Happy Thursday, Niner Faithful! If you haven’t heard the news yet by now, let me help you remove that rock you’re living under…Brandon Aiyuk signed an extension. FINALLY. I’ll dive into that and more updates from the week:

Weekly Updates

Ladies and gentlemen, our long national nightmare is officially over. Jed York & John Lynch backed up the Brinks truck and paid Brandon Aiyuk to the tune of a 4 year extension worth $130 million. That will feed members of the Aiyuk family for the next 300+ years (hopefully Brandon has a good financial advisor 😏)

Believe it or not, other things happened this week too besides the Aiyuk deal. Lots of roster manipulation as all NFL teams had to trim their roster to 53 players this week. I will go much more in depth on the Aiyuk deal below, but first let’s take a look at updates from this week:

• Notable 49ers players cut:

  • RB Cody Schrader

  • DB Samuel Womack

  • OL Jarrett Kingston

• All 3 of the above players were signed by other teams, which shows just how deep (and respected) the 49ers roster is around the NFL.

  • Schrader (Rams), Womack (Colts), Kingston (Panthers)

• A huge surprise on cut day came when the 49ers placed Elijah Mitchell on the season-ending IL.

  • With Mitchell out, the RB2 spot is officially Jordan Mason’s role to run with!

• Leonard Floyd got back to practice this week! So good to have Floyd back after an injury scare in the final preseason game.

Random Tidbits from the Week

• The “experts” at NFL network put out their score predictions for week 1 of 49ers vs Jets. 9 of the 10 “experts” picked the 49ers to win.

  • I put experts in “quotes” because I don’t actually trust what they think or say, but I’m still always curious to see their predictions.

• With the Aiyuk deal, now all attention turns to getting a deal done with Trent Williams (arguably the most important player on this roster outside of Brock Purdy).

  • Kyle Shanahan said this week: “I’m optimistic that things will work out with Trent Williams. I’m not sitting here knowing what day it’ll be…when 2 sides want to get a deal done, usually it happens.”

• Frank Gore Jr. was waived by the Buffalo Bills this week. After no other teams claimed him, the Bills signed Gore Jr. to their practice squad.

• Speaking of the sons of legendary 49ers, Jerry Rice’s son Brenden made the roster for the Chargers!

  • Super happy for Brenden who was a 7th round pick out of USC, and has really impressed the Chargers this preseason (looks like he’s been getting some reps with the 1st team offense 👀 )

  • While I absolutely wish the best for Brenden Rice, it would definitely be painful for us Niner fans to watch Brenden Rice excel with a team other than the 49ers!

Fan Poll

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Aiyuk Deal

I’m not going to lie, about a week ago I started feeling pessimistic that this situation would end with a positive resolution for the 49ers, but it feels like this deal actually makes sense and allows us to move forward in a positive manner.

A couple interesting aspects to this deal. The devil is in the details:
1) As reported by Adam Scheffer and others, the deal that Aiyuk accepted was the same deal that had been on the table since August 12th. So despite the holding out and not practicing and trade rumor requests, the 49ers did not cave into the pressure and budge from their final offer. That is an important precedent for future deals…I promise this won’t be the last time we see a 49er hold out like this.

2) The other confirmed report that came out after the deal was signed was that the 49ers were willing to trade Aiyuk to the Steelers IF they could get a deal in place for a solid WR to replace him. The 49ers apparently targeted Broncos WR Courtland Sutton, but Denver was unwilling to accept a 3rd round pick for Sutton. Thus, the deal to trade Aiyuk never came to fruition.

Looking forward…how will the fan base feel towards Aiyuk? My thoughts are pretty simple: if he plays up to the standard he displayed last season, then all will be forgotten and forgiven. If he struggles though and we see a noticeable dip in his production (as a result of no training camp /preseason or as a result of lack of motivation now that he has more money than God), he will feel the heat from 49ers fans. I hope it’s the former and 4 years from now we are talking about Aiyuk as one of the greatest 49er receivers EVER.

Fan Trivia

*If you’re reading this on your email, clicking on an answer in the trivia poll will take you to the online version of this blog. Don’t worry—you can easily return to this email! You might be taken to the top of the page, but that's just a quick hop away from where you’re at on the email right now. Correct answers will be highlighted with a green check mark. Have fun and test your 49ers knowledge!

FOUR-ty Niners Graphics

FOUR-ty Niners Facts

1) If Nick Bosa can record at least 15 sacks this season, he will become just the 3rd player ever to record at least 15 sacks in his first 6 seasons! The 2 players in history who have done it are J.J. Watt & Reggie White. That would be some VERY special company to be apart of for Bosa…

2) Trent Williams has allowed just 1 sack in his last 983 pass-blocking snaps. Remember earlier when I said Trent is the most important player on this roster not named Brock Purdy?

3) Kyle Juszczyk’s pregame meals consist of filet mignon with sweet potatoes and spaghetti with scrambled eggs. That’s unique!

4) The 49ers are 11-3 all-time against the Jets. Time to make that 12-3 soon!

Highlight of the Week

Today’s highlight of the week has to go out to Brandon Aiyuk in honor of his extension. Here’s to many more plays like this in his 49ers future. We will take all the ladybug magic we can get! 🐞 

That’s all for today! We are just over a week away from game 1 vs the Jets and I couldn’t be more excited! The quest for Super Bowl number 6 is in full force.

Oh yeah, and also, hey Brandon Aiyuk, if you want to donate any of your money to help me continue writing this blog, just let me know! Happy to take a couple million off your hands. No pressure though 😓 

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Bang Bang Niner Gang!