A story over the weekend indicated the belief is that the 49ers will be unable to trade Brandon Aiyuk. This is not surprising, given that they have very little leverage (they've made it clear he won't be suiting up for them) and Aiyuk's stock is very low.
It wasn’t helped by news this week that a warrant had been issued for his arrest for a traffic offense — apparently, shooting a video of himself speeding by Levi’s Stadium. Good grief.
That probably won’t be a big deal, but it’s not a great bit of news for his market, either.
Aiyuk will be released at some point between now and the start of training camp, and most likely, he'll have suitors willing to bring him in for a look-see. He's 28 years old, so not ancient, and he'll presumably be open to a prove-it type of deal since he does have a lot to prove. He didn't play at all last year, and played only seven games in 2024 before destroying his knee. It's quite a long time, therefore, since he put anything good on film.
The good stuff did happen though, if you can squint and look back at his two full seasons pre-protracted contract squabble and torn ACL. Back in 2022-2023, the second of which he was a 2nd-team All Pro, he was putting up some of the best receiver numbers in the league.
In those two seasons, Aiyuk averaged 5 catches and 73 yards, with a touchdown every other game, for one of the league's best offenses. On a per-game basis, he was a top-15 wideout. Surely that will catch the eye of a team or two once the 49ers give up the ghost. (Table shows the top 50 wideouts in PPR leagues those two seasons.)
| WIDE RECEIVERS PER GAME, 2022-2023 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | St | No | Yds | TD | PPR |
| Tyreek Hill | 33 | 7.2 | 106.3 | .64 | 21.8 |
| Justin Jefferson | 27 | 7.3 | 106.8 | .53 | 21.2 |
| CeeDee Lamb | 34 | 7.1 | 91.4 | .69 | 20.8 |
| Keenan Allen | 23 | 7.6 | 86.7 | .48 | 19.2 |
| Amon-Ra St. Brown | 32 | 7.0 | 83.6 | .50 | 18.8 |
| JaMarr Chase | 28 | 6.7 | 80.8 | .57 | 18.2 |
| Stefon Diggs | 33 | 6.5 | 79.2 | .59 | 18.0 |
| Davante Adams | 34 | 6.0 | 78.2 | .65 | 17.7 |
| A.J. Brown | 34 | 5.7 | 86.8 | .53 | 17.6 |
| Puka Nacua | 17 | 6.2 | 87.4 | .35 | 17.6 |
| Cooper Kupp | 21 | 6.4 | 73.8 | .59 | 17.5 |
| Mike Evans | 32 | 4.9 | 74.3 | .59 | 15.9 |
| Deebo Samuel | 27 | 4.2 | 55.7 | .63 | 15.2 |
| Amari Cooper | 32 | 4.7 | 75.3 | .45 | 14.9 |
| Brandon Aiyuk | 32 | 4.7 | 72.9 | .47 | 14.9 |
| Jaylen Waddle | 31 | 4.7 | 76.5 | .39 | 14.8 |
| DeVonta Smith | 33 | 5.3 | 68.5 | .42 | 14.7 |
| Michael Pittman | 32 | 6.5 | 64.9 | .27 | 14.7 |
| DeAndre Hopkins | 26 | 5.3 | 68.2 | .38 | 14.5 |
| DJ Moore | 34 | 4.7 | 66.2 | .47 | 14.3 |
| Nico Collins | 25 | 4.7 | 71.1 | .41 | 14.3 |
| Chris Olave | 31 | 5.1 | 69.8 | .31 | 14.0 |
| DK Metcalf | 33 | 4.7 | 65.5 | .42 | 13.8 |
| Christian Kirk | 29 | 4.9 | 65.3 | .38 | 13.7 |
| Chris Godwin | 32 | 5.8 | 64.0 | .21 | 13.6 |
| Christian Watson | 18 | 3.4 | 54.4 | .72 | 13.6 |
| Calvin Ridley | 17 | 4.5 | 59.8 | .49 | 13.5 |
| Tyler Lockett | 33 | 4.9 | 58.4 | .44 | 13.4 |
| Jakobi Meyers | 30 | 4.6 | 53.7 | .54 | 13.3 |
| Tee Higgins | 27 | 4.3 | 62.4 | .46 | 13.3 |
| Garrett Wilson | 32 | 5.4 | 65.2 | .22 | 13.2 |
| Jordan Addison | 17 | 4.1 | 53.6 | .59 | 13.0 |
| Terry McLaurin | 34 | 4.6 | 64.5 | .29 | 12.9 |
| Adam Thielen | 34 | 5.1 | 50.9 | .31 | 12.1 |
| Courtland Sutton | 31 | 4.0 | 51.6 | .39 | 11.5 |
| Marquise Brown | 26 | 4.5 | 49.3 | .27 | 11.2 |
| Jerry Jeudy | 31 | 3.9 | 55.8 | .26 | 11.2 |
| Diontae Johnson | 30 | 4.6 | 53.3 | .19 | 11.1 |
| Zay Jones | 25 | 4.6 | 45.8 | .29 | 11.0 |
| George Pickens | 34 | 3.4 | 57.1 | .30 | 11.0 |
| Brandin Cooks | 29 | 3.8 | 46.8 | .39 | 11.0 |
| Drake London | 33 | 4.3 | 53.7 | .20 | 10.9 |
| Rashid Shaheed | 21 | 3.2 | 52.2 | .33 | 10.7 |
| Josh Palmer | 26 | 4.2 | 51.9 | .21 | 10.7 |
| Gabe Davis | 32 | 2.9 | 49.4 | .45 | 10.5 |
| Curtis Samuel | 33 | 3.8 | 38.5 | .30 | 10.2 |
| Romeo Doubs | 26 | 3.5 | 38.3 | .42 | 9.9 |
| JuJu Smith-Schuster | 24 | 4.1 | 46.9 | .13 | 9.6 |
| Tyler Boyd | 33 | 3.8 | 43.3 | .22 | 9.5 |
| Darius Slayton | 30 | 3.2 | 49.8 | .20 | 9.4 |
The popular belief, and what we went with as a best guess in the magazine, was that Aiyuk would end up with the Commanders. He played with Jayden Daniels in college, for one thing, and Washington's wide receiver depth chart behind Terry McLaurin can best be described as iffy. If the season started today they'd be picking from third-rounder Antonio Williams, former third-rounder Luke McCaffrey (29 catches in two seasons) and a couple of journeymen (Treylon Burks, Dyami Brown) for their No. 2 and 3 receivers.
Aiyuk could help this team, assuming his head and that knee are in a good place. It's far from certain that's the case, since there's little to go on, but at some point in early best-ball drafts he's worth a pick. Not someone to get excited about perhaps, but young enough -- and productive enough in the past -- to take a chance on.
--Andy Richardson
