Multiple teams have contacted the San Francisco 49ers with interest in trading for receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but so far nothing has been agreed to, a league source told The Athletic on Monday.
Aiyuk trade talks — a hot topic approaching the draft in April — heated up again recently as the 49ers ended their second week of training camp no closer to a deal with their top receiver. Over the weekend, the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots were the top suitors, according to multiple reports. On Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers resurfaced as a possible destination.
Publicly, the 49ers have said they want to retain Aiyuk, who finished with a career-high 1,342 receiving yards last season but also have said they’ll take calls regarding a potential trade. Aiyuk has been a “hold-in” since the start of training camp — he attends meetings but has yet to take part in any practices since the offseason program began in the spring. That’s allowed him to avoid daily fines for missing training camp.At one of the 49ers’ practices last week, Aiyuk shared a handshake with general manager John Lynch and a big handshake/hug combination with coach Kyle Shanahan that sent speculation flying about a possible resolution in the contract dispute. That wasn’t the case.
“That’s just usually how we greet each other, honestly,” Shanahan said Friday. “You guys would see maybe a lot more hugs in here if we had a film for you guys, but we’re not on ‘Hard Knocks.’ We saw him on the field. He hadn’t been on the field a lot. We walked by each other and it’s usually how we greet each other — bro hug. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you.”
Aiyuk has one more season on his rookie contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in March.