Aiyuk details the reasons why he decided to sign a contract extension with the 49ers Originally appeared in NBC Bay Area Sports
It took several months, but the 49ers finally signed Brandon Aiyuk. Lucrative contract extension last month.
After both sides reached the agreement, multiple reports emerged about how the deal was reached, including one from San Francisco. He gave Aiyuk an ultimatum before signing.
On Tuesday, Aiyuk himself explained his motivations for signing an extension.
“Just being with my people, the people I know, the people I’ve been with for the last four years,” Aiyuk detailed on teammate Deebo Samuel’s new podcast, “Cleats and Convos.”
“The people I get to see have kids, they get to see their kids grow up a little bit, they get to see me have kids, they get to see my kids grow up a little bit,” Aiyuk continued. “So I really stick with family.”
Aiyuk then added that the 49ers organization feels like home to him.
When asked if he played a role in Aiyuk’s contract negotiations, Samuel revealed he largely stayed out of it.
“I told him, ‘In the end, everything will work out the way you want it to,'” Samuel replied. “I wasn’t going to go into it too much, because when I was living it, I didn’t want anyone to bother me.”
In 2022, Samuel went through a similar situation before signing a three-year extension. Perhaps the success of his own negotiations led him to trust that “everything was going to work out” with Aiyuk, which had maintained since training camp.
Ultimately, Aiyuk’s statement shows the importance of San Francisco’s camaraderie off the field, in addition to its consistent success in actual games.
