The most substantial question facing the San Francisco 49ers this offseason is whether to extend Brandon Aiyuk, and at what price tag. Next season's offseason question is the same thing, but with Brock Purdy, who will become extension eligible next offseason.
With that in mind, Willard and Dibs called up the legendary Peter King.
On the Aiyuk front, King said he thinks the 49ers need to be up front with the wide receiver about their vision and see where his head is at, but that having a pair of Pro Bowl or All-Pro-caliber wide receivers is not "essential" to winning.
"I think I would want to ask Brandon, Aiyuk, listen. We would like to try to run this back this year, one time, and then make our major decisions about our roster at the end of next year. And I think you have to ask Brandon Aiyuk very simply, 'How do you feel about that?'
"If he's negative about it, if he doesn't want to do it and clearly because the quarterback is only going to make $985,000 next year, you probably could figure a way to bury some money in Brandon Aiyuk and figure out where this leaves you for the future.
"But to me, there's a lot of questions about not only not only the skill players but all over this roster. And so I think it's difficult and look, if you're Brandon Aiyuk, I don't blame you for wanting to get a deal now, or the absolute latest, next offseason, I don't blame you. And here's the reason why. Because if you look at most great receivers, they have one pay day. That's it. You have one chance to strike while the iron is hot.
"How will he feel about -- would he be willing to not get everything that maybe he feels he deserves this coming year and really try to make one great rock solid run with this core plus adding some help on the offensive line. Would he be willing to do that? This year? I think you have to have that conversation with him. I think it's not something that right now today we can know the answer to."
Now, the confusing part about that is the fact that Aiyuk is slated for a $14.1 million cap hit from his fifth-year option next season. If he were to sign an extension, that figure would actually decrease, as has been the case with the 49ers' major contract extensions.
An extension would decrease the team's long-term financial flexibility, but be an investment in a soon-to-be 26-year-old star receiver who was arguably the best in the league last season ( analytics support that ), and who passes the eye test for route running, blocking, and all-around effort. The short-term benefit would be that he would cost less next year, before an offseason reckoning with the state of aging roster in 2025.
As for Purdy, King didn't say whether he thought the 49ers would give him a monstrous deal next offseason. But he did say he didn't think a huge extension would change him in the slightest.
"This is just my opinion," King said. "Kyle Shanahan is the guy who wanted to trade three ones to move up to take Trey Lance, a guy who, as I wrote in my column a couple of weeks ago, has thrown fewer passes in the last seven years, than Patrick Mahomes threw this year. And so he chose to do that.
"And so what I'm saying is, Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch are not going to be thinking, "last pick in the draft, can't pay him $50 million." Let me ask you this. Is there any reason whatsoever why you think that money might change Brock Purdy? I sure don't think so."
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