If the Cleveland Browns want to trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, it’s going to cost them huge.

Most of the price talk over the past couple of days has explored players like Pro Bowl wide receiver Amari Cooper or Pro Bowl guard Wyatt Teller as the potential centerpieces of a return package to pry the wideout with a rising star away from the Bay Area and out from under the competition.

But, as it turns out, the 49ers don’t want a player at all. They want draft picks.

I was told 49ers were asking for two No. 1s. That fits this report. https://t.co/PYsp3Sa6gy

— James C Wexell (@jimwexell) August 7, 2024

“I was told 49ers were asking for two No. 1 [picks],” James Wexell of Steel City Insider reported via X on Wednesday, August 7. “That fits this report.”

The report to which Wexell referred came from Gerry Dulac of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the same day, in which Dulac stated that no verbal agreement yet existed between San Francisco and the Pittsburgh Steelers for Aiyuk and that any deal that might get done would not be built around a Steelers player.

Pittsburgh, an AFC North Division rival of Cleveland, is the other franchise most-closely linked to Aiyuk after the New England Patriots expressed interest, assessed the situation and ultimately bowed out of contention.

Browns Probably Can’t Land Brandon Aiyuk for Expensive Player Like Amari Cooper

Aiyuk, 26, will earn approximately $14 million in 2024 on a fifth-year team option the Niners exercised on his rookie contract. However, Aiyuk is coming off the best campaign of his career, in which he caught 75 passes for 1,342 yards and 7 TDs, and is looking for top-flight wideout money now.

Precisely what that figure is could vary based on the number of contract years and guaranteed dollars Aiyuk can negotiate with a new team. But approximately double what he’s making now, in the $28 million-$30 million range annually, is a reasonable guess based on recent salaries for elite receivers around the league.

If San Francisco could afford to pay Aiyuk that way, the team probably already would have done so. He emerged as their best wide receiver option last year ahead of Deebo Samuel and his arrow is still pointing up in terms of possible improvement/career prime timeline.

Given that the Niners haven’t met Aiyuk’s extension demands, it doesn’t make sense that the team would want to trade him for an expensive receiver in Cooper, who is four years older than Aiyuk with more of an injury history, only to face similar financial problems when Cooper hits unrestricted free agency next summer.

That isn’t to say that a trade for Aiyuk between the Browns and the 49ers won’t include a player or two, perhaps even a quality one who makes sense positionally, such as wideout Elijah Moore. But it likely does mean Cleveland will have to dig back into its coffer of draft assets, which general manager Andrew Berry has largely emptied in past years to build the roster the Browns have now.

Browns Recently Bet Big With Draft Assets on Deshaun Watson Trade, and Lost

Somewhat ironically, both the Browns and the 49ers made massive miscalculations at the QB position right around the same time, which cost each team three first-round picks.

Cleveland surrendered three firsts, plus several more selections, to the Houston Texans in March 2022 to acquire Deshaun Watson. The Browns then guaranteed the quarterback $230 million over five years. Since then Watson has given Cleveland 12 collectively subpar starts in return for a package that helped the Texans transform into a playoff team in just one year and a sleeper Super Bowl contender in only two.

The Niners forked over three first-rounders to the Miami Dolphins the year prior to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 in the 2021 NFL draft and select Trey Lance. Lance mostly played behind Jimmy Garoppolo for a year, suffered a serious injury in Week 2 of the 2022 campaign, subsequently lost his job to seventh-round pick Brock Purdy and ultimately found himself on the bench with Dallas Cowboys, traded there by the 49ers for just a fourth-round pick.

Both teams ultimately navigated their mistakes, with the Browns making the playoffs last year and the 49ers nearly winning the Super Bowl. But both franchises also learned harsh lessons about betting too big with first-round draft assets.

Trading or Not Trading for Brandon Aiyuk Could Prove Pivot Point for Browns Franchise

The Niners are putting that lesson to work for them by trying to use Aiyuk to stockpile future firsts, which will help the team add cheap talent to a roster that will get even more expensive in two years when San Francisco will have to pay Purdy.

The Browns may be in a different boat, however, as they consider how best to achieve success this season with Watson under center.

Cleveland owns its first-round pick in 2025 for the first time in three years and can have a meaningful draft next April with eight total selections, including four in the first four rounds. On the other hand, the Browns could field one of the best receiver trios in the NFL by slotting Aiyuk alongside Cooper and Jerry Jeudy.

Both teams are playing for now, though San Francisco is closer to a title and has a stronger long-term roster/salary cap prognosis. Trading Aiyuk to Cleveland for two firsts could represent a step back in 2024, though not necessarily an overly meaningful one, and would almost certainly be a move to keep 49ers’ contention window open even longer.

The same trade for the Browns would be something akin to tripling-down on trying to win in the next couple of seasons, as they would face a similar situation with Aiyuk as they did with Watson.

Not only will Cleveland have to cough up its draft future just to acquire Aiyuk, the team will also have to pay him huge money over several seasons when the front office is already cap-strapped due to all the other expensive talent currently on the team.