On the surface, the San Francisco 49ers allowing Brandon Aiyuk and his agent to talk to potential trade suitors , as NFL Network's Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported the franchise has done, would appear to be an extremely foolish move.
After all, Aiyuk has been the 49ers' leading receiver for each of the last two seasons and was a second-team All-Pro last season. Trading him now, a few weeks out from the season, would make little sense unless the return is substantial .
But the 49ers giving Aiyuk and his agent permission to take that step is not simply a matter of the team giving up on contract negotiations with their 2020 first-round pick.
There's no inclination the Niners have stopped trying to re-sign Aiyuk, even though Garafolo claimed on 'The Insiders' that a trade was the more likely scenario at this point.
And the language used by several insiders, including Pelissero, points to what the 49ers' plan of attack may actually be with this latest move in a long contract saga.
Said Pelissero:
"There certainly have been trade discussions surrounding Brandon Aiyuk. In fact, certain other specific teams have been granted permission from the 49ers to speak with Aiyuk’s agent Ryan Williams and try to work out a contract that would have to be a part of any deal getting done. It allows Aiyuk and his agent to see exactly what the market would be for a contract some place else. It also does potentially allow them to get closer to finalizing a trade, but we’re not there just yet."
The key section of those comments is where Pelissero refers to Aiyuk seeing what the market would be elsewhere. Those words, combined with recent remarks from ESPN's Adam Schefter (h/t Niners Nation ) and NBC Sports Bay Area's Matt Maiocco on the situation offer key insight into what the Niners may actually be thinking here.
Said Schefter on The Pat McAfee Show:
"You have to satisfy the 49ers if you are ever going to make a deal, and the player has to be willing to take the contract from your organization. Even though he doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract, he has an unofficial no-trade clause, Brandon Aiyuk does right now. If he doesn’t want to go to that team, he can say: “I’m not taking that contract."
Meanwhile, Maiocco told KNBR of the trade request Aiyuk submitted last month: "I think Brandon is having a difficult time figuring out exactly what he wants. I think he requested the trade without really wanting it to go through. He just wanted to increase the pressure on the 49ers."
Piece those three quotes together and it's not difficult to come to the conclusion that, with a trade request submitted and no progress in negotiations, the 49ers have decided to call Aiyuk's bluff.
The teams thought to be in the mix for Aiyuk, the Cleveland Browns, Pittsburgh Steelers and New England Patriots, are all objectively worse than the 49ers. Most would accept that.
By allowing Aiyuk to see what's out there, the 49ers could well be asking the wideout how willing he is to accept more money than the reported offer from San Francisco of an extension worth $26 million annually to play for a team that will likely have a worse chance than the 49ers to win the Super Bowl after they came so close to doing so in February.
In other words, the Niners might be putting the ball in Aiyuk's court in the hope that a desire to win with San Francisco will force him back to the table to accept a contract in the region of what he was originally offered.
It doesn't mean Aiyuk won't be traded. He could like the potential offers so much that he is willing to take a potential step down. Decoding the reports that have emerged, however, the 49ers could well be playing a high-stakes game of bluff. It's a dangerous move, but they'll look very smart if it pays off.
Related: Steelers, Browns, Patriots: Who has the most enticing offer to trade for Brandon Aiyuk with the 49ers
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