During a recent appearance on San Francisco’s KGMZ-FM radio station, former NFL wide receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who helps train Brandon Aiyuk in the offseason, shared the following about how the young pass catcher currently feels about the chances of signing a new contract with the San Francisco 49ers in the near future.
“At one point, (Aiyuk) thought he may sign,” Houshmandzadeh said. “That optimistic outlook has turned into a pessimistic outlook.”
Aiyuk wanting a new deal has been one of the biggest storylines of the 2024 offseason for the 49ers, and based on Houshmandzadeh’s recent comments, it doesn’t sound like an agreement is going to be reached anytime soon.
Aiyuk is currently in the middle of the final year of his rookie contract with San Francisco, which is set to pay him a little more than $14.1M during the 2024 season, according to Spotrac.com.
But after finishing with more than 75 catches, 1,000 receiving yards and seven touchdowns in each of his last two years with the 49ers, the young playmaker wants a new contract that pays him closer to what some of the top wide receivers in the NFL are currently making.
This offseason, Nico Collins of the Houston Texans, Jaylen Waddle of the Miami Dolphins and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions all signed new deals with their respective teams that will pay each wide receiver an average annual salary between $24M and $31M.
Ideally, San Francisco would probably like a new contract for Aiyuk to land somewhere between that annual average. But is that something the 26-year-old wide receiver is okay with, or is he looking to sign a deal that surpasses it?
With the 49ers’ first game of the 2024 regular season set to take place on Sept. 9, they still have a good amount of time to attempt to negotiate a new contract with Aiyuk before returning to the field.
Will the receiver’s supposed pessimism about getting a deal done turn into optimism before then, or will these negotiations bleed into the upcoming season?