Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers have yet to work out a contract extension, and the two parties do not appear to be close to reaching an agreement.
According to Mike Garafolo of NFL Media, San Francisco and the 26-year-old All-Pro are still at a “little bit of a standoff.”
“Where are we?” “We’re not close,” Garafolo told NFL Total Access on Friday. “From what I gather, they recently made a go at it. They have had preliminary discussions, so it is not as if they have not discussed anything. You watched John Lynch suggest Brandon Aiyuk may play on his fifth-year option and finish out his contract. They’re fine with that. Then you see Aiyuk doing the little finger motion and saying, ‘I could walk.’
Basically, there is a bit of a standoff right now. Now, this is not where the Deebo Samuel situation was, and as bad as it went with Samuel effectively seeking a trade, they were still able to save it. So let’s not worry, let’s not stress out, and maybe if it gets to the point where some offseason sessions and OTAs happen and Brandon Aiyuk makes the little finger emoji and says, ‘Yeah, I’m going to be walking the other way instead of going to those voluntary workouts.’
Despite a delay in negotiations, Garafolo repeated Aiyuk’s desire to remain with the 49ers, and the star wideouts understood that San Francisco has a solid track record of ironing out deals with their fundamental players.
“But he does love the 49ers from my understanding, and he knows this is a team that is taking care of guys when it’s their turn,” he said. “There’s no reason he believes he shouldn’t be next. He believes he is one of the league’s top wide receivers and deserves to be compensated accordingly. The 49ers aren’t quite there yet, so I believe this one will take some time to settle either way. But I know the 49ers would like to eventually sign Brandon Aiyuk to an extended contract, and I know he would love to be there for the proper price. So let’s see if they can both get to
