The San Francisco 49ers have been adamant about their desire to sign wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to a long-term contract extension while dismissing any notion of being involved in talks over a trade of their star wide receiver.

Any team wanting to test the 49ers' resolve over Aiyuk received reaffirmation of the likely price of doing business on Wednesday as news emerged that Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs had been traded to the Houston Texans.

The Bills received a 2025 second-round pick in exchange for Diggs, with Buffalo also sending a 2025 fifth and a 2024 sixth-rounder to the Texans in the deal.

Diggs is coming off his sixth straight 1,000-yard season, but his 2023 campaign was his worst for some time.

The former Minnesota Viking had 10 drops, per Sports Info Solutions, while he caught 83.8% of on-target balls thrown in his direction, 58th among wide receivers with at least 50 targets.

Diggs ranked 47th in Expected Points Added per target and 29th in positive play rate.

By contrast, Aiyuk, coming off a second-team All-Pro season that marked the best of his career, was first in EPA per target and positive play rate, while he also led the NFL wideouts with at least 50 targets in on-target catch percentage (97.3%).

Now entering his age-31 season, Diggs appears to be on the downswing of his career, yet the Bills were still able to land significant draft capital in next year's draft in return for his services.

Continuing to improve year on year, Aiyuk is still only 26 with his prime years to come, with his value to the 49er offense likely to only inflate his price.

In explaining why an Aiyuk trade might be more likely after this month's draft, an NFL executive told The Athletic's Mike Sando:

"Aiyuk is so integral to what they do, more so than Deebo Samuel is, that I'd try to get something done with him before Justin Jefferson and these other receivers get deals and the price goes up. Because this is a deep receiver draft, they may try to do it in reverse. If there is something they can get done from a draft standpoint, then it could be moving Aiyuk or knowing their feet are to the fire and they have to extend him."

San Francisco will likely remain firm in its stance that a trade will not happen either side of the draft, and the Diggs deal strengthens their hand.

After seeing the Bills get a second-rounder for Diggs, the 49ers are in an excellent position where they can ask for at least a first-rounder for an ascending talent who has been pivotal to their success. 

With Aiyuk able to play on the fifth-year option and the franchise tag available to the 49ers next offseason, they hold all the leverage. They don't want to trade Aiyuk and don't need to. Following the latest movement on the wide receiver market, any team attempting to coax the 49ers out of that position will have to prepare to pay an extremely heavy price.

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