SANTA CLARA — Now that the dust has settled between the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk, the wide receiver admitted he could have made the contract negotiation process a wee bit easier for the team.
“I’m not going to lie, I made it a little more difficult than I needed to at the end,” Aiyuk said Tuesday with a little laugh. “It was like — I’m not going to say the entire time, but for about the past month I think we were pretty good.”
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From the outside, it appeared to be a long and tumultuous standoff between Aiyuk and the 49ers that began shortly after the 2023 NFL season ended. The Arizona State product remained away from the facility until the start of training camp but never stepped onto the field with his teammates, effectively “holding in.”
Then the situation came to what appeared to be a tipping point for both general manager/president of football operations John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan one week ago, when Lynch simply stated, “At some point, you got to play.”
Shortly thereafter, Aiyuk finally came to the table and agreed to a four-year, $120 million contract extension that will keep him with San Francisco through the 2028 season. Approximately $76 million of the Second Team All-Pro’s deal is guaranteed and includes $45 million fully guaranteed at signing.
When asked why the agreement was so long in the making, Aiyuk shared that it wasn’t other players at his position receiving deals, but what he wanted on a personal level.
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“Just trying to make sure that we got to the right spot,” Aiyuk said. “Just trying to make sure that everything was covered and make sure that we were good on both sides.”
While trade discussions were mentioned throughout the process, Aiyuk ultimately wanted to remain in the Bay Area with the team that drafted him as the No. 25 overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft.
“It’s easy to say that now,” Aiyuk said. “Ultimately, I wanted to be in this position that I’m in right now, standing here, talking to you all, but every day was different. In negotiations, every day is different. [I was] just following my heart and myself in each day and that led to today.”
With only a few practices between Tuesday’s bonus session and the 49ers' 2024 NFL season opener with the New York Jets on "Monday Night Football," Aiyuk appeared confident that he’s sufficiently prepared.
“Ready to go,” Aiyuk said assuredly.
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