The Pittsburgh Steelers and General Manager Omar Khan have already been extremely aggressive during the 2024 NFL offseason. This will likely continue as the team is desperate for a center, and help at wide receiver. The Steelers have been rumored to be trying to land a big-name wideout via trade. Names that have been connected to Pittsburgh include Terry McLaurin, Justin Jefferson and Brandon Aiyuk. Of those three names, Aiyuk of the San Francisco 49ers is the most likely candidate for the Steelers to be able to complete a trade for.
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Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Patrick Peterson allows a touchdown to Brandon Aiyuk of the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 of 2023
If the Steelers do have true interest in Aiyuk, it is possible that a trade won't get done until right before, or during the 2024 NFL Draft. The 49ers have a history of fielding trade offers during the draft, but not moving on from a player unless they are blown away by the offer. Matt Barrows of The Athletic recently fielded questions from 49ers fans and in response to one fan's question about a possible Aiyuk trade, he brought up how the organization handled Deebo Samuel during the 2022 offseason when he wanted to be traded.
"Just go back two years to when Deebo Samuel was agitating for a trade. The 49ers kept their phone lines open before, and especially during the draft to see what kind of offers Samuel would bring. They got draft-day proposals from the New York Jets and Detroit Lions, but the 49ers didn’t budge. They were solid offers (especially the Jets) but the 49ers needed to be blown away to let go of Samuel, who was coming off his incredible 2021 campaign."
Samuel had just come off of his best year in the NFL, and he wanted a new deal, or to be traded. San Francisco did their due diligence looking for potential suitors for Samuel around the league, but ultimately decided he was too good of a player to let go of. He ended up signing a three year extension worth $73.5 million with $58.1 million in guaranteed money.
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Deebo Samuel runs the ball in a game for the San Francisco 49ers
Aiyuk is in a very similar situation to Samuel, he is coming off of his best season where he put up over 1,300 yards on 75 receptions and was named Second-Team All-Pro. He is entering the last year of his rookie contract with the 49ers, and has been pretty vocal about wanting a contract extension. This was exactly what is was like for Samuel, he wanted a new deal, and the 49ers listened to offers but ultimately decided not to pull the trigger on anything and signed Samuel to an extension once training camp began. Barrows wrote more about how he thinks the same thing that happened to Samuel, is what will happen to Aiyuk.
"I think a similar scenario is in play for Aiyuk, who has excellent chemistry with Brock Purdy: The 49ers will listen to offers but it will take something monumental to let him go."
From Barrows perspective, it seems the Steelers will need to overpay for Aiyuk if they truly want to get a deal done to acquire the 26-year old receiver, which is something they won't do since he is entering the last year of his current deal and would likely be signed to a large extension immediately. If the 49ers wished to keep Aiyuk, who wants an extension now, they would need to make some serious roster changes. San Francisco has just $12 million in cap space for the 2024 season, and they are over the cap already for the 2025 season.
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Brandon Aiyuk makes a catch against the Steelers in Week 1 of the 2023 season
Steelers Would Have To Give Up A Ton To Acquire Aiyuk
The Steelers would need to fork over a lot of draft capital, and possibly a player, to acquire Aiyuk from the 49ers. If Pittsburgh trade for him, they would sign him to a large extension immediately. Aiyuk's current market value projects to have an average annual salary of $24 million on a deal along the lines of four years, $96 million.
The Steelers would likely need to give up a day two pick in the draft, along with later round picks in a trade for Aiyuk. Pair that with the massive contract they would need to sign Aiyuk to shortly after his arrival in Pittsburgh, and the potential trade starts to not make sense for Pittsburgh. Khan has shown that he is one of the better general managers in the league, hopefully he can pull off some of his magic again to acquire Aiyuk for a reasonable price.
What do you think about a possible trade for Aiyuk? Let us know in the comments below!
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