San Francisco 49ers celebrate Aiyuk contract extension on social media

The San Francisco 49ers officially announced the signing of All-Pro wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk to a $120 million four-year contract extension Friday and marked the occasion with a flurry of social media posts.

The team issued a press release about the contract extension early Friday afternoon, though the news of the deal was first reported by the NFL Network almost 24 hours earlier Thursday. The four-year extension will keep Aiyuk with the 49ers through the 2028 season.

"We were thrilled to draft Brandon in 2020 and are now equally excited to have him in the fold for years to come," President of Football Operations and General Manager John Lynch was quoted as saying in the release. "Brandon is a special talent who is a warrior on the field and plays with a passion that we look for in 49ers. We look forward to Brandon continuing to be part of what we strive to accomplish as an organization."

The drama surrounding what would happen with Aiyuk -- a football vigil called "BA Watch" by some -- stretched through the summer training camp with weeks of trade rumors and a "hold-in" that lasted through the pre-season.

A day before the deal was announced, coach Kyle Shanahan said he hoped that Aiyuk would be on the field after the lengthy contract dispute. The receiver reported to training camp in July to avoid fines, but refused to practice without a deal. Shanahan cited a back injury as the official reason earlier this summer.

Aiyuk had demanded a trade to a team willing to pay him if a deal with the Niners didn't materialize. Rumors of talks with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots, the Washington Commanders and the Cleveland Browns surfaced, but none of those teams won the jackpot in the Aiyuk sweepstakes.

On Friday, the 49ers took a virtual victory lap, flooding its social media feeds with images and videos of Aiyuk.

"Can't spell The Bay without BA" read the first post on X that included a link to the team's official press release on the extension. It was accompanied by a photo of Aiyuk signing his contract extension.

Subsequent posts on the team's X account included video highlights from the receiver's career as well as a clip of Aiyuk embracing Lynch before the GM shook hands with Aiyuk's young son.

"Today's a good day," the text to the video post read.

The team also posted video and a childhood photo of Aiyuk wearing a 49ers shirt and other clips and photos on both its Facebook and Instagram accounts.

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