And the dominoes may be ready to fall: Brandon Aiyuk has officially requested a trade from the 49ers, and the Best Ball ramifications could be monstrous for him, San Francisco and whatever team gets him. But which team is in position to make the move? Let’s look at three potential Brandon Aiyuk trade destinations and evaluate what their players’ Underdog Best Ball rankings may look like in that event.
🚨 ICYMI, Brandon Aiyuk has OFFICIALLY requested a trade from the 49ers. 🚨
Whether San Francisco will oblige is to be seen, but needless to say, any potential trade will have massive ripple effects for both the 49ers and whichever team he ends up on.
Let’s dive into our FREE…
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Brandon Aiyuk Trade Destinations: Best Ball Rankings
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Washington Commanders
The Commanders rebuild is a work in progress, spearheaded by Jayden Daniels under center. What Washington does have going for it, though, is a good WR1 in Terry McLaurin and a solid running game in the making with Austin Ekeler and Brian Robinson. Behind them, though, it’s mostly question marks.
Adding Aiyuk gives Daniels an even safer safety blanket than the solid McLaurin, and it also adds some real stacking potential to an offense that has seemed flimsy in that regard this Best Ball draft season. Here are the draft rankings for the Commanders in this potential trade scenario:
Jayden Daniels: QB10, ADP 100.2, No. 89 Overall
Terry McLaurin: WR35, ADP 48.5, No. 61 Overall
Jahan Dotson: WR63, ADP 136.3, No. 129 Overall
Luke McCaffrey: WR79, ADP 185.3, No. 172 Overall
Ben Sinnott: TE25, ADP 176.3, No. 203 Overall
Starting with the pass catchers getting the shaft, Dotson probably stands to lose the most since he will go from WR2 to WR3 and was only a slight value in that role. The most likely scenario for him if the Commanders add Aiyuk is Dotson’s ADP dropping several rounds, where he could become decent value as a late-round stacking piece.
McCaffrey has some upside as a rookie third-rounder, but the move to WR4 on the depth chart will likely evaporate the value we’ve given him at 13 spots ahead of his ADP. At least Dotson has proven himself, with 83 targets last year and 11 total touchdowns in two seasons. McCaffrey would get the short end of the stick here.
Sinnott has been a bad value throughout since the public loves him to usurp Zach Ertz on the depth chart, but rookie tight ends don’t usually produce like Sam LaPorta did last year. Given Sinnott’s modest college production, he is probably a year or two away from real Best Ball value.
Now, the ones in this offense who stand to gain from an Aiyuk addition are the quarterback and current WR1. It may sound silly, but McLaurin would finally get the chance to see what it’s like when he isn’t the only receiver of threat in an offense. Sure, maybe McLaurin won’t get the 130-plus targets he’s seen in three of the last four years, but his highest yardage total is 1,191. For reference, he ranked 19th in targets but 28th in yards last year. Aiyuk, meanwhile, was 36th in targets and seventh in yards. The 49ers were very efficient with two alpha receiver, and that’s what McLaurin stands to gain.
And obviously, Daniels having another high-end WR1 would do wonders for his Best Ball projections, as right now his rushing upside is doing the bulk of the work getting him to QB10. He could work his way up to QB8 or so with the addition of Aiyuk.
Pittsburgh Steelers
For all his flaws, George Pickens is a talented receiver who is getting solid Best Ball projections as the lonely man in a rough-looking Steelers offense. Pittsburgh has major questions at quarterback and doesn’t really have good prospects there long-term, which hurts Pickens’ ranking a bit, but the WR2 right now is Roman Wilson, a third-round rookie out of Michigan.
If the Steelers want to get rebuilding on the offensive side, getting Aiyuk could signal to free-agent quarterbacks moving forward (or rookie draft picks) that they are looking to add weapons. And Aiyuk is a real WR1, so sliding Pickens into WR2 is a pretty good start. This is how the Steelers Best Ball rankings look right now for players most affected by an Aiyuk trade:
Russell Wilson: QB31, ADP 208.6, No. 240 Overall
George Pickens: WR31, ADP 40.5, No. 54 Overall
Roman Wilson: WR72, ADP 165.2, No. 154 Overall
Pat Freiermuth: TE15, ADP 133.9, No. 141 Overall
Is Russell Wilson going to suddenly become a top-20 quarterback with Aiyuk? Probably not. But it honestly can only get better than barely cracking the top 250 players overall, and Aiyuk was a big reason why Brock Purdy was an MVP candidate last year. Pairing him with Pickens is a real top 2 that teams will have to game plan against, as opposed to the current situation with the Steelers — which is … not that.
Roman Wilson and Freiermuth unfortunately will probably suffer the most since the former is the nominal WR2 currently and Freiermuth is the de facto WR2. They will get relegated to more ancillary roles — still useful in Best Ball, but better taken a round or two later than their current ADP suggests.
Pickens, on the other hand, may actually benefit in some ways (like McLaurin), at least from an efficiency standpoint. In terms of targets, he is going to eat this year if the Steelers don’t get Aiyuk. But he also is going to be the main target of opponent coverage since he is, by a wide margin, the best weapons Pittsburgh has. Add an even better weapon in Aiyuk, and now Pickens should see some softer spaces in which to work and the real production may not suffer at all — the targets, yes; the high-impact plays, possibly not.
New York Jets
From a salary cap standpoint, the Jets will need to move some things around to get Aiyuk, but that is well within the realm of possibility. They are also desperate to win this year since their quarterback is 40 and their receiving corps behind Garret Wilson is heavily reliant on Mike Williams staying healthy — which is tough to depend on. These are the rankings for Jets who could be most affect by an Aiyuk trade:
Aaron Rodgers: QB23, ADP 161.8, No. 158 Overall
Garrett Wilson: WR9, ADP 10.7, No. 12 Overall
Mike Williams: WR54, ADP 120.2, No. 111 Overall
Malachi Corley: WR70, ADP 175.6, No. 151 Overall
The Jets receivers behind Wilson have been popping as solid value at their draft positions out of necessity more than anything: Wilson is not catching every Rodgers pass this year. Corley in particular has been off the charts as value and is basically the only rookie receiver whom we view as undervalued.
However, Aiyuk would slot in comfortably next to Wilson, as we project him for 10 fewer fantasy points and six total spots lower in our rankings while he is sharing targets with Deebo Samuel, George Kittle and Christian McCaffrey. Splitting with only Wilson will improve his projections and create a legit, dynamic one-two. That event would relegate Williams to WR3 and Corley to WR4 at best, so those two guys would likely fall in rankings closer to their ADP. Wilson will take a hit as well, but not a dramatic one.
Rodgers, meanwhile, would in this case have a solid pass-catching unit as opposed to the uninspired one he is currently facing, so he would likely see a leap up from his QB23 status.
