Bills considered one of NFL’s top picks for 49ers WR Brandon Aiyuk

How can a team help its fans emotionally recover from the offseason departure of a true No. 1 receiver?

By going out and getting another one, of course.

The Buffalo Bills overhauled their receiving corps in the 2024 offseason, allowing former wideout Gabriel Davis to leave in free agency before trading perennial Pro Bowler Stefon Diggs, the franchise’s fourth-leading receiver of all time, to the Houston Texans. Buffalo supplemented its departures with valuable free agents and high-potential rookies like Curtis Samuel, Marquez Valdes-Scantling and Keon Coleman; those players, combined with third-year wide receiver Khalil Shakir and second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid, should keep the Bills’ passing game afloat, but the offense, on paper, isn’t as formidable as it was just a few months ago.

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It’s that idea that has Buffalo fans excited about Brandon Aiyuk, a reigning second-team All-Pro receiver who requested a trade from the San Francisco 49ers this week after contract talks broke down. San Francisco has publicly rejected the idea of ​​trading the receiver, but that hasn’t stopped fans across the country, including Western New York, from dreaming of seeing Aiyuk suit up for their favorite team.

And boy, is that possibility intriguing. Aiyuk, despite his recent national recognition, may be always One of the most underrated receivers in the game. He caught 269 passes for 3,931 yards and 25 touchdowns over his four-year professional career. His speed and elite route-running ability make him one of the most fun receivers to watch in the NFL. Pairing the 26-year-old with an otherworldly quarterback like Josh Allen would undoubtedly result in frequent fireworks, a sentiment that was recently echoed by ESPN.

Reporter Dan Graziano recently wrote a piece for the site detailing the league’s top five picks for Aiyuk, citing the Bills as a potential pick. The author notes that Buffalo’s offseason receiver movement and its need for top-tier receivers are potential motivations for the move.

“No, they don’t have the salary cap to take on $14.125 million either, but the Bills aren’t far off and could probably get there with a few small moves,” Graziano said. “After trading Stefon Diggs to Houston and losing Gabe Davis to Jacksonville in free agency, the Bills certainly have a need at the position. Rookie Keon Coleman is still unknown, and right now, Buffalo seems likely to try to build its 2024 offense around second-year tight end Dalton Kincaid and third-year running back James Cook while their receiver situation gets sorted out. Adding Aiyuk would obviously leave the Bills with less to figure out.”

While a trade for Aiyuk isn’t impossible, it doesn’t seem likely at this point. Whichever team acquires the receiver (if he ultimately is traded), they’ll need to sign him to an extension quickly; he has one year left on his rookie deal, and his lack of a financially viable long-term deal is a big part of the motivation for his trade request. While the Bills have freed up some long-term financial flexibility with their offseason moves (most notably the Diggs trade), they’re still strapped for cash in the immediate future; Buffalo currently has just over $10 million in cap space, according to OverTheCap, and the Bills are a team that likes to have money available in case they need it during the regular season.

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Buffalo probably could The Bills could put Aiyuk’s roughly $14 million salary cap hit on the books in 2024, but his potential extension is another story; the former first-round pick is reportedly seeking a contract with an average annual value of around $28 million. That’s a significant financial commitment for any club, especially one with a murky salary cap situation; according to OverTheCap, the Bills are currently $3.7 million over the cap for the 2025 season (they’ll obviously get through that with releases and restructuring, but it paints a clear picture of the team’s still-partially unresolved financial woes).

There’s also the fact that Buffalo would have to part with significant assets to acquire Aiyuk (likely a top draft pick or two), and it’s hard to imagine the team acquiring the receiver this offseason, no matter how much fun it would be to see him play with the likes of Allen and Coleman. Maybe they’ll be able to make a run at him next spring if he becomes a free agent, but seeing Aiyuk wear Buffalo’s helmet during the 2024 campaign doesn’t seem feasible.

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