49ers-Justin Jefferson trade rumors put Brandon Aiyuk's future with team in question

I love it when ESPN's Adam Schefter drops delicious little nuggets like this in the deep wake in the aftermath of huge NFL events. The man is as well-connected as anyone. While his reporting can be especially brutal at times, he does like to flex how insanely entrenched in the sources game he is at any given point. His latest example of this has everything to do with Justin Jefferson trade rumors.

Now that Jefferson has been giving a record-setting four-year deal to stay with Minnesota Vikings, Schefter felt comfortable to divulge this little secret about teams reportedly trying to trade for him ahead of the draft. Schefter said on his podcast that three teams reached out to the Vikings in trying to trade for Jefferson. That would be the New York Jets, Indianapolis Colts and San Francisco 49ers.

The Jets and Colts make sense, the 49ers' interest suggests they are at odds with Brandon Aiyuk.

"There were teams that reached out. The New York Jets reached out about Justin Jefferson. The Indianapolis Colts reached out about Justin Jefferson. The San Francisco 49ers reached out about Justin Jefferson."

Schefter did make it a point to say that Minnesota was not going to trade him. The conversations apparently didn't amount to much. With Jefferson re-signing, it is all a moot point now anyway...

"Every team that called the Vikings before the draft was told 'We're not trading him. The conversations went nowhere with anybody, so it was a moot point."

But with that in mind, you have to wonder what this means for Aiyuk's long-term fit in San Francisco.

Justin Jefferson trade interest is not a good look for Brandon Aiyuk at all

Look. If I were Aiyuk, I would be insulted upon hearing this news that just came out. Like Jefferson, he too is a former first-round pick coming out of a Power Five school of note. Jefferson may be arguably the best wide receiver in the game today, but it is not like Aiyuk is some run-of-the-mill scrub. I would say that the 49ers grossly underutilize him. He should be a No. 1 target on a contending NFL team.

Besides the fact that Aiyuk has not been extended yet, there are two other wrinkles in the 49ers' previous connection with the Vikings in a hypothetical Jefferson trade that never amounted to much of anything. The first is the 49ers just won the NFC ... with Aiyuk on their roster. They are not the same as the Jets and the Colts, who have not won their divisions since before Aiyuk could shave his face!

The other is possibly even more of a jab. San Francisco plays in the same conference as Minnesota, whereas the Colts and Jets play in the AFC. In essence, the 49ers would be going to the Vikings knowing they are going to have to trade more than their AFC counterparts, strictly because of the value of trading for a star player of note in-conference, and just how punitive that can be at times.

The 49ers are running out of time to make sure that Aiyuk gets extended before the season begins.