Trouble In Paradise: How the San Francisco 49ers’ Contract Holdout Issues Have Affected Team Performance
By Jack Zinke | Oct. 21, 2024
The San Francisco 49ers have consistently been at the top of the NFL in the past 5 seasons. With 2 Super Bowl trips and 4 NFC Championship appearances over that time period, it appears that everything has always been clicking for the Niners; however, recent contract holdouts and disputes with players have led to complications with San Francisco’s usually stellar record.
Star wideout Brandon Aiyuk put up career highs last season, totaling 1,342 receiving yards, 7 touchdowns, and nearly averaging 84 yards per game. With back-to-back 1,000+ yard seasons, Aiyuk was due for a big extension heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
Following a devastating loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII, contract negotiations started to take place between Aiyuk and 49ers’ General Manager, John Lynch. These talks escalated throughout the entire offseason with little to no movement on either side. On July 16, Brandon Aiyuk officially requested to be traded. Although ultimately nothing in the end came of that request, due to the escalating events that took place throughout the offseason and early part of the season, a trade seemed certain for Aiyuk.
According to Jay Glazer, Aiyuk very narrowly escaped becoming a Pittsburgh Steeler thanks to Head Coach Kyle Shanahan: “The day it actually got done, the 49ers were trading him to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was already en route there. And then all a sudden Brandon Aiyuk happened to show up early to the facility that day. Went downstairs trying to meet with Kyle Shanahan, Kyle Shanahan was trying to get in touch with the front office, but they couldn’t take his call because they were trying to get the trade done to the Pittsburgh Steelers. So Shanahan actually ran all the way upstairs, said, ‘hold this, let’s put a hold on these trade talks right now. Pittsburgh we’ll call you right back.’ They went down and talked to Aiyuk for about two hours and said, ‘look you have until the end of practice, we’re either trading you to Pittsburgh today or you can take the deal that’s been on the table, it’s up to you, but you have until the end of practice.’ He [Aiyuk] says, ‘this is where I want to be.’ Brandon Aiyuk remains a 49er.”
In an incredible turn of events, Aiyuk agreed to a 4-year contract extension worth $120 million to stay put with San Francisco. While it seems like a ‘happily ever after’ type of story, that’s not entirely true. This deal was agreed to on August 29, just 11 days before the team’s season opener against Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets on September 9, 2024. Aiyuk, who missed the entirety of training camp before the signing and did not touch the field in preseason, would obviously not be in his best shape heading into a crucial 2024-25 season.
On August 30, 2024 Wide Receiver Brandon Aiyuk inked a 4-year contract extension worth $120 million to stay put with San Francisco. Getty Images
While Aiyuk has been able to touch the field in each of the team’s first 6 games, his play has left much more to be desired as a result of how lucrative his extension was. Against New York, Aiyuk recorded 2 catches for 28 yards. In Minnesota, he had just 4 receptions for 43 yards. In a divisional matchup against the Rams, Aiyuk reeled in only half of his 10 targets for 48 yards. Versus New England, one of the worst-ranked defenses in the league, he again had just 2 catches for 48 yards and only 2 catches for 37 yards at Seattle last week. Aiyuk’s lone noteworthy performance came against the Arizona Cardinals, where he had 8 receptions for 174 yards. Subtracting the game against Arizona, Aiyuk has recorded just 204 yards across 5 matchups and 0 touchdowns. At this rate, Aiyuk is on pace to put up a measly 693 yards, and that’s assuming that he plays in all 17 regular season games. It’s incredibly clear that these numbers don’t exactly equate to a $30 million-a-year NFL wideout.
Perhaps more importantly, Aiyuk’s sloppy start is directly affecting the team’s ability to win crucial matchups up until this point. Most high-profile analysts projected that the 49ers would be at the top of the NFC this year and many had them penciled in as the Super Bowl favorites prior to the start of the season. At this point in time, they hold a record of 3-3. Two of the three losses are to inferior divisional opponents in the Rams and Cardinals, who sit at 1-5 and 2-4, respectively. The Rams faced the 49ers without their core offensive playmakers, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua, and managed to pull out a win. On the other hand, the Cardinals rode on the back of Quarterback Kyler Murray’s scrambling and running capabilities, which led them to victory. In both losses, the Niners looked flat and uninspired.
This underperformance comes in a year where the 49ers feel that they must win the Lombardi as Quarterback Brock Purdy’s extension is looming large. Purdy was the last pick of the 2022 NFL draft and was thus dubbed “Mr. Irrelevant.” He then signed a 4-year rookie contract worth $3.7 million. Outplaying his extremely cheap contract, Purdy has allowed the 49ers to spend money elsewhere over the past couple of seasons. Unfortunately for them, the time has come for Purdy’s massive extension. The young phenom’s contract should exceed $60 million on average per season, arguably closing the Super Bowl window for San Francisco as key pieces will have to go. To afford Purdy’s potentially record-breaking payday, the Niners front office will inevitably have to make some extremely hard decisions following the 2024-25 season. Such moves might include parting ways with Wide Receiver Deebo Samuel or Tight End George Kittle, who are currently playing on expensive, but expendable contracts. Samuel is currently making $23.85 million on average per season, while Kittle is bringing in $15 million on average per year. Deals such as these will need to be restructured in order to keep the offensive core together beyond 2025. This season is Super Bowl or bust for SF, and a 3-3 start is not going to help them in the long run with a daunting remainder of the schedule on the horizon. San Francisco plays the Chiefs, Cowboys, Buccaneers, Seahawks, Packers, and Bills consecutively. All these teams are likely to make the playoffs or are going to make a run at it. If lucky, the 49ers should escape with a 6-6 record. Things are not going to get easier for this squad going forward.
