The Baltimore Ravens are the walking wounded at wide receiver. Pro Bowler Zay Flowers‘ hamstring injury shouldn’t land him on injured reserve, but it’s tough to be more optimistic about rookie starter Ja’Kobi Lane’s fractured wrist.
With the momentum generated by a newly explosive offense in a 41-23 blowout win over the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, it’s not out of the realm of possibility to think the Ravens might move to shore up the position.
Bleacher Report’s Kristopher Knox thinks that move could be a trade, proposing a blockbuster deal that would bring the Ravens’ disgruntled and sometimes bizarre-behaving San Francisco 49ers wide receiver and NFL All-Pro Brandon Aiyuk in exchange for a conditional 2027 7th-round pick.
“The San Francisco 49ers have been practically begging teams to bid on disgruntled wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk since the offseason began,” Knox wrote on September 16. “It’s hard to envision San Francisco suddenly changing its stance on Aiyuk, even after promising rookie receiver De’Zhaun Stribling suffered an ankle injury in the season opener. He’s expected to miss at least a month … although Aiyuk hasn’t played since suffering a significant knee injury in 2024, he is still only 28 and surpassed 1,300 receiving yards when he was last healthy in 2023. He could draw interest from teams who have experienced critical injuries at receiver.”
Popular Teammate Warns Against Aiyuk Trade
San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle is 1 of the league’s more genuinely interesting — and genuine — superstars.
That’s why it was so interesting to hear Kittle weigh in on Aiyuk after a summer of his long-lost teammate trying to force a trade to the Washington Commanders.
Aiyuk, a former NFL All-Pro like Kittle, hasn’t played for the 49ers since Week 7 of the 2024 regular season. He inexplicably cut off all contact with the team in the middle of the 2025 regular season — despite still being under contract after signing a 4-year, $120 million extension before the 2024 season.
“The last time I saw Aiyuk was, call it Week 6, 7, or 8. I don’t really know,” Kittle said on the Pardon My Take podcast on June 21 while talking to Commanders superfan and PMT co-host PFT Commenter. “I used to make it a habit of mine to go out early in the morning before meetings to watch him train because he’d always be out there early, and I watched him run over 22 miles an hour and stop on a dime. So, he’s still got it, or at least that was a year, eight months ago, so I don’t really know. But you guys have fun with that, I guess . . . You have fun with all that comes with it.”
Relationship Between Aiyuk, 49ers Disintegrated
At the time he signed his contract extension, Aiyuk was coming off consecutive 1,000-yard seasons, including his only NFL All-Pro season in 2023 with 75 receptions for 1,342 yards and 7 touchdowns.
Through 7 games in 2024, Aiyuk had 25 receptions for 374 yards and no touchdowns before a catastrophic knee injury in Week 7, when Aiyuk tore his ACL and MCL against the Kansas City Chiefs.
After Aiyuk cut off communications with the 49ers early in the 2025 season, the team was forced to void the rest of the guaranteed money in Aiyuk’s contract — approximately $25 million in 2026.
“We don’t know what he’s physically going to be like,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter said in March. “His knee was shredded.”
Blockbuster Ravens Trade Pitch Lands Disgruntled $120 Million All-Pro