The 49ers seemed so relieved when they finally signed Brandon Aiyuk to a four-year contract extension last year, Now, they probably wish he hadn't signed it.
Because as soon as he got paid, he seemed to lose his drive to be the best. Suddenly, he was consumed with buying expensive cars. And his performance took a major hit last season. He caught just 25 passes and scored zero touchdowns in seven games. And then he tore his ACL, MCL and meniscus.
Now, he's a 27-year-old wide receiver with a surgically-repaired knee who gets paid an average of $30 million per season -- tied for seventh most among wide receivers with future Hall of Famer Tyreek Hill. In no world should those two get paid the same amount of money on average. And yet, they do.
Let's compare them.
Hill is one of the most explosive wide receivers of all time. He has six 1,000-yard seasons, he has been a first-team All-Pro five times and he has finished top four in the Offensive Player of the Year voting twice.
Now let's do Aiyuk. He has two 1,000-yard seasons, he has been a second-team All Pro once and that's it. He had one semi-elite season in 2023. Otherwise, he has been inconsistent.
To be fair to Aiyuk, Bleacher Report recently named the most overpaid wide receiver in the NFL, and it wasn't him -- it was Christian Kirk. But he gets paid $18 million per season on average. Aiyuk gets paid almost double that.
Aiyuk's contract cost the 49ers Dre Greenlaw, Talanoa Hufanga and Jordan Mason this offseason, not to mention the free agents they might have signed but did not.
It's definitely the worst wide-receiver contract in the league.
