Feb. 4, 2026, 8:00 a.m. PT
The San Francisco 49ers who step on the field in 2026 will look very different than the team that the Seattle Seahawks eliminated in a divisional-round matchup at Lumen Field this year.
General manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan will execute several roster moves over the coming months, that will hopefully put them in a better position to compete going forward.
One move that the 49ers will consider is trading wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who missed the entire 2025 season while recovering from a torn ACL and leaving the team without communication during the process.
While it seems more likely that Aiyuk will just get cut, there’s a chance that a team shows enough interest to warrant a trade.
Earlier this week, Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine predicted that the Buffalo Bills will be the team that makes the call.
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“[A.J.] Brown would be the preferred target. His relationship with Philadelphia has been a topic of speculation all season and the team that trades for him would get an incredibly team-friendly deal,” Ballentine wrote. “However, Brandon Aiyuk should cost significantly less in terms of what the Bills would have to give up in draft capital. The 49ers voided the star receivers guarantees after a rift formed between the two regarding his rehab from the torn ACL that forced him to miss this season. He’s more than capable of being Allen’s No. 1 target when he’s healthy.”
Aiyuk’s last fully healthy season saw him catch 75 passes for 1,342 yards and seven touchdowns. That type of production would immediately improve Buffalo’s offense under new head coach (and former offensive coordinator) Joe Brady.
For the 49ers, they’d be able to get some draft capital back for a player that tanked their value over the last year. That would be a win in itself.
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