apart. If I were BA, I'd take the lower one and run with it because you still get a lot and you get to compete for the dream. That 4 million a year could sacrifice a Super Bowl chance. I bet the regret would kick in hard if he were to watch them win without him.
From a financial standpoint, no they do not have to. From a competitive standpoint, yes they need BA to compete for a super bowl.
Maybe, maybe not. They tend to be very good at development.
BA should take a pay cut because no one else on the team has is kind of a garbage argument. NFL - Not For Long. Get your money
If you can't live off of 26 million a year, that is sad. Especially when they could royally screw you for 3 years.
It’s not about living off of 26mil. It’s about getting what you deserve
Sure, he deserves it. What is more important to him? Winning or money? Edelman would have said winning, granted they actually were.
I think he will. Both he and the team want it, it's just a matter of $$. He is their best WR by a large margin.
Deebo is a strong all around guy, but Aiyuk is a prototypical #1 and they don't have anyone else on the roster like that. He is also young enough that regardless of what happens to the rest of the skill players long term, he can pair with Purdy
I think if the Niners weren't so up on cap it would be done by now.
To be honest they set them selves up to move on from both Deebo and BA. If he’s gone whatever he’s nothing game changing or anything he’s a high end 2 low end 1
This guy is a nut job and a mid #2 at best.
Bros never watched a niner game lmfao.
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