Multiple teams have contacted the San Francisco 49ers with interest in trading for receiver Brandon Aiyuk, but so far nothing has been agreed to, a league source told The Athletic on Monday.
Aiyuk trade talks — a hot topic approaching the draft in April — heated up again recently as the 49ers ended their second week of training camp no closer to a deal with their top receiver. Over the weekend, the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots were the top suitors, according to multiple reports. On Monday, the Pittsburgh Steelers resurfaced as a possible destination.
Publicly, the 49ers have said they want to retain Aiyuk, who finished with a career-high 1,342 receiving yards last season but also have said they’ll take calls regarding a potential trade. Aiyuk has been a “hold-in” since the start of training camp — he attends meetings but has yet to take part in any practices since the offseason program began in the spring. That’s allowed him to avoid daily fines for missing training camp.
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At one of the 49ers’ practices last week, Aiyuk shared a handshake with general manager John Lynch and a big handshake/hug combination with coach Kyle Shanahan that sent speculation flying about a possible resolution in the contract dispute. That wasn’t the case.
“That’s just usually how we greet each other, honestly,” Shanahan said Friday. “You guys would see maybe a lot more hugs in here if we had a film for you guys, but we’re not on ‘Hard Knocks.’ We saw him on the field. He hadn’t been on the field a lot. We walked by each other and it’s usually how we greet each other — bro hug. Nothing more, nothing less. Thank you.”
Aiyuk has one more season on his rookie contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent in March.
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(Photo: Michael Zagaris / San Francisco 49ers / Getty Images)
