Could the 49ers improve by trading Brandon Aiyuk? They could trade him to another team and find someone younger, cheaper, faster, and perhaps more talented than Aiyuk to replace him. But he is not better than him. At least not right away.
There are plenty of good reasons for the 49ers to at least consider trading Brandon Aiyuk this offseason. His trade value will never increase. It costs a lot of money.
The 49ers can’t justify spending that much money on him. They don’t throw him the ball often enough. You are not using his full potential.
They already pay top dollar for wide receivers and will likely pay top dollar for quarterbacks next year. The right financial decision for the 49ers’ future is to trade Aiyuk now.
But the 49ers are also in what could be the final year of the current Super Bowl period. Many of their best players are well past their 30s, so any move the 49ers make will have to yield better results in the short term.
They cannot afford to retreat even slightly. That’s why it would be difficult for the 49ers to trade Aiyuk. They could trade him to another team and find someone younger, cheaper, faster, and perhaps more talented than Aiyuk to replace him. But he is not better than him.
He doesn’t, at least not right away. The rookie wide receiver acquired by the 49ers is immediately demoted by the elite Aiyuk. One of the top five wide receivers in the NFL.
So if the 49ers want to give themselves the best chance of winning the next Super Bowl, they need to extend Aiyuk’s contract as soon as possible and make sure he doesn’t hold out part of the season. Because he will, and if he does, the 49ers will be in trouble.