The San Francisco 49ers would surely like to trade wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk soon, if they're going to.
Soon, as in before a whole bunch of money is locked in for him on April 1.
The contract they finally broke down and gave him last offseason is one thing, but recovering from a torn ACL/MCL and not likely to be ready until midseason effectively squashes any viable trade market right now.
It's possible the Niners would take less in a trade for Aiyuk than they could get if he was healthy, simply to get rid of the looming cash payouts he's due. The general message sent to other players (on the 49ers and league-wide) would not be a good one, though, besides any fracturing of the team's relationship with Aiyuk that has already been done if he is not traded.
There have been reports of team's showing interest in Aiyuk, and at the NFL Combine, general manager John Lynch openly acknowledged teams were calling. But the list of teams who might want to trade for Aiyuk is not long.
Wildly unlikely trade proposal is mostly a lateral move for 49ers to offload Brandon Aiyuk
Mitch Melani of Bleacher Report recently offered up up five trade packages for Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill. The 49ers somehow made the list of teams, as Melani noted the relationship between Niners head coach Kyle Shanahan and Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel. Prior to becoming Miami's head coach in 2022, McDaniel worked under Shanahan continuously going back to 2011.
Melani noted Aiyuk coming of his injury, while Hill coming is off the worst season of his career. Melani also pointed to their respective money matching closely, which is only a slight stretch. The primary difference there is contract length, with Hill under contract through 2026 and Aiyuk under contract through 2028.
San Francisco's portion of Melani's trade proposals for Hill starts at about the 6:45 mark of the video below:
If the 49ers were still in their clear-cut Super Bowl window with quarterback Brock Purdy on a cheap contract, the idea of trading for Hill would make a lot more sense. But they are clearly no longer in that place, and with a focus on reducing cash spending in mind Hill has some bonuses of his own that will be due to him.
Melani's overall rationale is not totally ludicrous, but the trade proposal essentially has the 49ers and Dolphins swapping some level of distressed assets due to Shanahan and McDaniel being friends. Acquiring Hill would also have the Niners blocking the emergence of up-and-coming wideout Ricky Pearsall for the next couple years, which they don't seem (and shouldn't be) at all inclined to do.
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