The chances of the San Francisco 49ers trading star wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk prior to the start of the 2024 season are reportedly considered low across the NFL.

Speaking Saturday on SportsCenter, ESPN NFL insider Jeremy Fowler said the Niners have “not shown a willingness” to trade Aiyuk or reward him with a big contract extension:

“From what I’m hearing, he’s going to have an uphill battle to get traded, because the 49ers have just not shown a willingness to want to do that. One source told me that he wants to either be traded or paid, the 49ers have shown a willingness to do neither. Now, they want to pay him, the context is market value, they don’t want to get up to that $30 million range that he feels he’s earned. He’s a top-10 receiver now, Amon-Ra St. Brown in Detroit got a deal for around $30 million per year, so that’s just where the market has headed for these guys who put up 1,300-1,400 yards a year.”

ESPN’s Adam Schefter (h/t ESPN’s Nick Wagoner) reported earlier this week that Aiyuk requested a trade due to the fact that there has been no progress in contract talks with the 49ers.

However, Schefter added that the Niners have told interested teams they have no plans to trade Aiyuk.

The 26-year-old Aiyuk is set to enter his fifth NFL season and the final year of his rookie contract, so it comes as little surprise that he wants to be paid.

Aiyuk has reached the 1,000-yard receiving mark in each of the past two seasons, registering 1,015 yards to go along with a career-high 78 receptions and eight touchdowns in 2022.

He was even better and more explosive last season, racking up 75 grabs for a career-high 1,342 yards, plus seven scores. Aiyuk also had nine catches for 149 yards and one touchdown in three playoff games, as the Niners reached the Super Bowl.

Aiyuk led the 49ers in every major receiving category, suggesting he had supplanted Deebo Samuel as the team’s No. 1 receiver, and was quarterback Brock Purdy’s favorite target.

San Francisco rewarded Samuel with a three-year, $71.55 million contract extension in 2022, and a strong argument can be made that Aiyuk has earned a bigger deal than that.

As noted by Fowler, Detroit’s St. Brown recently became the third-highest-paid wideout in the NFL annually with a salary of just over $30 million per year on the heels of being named a First Team All-Pro and setting career highs with 119 catches for 1,515 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Aiyuk likely won’t get quite as much as St. Brown or Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill, who makes $30 million per year, but it can be argued that he should surpass the fifth-highest-paid receiver in the Dolphins’ Jaylen Waddle, who has an average annual value of $28.25 million.

Given the amount of money the 49ers have tied up in Samuel, running back Christian McCaffrey, tight end George Kittle, offensive tackle Trent Williams, linebacker Fred Warner, pass-rusher Nick Bosa and others over multiple years, fitting another $30 million or so into the budget could be tough, if not impossible.

However, even if the 49ers feel it is unlikely they will be able to sign Aiyuk to an extension, their preferred path may be to ride it out with Aiyuk in 2024 before letting him hit free agency next offseason since they are among the leading Super Bowl contenders in the NFL.