Originally posted by NinerPrideinNJ:
Yes, there were contract stalls with Deebo (drama too) and Bosa (no drama but just the wait), but this feels way off-base and honestly puts Aiyuk in poor light.
Deebo played two positions, which obscured and heightened his market value, and was a singular playmaker revered around the league.
Aiyuk is a damn good wide receiver, but he is not the type of player that should be challenging what the 49ers are willing to give him at this stage unless it was a low ball, which by all indications, it's not.
He has no leverage here. If he was worth what he thinks he's worth, then a team would have came in and blown away SF with a trade offer for him on draft day.
That didn't happen; which means the rest of the league's valuation of Aiyuk is aligned with San Francisco's.
Now another team may have not wanted to give up the draft capital but can afford to pay him more (eg, Washington) but that doesn't matter because he's under contract, and the 49ers aren't just going to give him away to make him happy and stroke his ego.
The 49ers front office, after bumbling so much year after year, have made some very smart strategic decisions of late. If he doesn't come down to the number they're at, then force him to play this year and prove it to another team that he's worth whatever he's asking.
I'm far from a Shanny homer but I will say that all this BA hoopla begs the question (or maybe answers it) of why he was in Shanahan's doghouse in 2022.