As the cliché goes, nice guys finish last. 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk, in officially requesting a trade this week, has figured that out.
There’s another modified saying that has been particularly relevant to the 49ers in recent years.
The squeaky wheel gets the green.
That’s how receiver Deebo Samuel cashed in two years ago. From the outset of the offseason, he agitated. He wanted to be traded. He created the impression he was done with the 49ers.
And it worked.
Last year, defensive end Nick Bosa stayed away until he got paid. And it worked.
Others have gotten paid. Running back Christian McCaffrey, whose squeaking was extremely discreet and generally minimal but nevertheless effective, got paid. Tackle Trent Williams has gotten paid. Most key players from the team that has made it to four conference championships and two Super Bowls have been rewarded.
Those they didn’t want to pay got a fresh start, whether it was defensive tackle DeForest Buckner via trade or defensive lineman Arik Armstead, who was given an ultimatum to take a pay cut or take a hike and choose a fresh start.
Aiyuk falls in a rare category for the Kyle Shanahan/John Lynch 49ers. The 2023 second-team All-Pro clearly deserves more than the $14.1 million he’s due to earn in the fifth year of his rookie deal. They won’t give him what he wants, however. And they won’t trade him to a team that will.
Earlier this year, it seemed as if they were hoping to keep the band together for one more season before figuring out how to reconfigure the roster after the next run at an elusive sixth Super Bowl win.
If that happens, it’ll come against the wishes of Aiyuk, who’s trying to parlay a great performance last year into the contract he believes he deserves.
He was second in the league last year with 12.8 yards per target, racking up 1,342 receiving yards with only 105 passes thrown his way. (Bills receiver Khalil Shakir led the NFL with 13.6, but he had only 611 total receiving yards.)
From Aiyuk’s perspective, what would he do if he got, for example, the 181 targets that went to Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb? What would Aiyuk do with even 150?
The 49ers could find out, perhaps by trading Samuel. Or by trading Aiyuk.
Regardless, Aiyuk decided this week to start squeaking. We’ll see if it works.
Veteran linebacker and special teams contributor Tyler Matakevich will have a second stint with the Steelers.
The Steelers announced today that they have signed Matakevich to a one-year contract.
The 31-year-old Matakevich was a 2016 seventh-round draft pick of the Steelers after a stellar college career at Temple, where he won both the Bronko Nagurski Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award, both of which honor the best defensive player in the nation. He played four seasons for the Steelers and then played four more seasons for the Bills.
In his eight NFL seasons Matakevich has played only a minor role on defense but has always been a core special teams player, with 90 percent of his career snaps coming on special teams. He’ll be primarily a special teams player in Pittsburgh this season.
To make room for Matakevich on the 90-playr roster, the Steelers released safety Jalen Elliott.
If Sam Hartman and five other rookie quarterbacks don’t make it in the NFL, they’ll have an opportunity waiting for him in another league.
Six of the quarterbacks drafted today by the UFL are currently on NFL rosters.
The Birmingham Stallions took Hartman in the ninth round. The Arlington Renegades took UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee in round one, the D.C. Defenders took BYU quarterback Kedon Slovis in round two and Wisconsin quarterback Tanner Mordecai in round nine, the Memphis Showboats took Kansas quarterback Jason Bean in round one, the Michigan Panthers took Northern Illinois quarterback Rocky Lombardi in round five, and the St. Louis Battlehawks took San Jose State quarterback Chevan Cordeiro in round one.
Only Cordeiro, who was signed by the Seahawks and released in early May, isn’t currently on an NFL roster.
Hartman signed with the Commanders after the draft. Rhys Plumlee currently is on the Steelers’ roster. Slovis signed with the Colts. Mordecai plays for the 49ers. Bean plays for the Colts. Lombardi plays for the Bengals.
As the Jets explored the possibility of hiring an offensive coordinator to coordinate the offense coordinated by Nathaniel Hackett, an offensive coordinator who did the job well enough in Tennessee to become a head coach was contacted.
As reported by Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com, former Falcons coach Arthur Smith was “talked to about possibly being part of the play-calling process.”
PFT has confirmed that there were communications. However, we’re told that Smith wasn’t interested, in part because the role wasn’t clear.
The job Smith now has — Steelers offensive coordinator — is the one Smith wanted. Once it was offered, that was that.
The report makes far more tangible the reporting that the Jets were looking for someone who would supervise the man who supervises the offense. The more direct approach would have been to fire Hackett and hire a new coordinator. And that might have happened, if the starting quarterback who wanted Hackett to be the offensive coordinator would have allowed it.
After finishing last season No. 31 in points and No. 32 in yards, the Panthers made a lot of offensive changes for 2024 — like trading for Diontae Johnson and trading up to select Xavier Legette at No. 32 overall.
In an interview with NFL Network, veteran Adam Thielen noted how those two receivers have added to the group. Plus, he’s also noticed improvement from players like Jonathan Bingo and Terrace Marshall Jr.
“It’s been a really exciting offseason to see those guys go to work,” Thielen said. “Some of the young guys get so much better — Mingo, Terrace Marshall. There are so many talented guys that weren’t really able to be themselves last year or years in the past. So, it’s been really cool to see them grow as players.
“Then Diontae, he’s just a special football player. The way that he moves and changes direction and can really track the football, you could tell it was an instant boost to that group and our team. So, I’m very excited about that. It’s great to have a talented rookie coming in that has a different skill set from the rest of us. He’s a big, strong, physical, fast guy that could do a lot of things. When you are able to have a few guys that could do a lot of different things, it creates a very easy, organic way to have success on offense.”
Johnson, 28, has 391 career receptions for 4,363 yards with 25 touchdowns in 77 games. He finished last year with 51 catches for 717 yards with five TDs in 13 games.
Carolina acquired Johnson in March in exchange for cornerback Donte Jackson. The teams also swapped low-round draft picks in the deal.