I’m in Berea, Ohio, at my 15th NFL training camp, and here are a few items from the road …
• The San Francisco 49ers’ tone with other teams has certainly changed on wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk as his camp hold-in has continued. Teams inquiring before the NFL draft were hit with a very high asking price and left with the idea that San Francisco wasn’t dealing him. As far as I can tell, that’s been the reality. The Niners preferred to keep Aiyuk, and keep him beyond just this year.
Now? It appears San Francisco is more receptive to trade overtures on its star receiver. As a result, it’s had productive talks with Cleveland and New England on a potential deal, with those potential deals contingent on Aiyuk’s reps working out a contract with a new team. It’d be complicated, and it’s not a sure thing. But the reality seems to be that the Niners are looking for a conclusion, one way or another.
One thing that’s interesting here is San Francisco, I’m told, asked for players to be packaged with picks. The Niners inquired on Amari Cooper with the Browns, and they inquired on Kendrick Bourne (former Niner from 2017 to ’20) with the Patriots. Both of those teams engaged San Francisco on trading for Aiyuk before the draft, but neither got very far.
So as to where things stand now, part of this is up to the Niners, who could also use this as a vehicle to revive contract talks with Aiyuk. In any case, whether it’s through Aiyuk returning or a receiver coming in, they have to take care of this year’s team first. That, of course, makes sense, based on the fact that San Francisco has been to four NFC title games and two Super Bowls over the past five years.
If Aiyuk is back on a big deal, that’s a win.
If Cooper or Bourne are on the roster instead, with picks coming over with them, well, it looks like they’d be O.K. with that, too.
• What happens with Aiyuk, of course, relates to the window of opportunity that the Niners are in, one that may narrow a bit as certain key players get older, and a big quarterback contract is added to the team’s salary cap. So while I was there last week, I did want to ask guys if they felt pressure, or even a certain responsibility, to deliver on all of the potential we’ve known the Niners have had for the past half decade.
“I think when you have a bunch of really good players, you have to win as soon as possible because everybody’s got to get paid, especially when you have a quarterback,” All-Pro pass rusher Nick Bosa told me. “I think having a quarterback gives you some peace of mind. You know you have a franchise quarterback on the team, so you’ll always have a chance. The core guys that I’ve been around with, Trent [Williams], George [Kittle], Juice [Kyle Juszczyk], Fred [Warner], we definitely want to get one together.
“I don’t think there’s any extra motivation to what we do because we’re all so self-motivated. But we want to win it. And we want to do it for Kyle [Shanahan] as well—he’s been close a bunch of times.”
As for that team they have, Bosa continued, there’s really no doubt on what it’s capable of delivering. As he sees it, this is the best team he’s been a part of.
“Yeah, I do,” he said. “I’m always excited like that every year. I try not to think about that too much at this point because it’s so early. [But] we have everybody back, and we’ve added some new pieces. We’re as deep and as good as we’ve been. It seems a little more relaxed overall just because we know that everyone’s a pro and everybody’s going to come in and work. You don’t really have to get on people as much. We’ve all been through it enough times to know we’re going to prepare ourselves as much as we can. You don’t need to rip people every camp practice.
“It’s a little more of a chill vibe from what I’ve seen in camp. Guys are practicing extremely hard. It’s hard to get on people because you see everybody wanting to get better.”
Which, they hope, gives them that little bit extra to push a really good team over the top.
• A piece I picked up from Denver Broncos camp: That team’s brass is not just high on Bo Nix, the quarterback they selected with the 12th pick, but everyone is high on the whole draft class.
Take it from Sean Payton.
"I’m encouraged with this rookie class,” he said. “I’m telling you people are underestimating this [Devaughn] Vele we got later in the draft, Troy Franklin in the fourth round, Kaden Elliss’s brother [Jonah Elliss]. I told [CEO] Greg [Penner] about the 2006 class and the ’17 draft class in New Orleans. This ’24 draft class, you watch, it has a chance to be something you look back on and say these guys are all playing well.”
And Payton didn’t mention fifth-round tailback Audric Estime, who, in the minds of some in the building, has been the star of camp, carving out a spot in the rotation alongside Javonte Williams.
• One thing that was certainly noticeable at Cincinnati Bengals camp Sunday were the stars on the sideline—Ja’Marr Chase and Trey Hendrickson have been present and accounted for at practice, but aren’t taking the field as they pursue new contracts (Tee Higgins missed Sunday’s practice, too, but that looked to be more of a veteran maintenance day).
The silver lining for the Bengals is that they have gotten young players such as Andrei Iosivas, Charlie Jones and Jermaine Burton at receiver, and Myles Murphy at defensive end, a good amount of reps, which, you’d hope, will expedite their continued development.
And, sure, in an ideal world you get a little deeper for it. But no ideal world has these things dragging out too much longer. The resolution of the Aiyuk, CeeDee Lamb and Matthew Judon situations is one thing that could materially help the Bengals find clarity with the spot they’re in with their stars.
• Assuming it gets done, Connor Williams would be a really nice signing for the Seattle Seahawks. The interior of their offensive line is probably the biggest question mark on their roster, and Williams can play just about any spot up front, giving the team flexibility to plug him in wherever they feel like they’re lacking.
• Terrion Arnold has had a fantastic camp, so that he wasn’t hurt on a big hit from New York Giants OT Andrew Thomas on Monday was a pretty nice development for the Detroit Lions, especially after Emmanuel Moseley, who was competing for the slot corner spot, went down with a torn pec.
• While we’re there, the Malik Nabers fight gives you a little window into the intensity teams liked in him coming out, and a bit of the loose cannon the Giants know they’re going to have to control.
• Harrison Butker is worth the four-year, $25.6 million extension from the Kansas City Chiefs, who, more or less, are guaranteed to be playing on big stages for the foreseeable future.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Brandon Aiyuk Could Miss Out on 49ers’ Super Bowl Window.