This wasn't the only contract holdout that San Francisco had to deal with this offseason. Future Hall of Fame Left Tackle Trent Williams missed the majority of training camp and the entirety of preseason before both sides eventually agreed upon a 3-year contract extension worth $82.66 million. Like Aiyuk, Williams was visibly affected by the lack of offseason preparation. There were multiple instances in the first couple of games, where Williams had to take a few plays off or had to go to the locker room to ‘catch his breath.’ While still providing glimpses of his dominance, it’s obvious that Williams has just not looked the same thus far.
Perhaps a credit to the 49ers roster talent, they have not been a stranger to contract holdouts. Standout Defensive End Nick Bosa had just come off of a 2022-23 season, where he recorded a career-high 18.5 sacks and was recognized as the NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Similarly to Aiyuk, Bosa was due for a huge contract extension. Unfortunately for San Francisco, the process lingered deep into the start of training camp and into preseason as well. While it never seemed as if Bosa would be traded elsewhere, the process was definitely frustrating and exhausting for both sides, at times looking as if the dispute might actually spill into the start of the regular season. Nick Bosa and the 49ers eventually agreed to a five-year $170 million contract extension on September 6, 2023. Even closer to the start of the season than when Aiyuk agreed to an extension, Bosa signed just 4 days prior to the Week 1 matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bosa played minimally in the first few games of that season, and when he was on the field, the edge rusher was visibly gassed. The team also had a lackluster start to the 2023-24 season, going 5-3 in the team’s first 8 regular season games. In these 8 games, Bosa only managed to tally 3 sacks. If he had continued on that pace, Bosa would only have put up 7 sacks in 17 games that year, far from what his expected contribution would have been for that season. Fortunately for the Niners, he did, in fact, pick it up towards the end of the season, tallying 10.5 sacks that year, still short of where fans and Bosa expect himself to be.
San Francisco 49ers Defensive End Nick Bosa signed a 5-year $170 million contract extension on September 8, 2023 to make him the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history. Scot Tucker/Associated Press
The last couple seasons have established a consistent trend for San Francisco: contract holdouts for key players = slow starts for the team. Not only is it harmful for the direct players involved, but it is also a major distraction for the rest of the team. Contract disputes are a cause of unwanted drama in the team circle. The media questions teammates about these situations, rather than information relevant to what the team is doing on the field. Distractions, like these, keep players’ minds off the field instead of on the field. Regardless, these contract holdouts and disputes will never garner positive outcomes for either the teams or players involved as controversy, drama, and tension will become unavoidable.
The 49ers are not the only team that has been affected by a contract holdout this season. This offseason, the New York Jets acquired Edge Rusher Haason Reddick from the Philadelphia Eagles to boost their defensive line. Seen as a huge addition to the defensive side of the ball, the Jets knew that they’d need to sign Reddick to an extension prior to the start of the season. The Jets and Reddick had from April to September to strike a deal before the regular season started and were not able to come to an agreement. The dispute continued into the regular season and is amazingly still ongoing in Week 7. Reddick has accrued approximately $8 million in fines for missing games and practices for the Jets. The situation has become so bad that Reddick’s own agency, Creative Artists Agency, dropped him on October 14, 2024. The distraction of Haason Reddick’s dispute has definitely lingered into the team locker room. Not only has Rodgers and crew gone 2-4 in 6 games, but they also parted ways with Head Coach Robert Saleh after 3 ½ years at the helm.
*(Update: Haason Reddick agreed to a short-term contract restructure with the Jets on October 20, 2024, shortly after this article was written.)
Edge Rusher Haason Reddick was traded by the Philadelphia Eagles to the New York Jets on March 29, 2024. Getty Images
It is extremely evident that contract holdouts are not a good thing for NFL teams. It becomes an unwanted distraction, creating a toxic and uncomfortable atmosphere in the locker room, and taking the focus off of the field. It’s also important to note that players need to make sure that they have an agency that has their best interest in mind, and that owners need to know that they have a front office that is looking out for the best interest of the organization going forward. There’s a possibility that this is actually a representation problem and not just an issue of stubbornness on the behalf of the player or team involved. A front office that wants to hash things out quickly and responsibly is what ownership needs to look for, while players need to make sure that their reputation and relationship with the team is not ruined because of their agent’s negotiating tactics. It is becoming increasingly imperative that teams and players come to agreements prior to the start of training camp, preseason, and absolutely before the regular season. The negative effects of a drawn out negotiation outweigh the financial benefits a team or player may receive by just ‘waiting it out.’ Hopefully, both parties in the NFL figure this out soon before it sprouts into a much larger leaguewide issue.
