Brandon Aiyuk of the 49ers has been traded to the Steelers on a $14.1 million deal.

Sports Illustrated’s NFL analyst Albert Breer is still skeptical that the

Pittsburgh Steelers will acquire unsatisfied wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk from the San Francisco 49ers in a trade this summer.

For an article that was released on Wednesday,

Breer stated,

“The Pittsburgh Steelers really don’t go outside the organization to fill that position.”

The previous non-homegrown player to lead Pittsburgh in receptions in a single season was Don Looney,

and that was in World War II.

At that point,

they draft and develop—sometimes to an extreme degree.”

Long before he made the contentious statement last week that “[The 49ers] don’t want me back,”

26-year-old Aiyuk was being linked to the Steelers ahead of this year’s draft. Aiyuk is in the final year of his rookie deal.

It appears that he was not happy about being the focus of trade talks in the spring of last year.

Ray Fittipaldo of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a reporter covering the Steelers,

is one of the people who believes that Aiyuk could cause “uncomfortable”

situations for head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch of the 49ers between now and the end of the preseason.

Having said that, Breer has maintained throughout this ordeal that the 49ers will make a deal with Aiyuk, much like they did with Deebo Samuel,

who inked an extension with the team several months after he requested a trade in the spring of 2022.

“The best thing for a team on the cusp of the championship is to have a guy like Aiyuk,

who’s more of a pure No. 1 receiver than Samuel is,

on board,”

Breer said on Wednesday.

“I believe that within the next several months,

they will get Aiyuk there.

Even though it seems hopeless right now.”

The Steelers need a receiver badly,

but they would need to persuade the defending NFC champs to part with a valuable

offensive asset if one isn’t ready to take over right away.

Additionally,

Pittsburgh would have to grant Aiyuk the kind of contract extension he wants.

With the 2020 first-round selection signed through the upcoming season,

the 49ers have no need to weaken their offensive,

even though the Steelers might have been able to acquire Aiyuk for a first-round pick prior to this year’s draft.

Regarding the Aiyuk scenario,

Breer stated,

If the Niners didn’t want him for the long haul,

they wouldn’t be making the offers they have already put in front of him.

“I believe it will be completed.

To get there, it could just take a little longer and more acrimony between the parties.”