The 49ers aren’t eager to trade wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but there are certainly scenarios that may ostensibly force them to do so, Kyle Madson of USA Today's Niners Wire reports. One of those scenarios is one where Aiyuk commands a contract extension too far beyond what the 49ers are willing to pay that they cannot envision negotiating a deal. According to the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mike Silver, that scenario may be landing on the table just ahead of the NFL Draft which is set to begin Thursday.

Silver in the Chronicle gave the first reported indication of just how far apart the 49ers and Aiyuk are on money. Via Silver:

Aiyuk, as per the terms of his rookie deal, is scheduled to play on the ‘fifth-year option’ in 2024, which would pay him $14.1 million. Sources around the league believe he is seeking a contract with an annual average of well over $25 million and that the 49ers have been reluctant to meet that price.

This isn’t great news, but it’s also not necessarily a sign that the 49ers are for sure trading Aiyuk during the the first round of this year’s draft. If he’s not dealt by Thursday it’s hard to believe he’ll be moved at all.

However, a negotiation that’s mostly gone on privately could get contentious if the 49ers are sitting firm in the realm of $25 million – a number commensurate with the one Eagles WR DeVonta Smith got from Philadelphia after virtually identical production to Aiyuk over the last three years. If Aiyuk is looking for something like $27 million it would make him the NFL’s third-highest paid receiver behind Miami’s Tyreek Hill and Las Vegas’s Davante Adams, and just ahead of the Rams’ Cooper Kupp per Over the Cap.

A $28 million deal would put Aiyuk on the same level as Adams from an average annual value standpoint, and anything more than that would put him alone behind Hill who averages $30 million per year on his current deal.

On the other hand,  A $25 million per year extension would put Aiyuk at the same AAV as Smith and Eagles WR AJ Brown. It’d put him ahead of Seahawks WR DK Metcalf ($24 million) and 49ers WR Deebo Samuel ($23.85 million).

This is where things could get messy since so much of an extension is projection. Aiyuk may dig his heels in on being a top-three highest-paid receiver because his belief is that he will hold that type of value for the 49ers over the next few seasons. Meanwhile the 49ers will look at his numbers against those of Metcalf, Smith and Brown and determine that a deal in the $25 million range is where they’re comfortable landing.

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