The San Francisco 49ers have a lot of money wrapped up in their top players. However, it is abundantly clear which contract is the worst of the bunch as wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk struggled last year and got injured.
Aiyuk had an excellent 2023 campaign in San Francisco as he was the top wide receiver on the team, hauling in 75 passes for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns. Following the Super Bowl loss that season, retaining Aiyuk became the Niners' top offseason priority.
It was anything but easy as there was constant drama throughout the entire saga. Aiyuk requested a trade, and the 49ers got very close to dealing him away. But, ultimately, the two sides were able to agree upon a four-year, $120 million contract extension.
That big extension brought big expectations with it, and the 2020 first-round draft pick failed to live up to them last season. He was not the same guy who earned that big extension as he had 374 receiving yards in seven games with no touchdown catches.
Of course, Aiyuk did have a brutal knee injury that ended his season and seems likely to make him miss the start of the 2025 regular season, too, so it is possible he would have gotten going more had he stayed healthy.
Yet, it was clear that San Francisco's front office regretted the deal it made with Aiyuk especially after the acrimonious negotiation process.
San Francisco has reportedly explored trading Aiyuk since the deal, but the fact that the deal is so large, coupled with his injury status, has made it difficult to find a team willing to bring on a pricey, injured receiver who did not look great when he was on the field in 2024.
It now seems as if the 49ers are simply stuck with Aiyuk. They will have to deal with his distracting social media antics and hope he can return to being the great player he was in 2023.
Plus, with the current state of the wide receiver room, the Niners are going to need him to get back on the field ASAP. Several of the team's receivers are already banged up, so wide receiver depth could be an issue early in the season.
One hopes that the Aiyuk deal does not end up aging the same way the Deebo Samuel deal did, where by the end of it, San Francisco felt the need to cut losses and trade him away.
Yet, that is the current trajectory of things which is why Aiyuk's contract is the worst one on the team.
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