Here’s why 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk reportedly has an unofficial trade deadline

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk is coming off quite an interesting season. 

He was the subject of trade rumors throughout last offseason as he held out for a new contract, only to ultimately sign a four-year, $120 million deal shortly before the start of the 2024 campaign. Aiyuk then struggled through the opening weeks of the season, catching just 25 of 47 passes for 374 scoreless yards before tearing his ACL during the team’s Week 7 loss to the Chiefs.

Recently, Aiyuk has been the subject of trade rumors again. But according to ESPN, if Aiyuk remains on the team’s roster on April 1, San Francisco will cut off trade talks and hang onto him for the 2025 season.

CBS Sports lead NFL insider Jonathan Jones, meanwhile, reports that sources have cast immense doubt that the Niners will find a trade partner before the April 1 “deadline.”

The reason April 1 is significant is because that’s when Aiyuk is due a $22.85 million option bonus, which would hit the salary cap of whichever team’s roster Aiyuk is on, on that date. So, if he’s still in San Francisco, the 49ers will be on the hook for that $22.85 million no matter what — even if they trade him later in the offseason. (The Niners can, however, prorate the cap hit for that bonus across five seasons, including the void years that are tacked onto the end of Aiyuk’s deal.)

But that’s also exactly the reason you would expect Aiyuk to not be traded before April 1. An acquiring team likely wouldn’t want to pay out the $22.85 million option bonus either in cash or on the cap — at least not if it were paying full freight for Aiyuk’s services in a trade. So, it might actually be more likely that the Niners find an agreeable deal after the so-called unofficial trade deadline. 

There are always plenty of teams that could use an elite wide receiver, even if he’s coming off a serious injury. And those teams are likely to be more interested come April 2 than they are before April 1.