49ers insider discusses the “difficult” negotiations with Brandon Aiyuk.

The San Francisco 49ers’ top priority right now, other from winning the Super Bowl, is to get wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to sign a contract extension.

They can’t afford to lose him anytime soon because he is in the final year of his deal and led the team in receptions and receiving yards the previous year.

According to insider Matt Barrows, 95.7 The Game said that the team’s talks with Aiyuk have been “difficult.”
Recent big extensions given to several NFL wide receivers have apparently increased San Francisco’s cost to retain Aiyuk.

Throughout his four seasons in the league, he has steadily improved, and in 2023 he established himself as their primary passing threat with 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns.

Some believe that the 49ers may eventually have to trade wide receiver Deebo Samuel in order to fund the extensions that they must shortly grant to quarterback Brock Purdy.
However, there’s a sense that they’ve already prepared measures to lessen the damage caused by trading Aiyuk or Samuel.

In the first round of the April draft, they selected University of Florida wide receiver Ricky Pearsall, and Barrows mentioned that he had performed well in offseason drills.

After handing star running back Christian McCaffrey an extension this week, the team has slightly expanded its salary budget room, and the rumors of an Aiyuk trade have subsided since the draft, so maybe an extension will finally be agreed upon by both parties.