Recently, a rather strange rumor surfaced concerning the Cleveland Browns potentially pursuing a trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
While the Browns did try to land Aiyuk last year, the newest rumor definitely came out of left field given Cleveland’s current situation.
However, ESPN’s Tony Grossi has shot down the speculation, stating that an Aiyuk trade simply doesn’t make sense for the Browns from a financial perspective.
“If they trade for him, he’s got a $11 million dollar salary cap hit next year, which is actually even higher than Jerry Jeudy,” Grossi said. “You’re going to pay him $25 million in cash, due to him this year. And then on April 1, another guarantee for next year of $25 million is triggered.”
Everyone knew Cleveland had a miserable salary cap situation heading into the offseason, so even though the four-year, $120 million extension Aiyuk signed with the 49ers before the 2024 campaign is heavily backloaded, it just wouldn’t fit into the Browns’ plans monetarily.
Not only that, but Aiyuk is a pretty big risk right now.
The 27-year-old tore his ACL midway through this past season, and before the injury, he had only logged 25 catches for 374 yards in six games. Not exactly stellar production for a supposed No. 1 receiver. Is that really the direction in which Cleveland wishes to proceed?
Plus, San Francisco would probably ask for a significant package in return for Aiyuk considering that it just traded fellow receiver Deebo Samuel. And we don’t even really know if the Niners are interested in moving Aiyuk to begin with.
Taking everything into account, this rumor probably never had any real legs to it.
