The San Francisco 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk agreed to a massive contract extension on Thursday that also officially ended the Pittsburgh Steelers' pursuit of the stud wide receiver.
Aiyuk and the Niners agreed to a four-year, $120 million deal, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. And now, the Steelers will have to look elsewhere for a much-needed upgrade at the wide receiver position, which will be extremely difficult to find at this stage in the game, especially when it comes to finding one on the level of Aiyuk.
So, how close were the Steelers to actually landing Aiyuk?
Well, according to The Athletic's Dianna Russini, the Niners would've traded the 26-year-old wideout to Pittsburgh if they were able to get the Denver Broncos involved in what would've been a three-team trade.
The deal would have seen the Niners send a third-round pick to the Broncos for wide receiver Courtland Sutton, who would've been San Fran's replacement for Aiyuk. However, the Broncos declined.
"The 49ers only were willing to trade Brandon Aiyuk if they could get a top-flight WR to replace him," Russini wrote. "They offered a third-round pick to Denver for Courtland Sutton, and then would’ve dealt Aiyuk to the Steelers, but the Broncos declined the offer."
With Aiyuk out of the picture, the Steelers are set to enter the season with George Pickens, Van Jefferson, Calvin Austin and Roman Wilson as their top-four wide receivers. It goes without saying that everyone outside of Pickens comes with a question mark. We'll see if the Steelers add anyone else before Week 1.
