Broncos helped screw over Steelers in Brandon Aiyuk pursuit

Just when you thought we were all done writing about Brandon Aiyuk this NFL offseason, think again. While he did return to the San Francisco 49ers on the same four-year, $120 million extension that was always on the table, apparently there was a trade proposed that nearly shook up the league. It involved the 49ers, the Denver Broncos and the Pittsburgh Steelers, with Denver pulling the plug.

Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported on Thursday evening that "the 49ers only were willing to trade Brandon Aiyuk if they could get a top-flight WR to replace him. They offered a third-round pick to Denver for Courtland Sutton, and then would've dealt Aiyuk to the Steelers, but the Broncos declined the offer." The Steelers not have an available wide receiver to trade was always their biggest issue.

Sutton would have thrived playing in Kyle Shanahan's offense in San Francisco. Even though he has never been part of a good time in Denver, there is an outside chance the Broncos are better than we all expected. It really comes down to if first-round rookie quarterback Bo Nix is ready to be a star in the league. I think he will be okay, but I remain skeptical of him being as good as Denver thinks he is.

I get why the Broncos did not agree to the trade, but I can feel the frustration for the other two teams.

San Francisco still has its Super Bowl window open, but they must find a way to make it work already.

Denver Broncos threw a wrench into a potential Brandon Aiyuk trade

What I keep going back to was how inherently stubborn both parties within the 49ers organization were over this supposed contract dispute. John Lynch and the 49ers front office would not budge on their contract offer to Aiyuk, nor would they budge on what they wanted in return for a trade. At the end of the day, they won out, and everybody else lost. Optically, it was terrible for everyone involved.

The Steelers lose in this because they have an underqualified No. 1 wide receiver in George Pickens, and a bunch of random dudes behind him on the depth chart. Denver is going to lose a bunch this year, but I don't think trading away Sutton was going to make any bit of difference. Retaining him makes the Broncos slightly better, but not by a huge margin. And then there is San Francisco in this...

For whatever reason, it has always been beyond pulling teeth to get their star players extended under Lynch's guidance. This is a team that should be vying for the Super Bowl, but keeps coming up short. They won the NFC last year and could do so this season. However, they are running out of opportunities to get it done with this regime. Not winning one in several years will be viewed as failure.

Keeping Aiyuk around helps, but he put this team through so much selfish agony over this offseason.