The situation with San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is finally resolved, and the Denver Broncos may have played a part in that. On Thursday, news broke that the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk agreed on a four-year, $120 million extension. This deal makes Aiyuk one of the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL.
This months-long saga went on for far too long, and for a while there, it seemed that Aiyuk was actually headed to Pittsburgh to play with Russell Wilson and the Steelers. This was pretty well-documented, and it only felt like a matter of time before Aiyuk was wearing the Black and Gold.
Well, the 49ers were able to retain their best wide receiver, and after the news of the deal broke, we got this report from Dianna Russini of The Athletic:
The 49ers only were willing to trade Brandon Aiyuk if they could get a top-flight WR to replace him. They offered a third-round pick to Denver for Courtland Sutton, and then would’ve dealt Aiyuk to the Steelers, but the Broncos declined the offer.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) August 29, 2024
So, he stays in SF.
Interesting.
So, it makes perfect sense that the 49ers would have wanted to get a WR back if they planned on trading Aiyuk. San Francisco calling the Denver Broncos to offer a third-round pick for Courtland Sutton also makes sense. Before Denver made their final roster cuts, they did have a ton of bodies at the WR position, so it was reasonable to think that one or more of them were expendable.
The team did give Sutton a bit of a raise this offseason, and he's their best player at the position, but a third-round pick for a low-end WR1 who is approaching 30 years old is not at all a bad offer, so at first glance, Denver should have probably taken that deal. However, you have to look at this situation as the Broncos understanding why the 49ers wanted Sutton.
Because as Russini indicates, they'd have sent Aiyuk to the Pittsburgh Steelers if Denver accepted their offer for Courtland Sutton. To me and to many others, this is clear Sean Payton purposely making life harder for Russell Wilson. Brandon Aiyuk is a great player, and the Steelers offense would have gotten that much better had they been able to land Aiyuk.
But the Broncos declining a very strong offer for Courtland Sutton reeks of Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos being a bit petty, and it's awesome. This bombshell report tells me that Payton and the Broncos purposely did not do this deal with the 49ers only to make life harder for Russell Wilson.