First Call: 49ers making late push to extend Brandon Aiyuk; injured Chase Claypool's spot filled by another ex-Steeler in Buffalo

Wednesday’s “First Call” attempts to surf through the Brandon Aiyuk saga and whether or not he is going to become a Pittsburgh Steeler.

We also get into a messy wide receiver situation in Cincinnati. The Steelers are making moves at that position down the depth chart.

The Bills are bringing another familiar face to Acrisure Stadium on Thursday, and an ex-Penguins goalie has a new home in Dallas.

Now what?

The latest word on where things stand in the Steelers’ pursuit of San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk isn’t great.

At least if you are among those that want to see Aiyuk come to Pittsburgh.

According to the NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo, Aiyuk still prefers to stay in San Francisco, and the 49ers have upped their contract extension offer to make that happen.

“What I’ve been told is that Brandon Aiyuk would prefer to stay with the 49ers and has always preferred to stay with the 49ers — all things being equal. Now, they haven’t been equal. But they did make that offer,” Garafolo said. “And the 49ers’ number has gotten better than what it was previously. And they have, from my understanding, agreed on a lot of the main points of the deal. Their offers are in line. But it sounds like there’s just one more thing that needs to be ironed out. And if that thing gets ironed out, Brandon Aiyuk signs the deal. He stays with the 49ers. He drops the trade request.”

From The Insiders on @nflnetwork: The #49ers and Brandon Aiyuk aren't that far apart on a deal, which is why they haven't pulled the trigger on a trade to the #Steelers and Aiyuk is still hoping they can clear one final hurdle in the negotiations. pic.twitter.com/hyJvFckRrn

— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) August 13, 2024

Garafolo didn’t specify what that outstanding issue with the negotiations might be. But NFL Network colleague Ian Rapoport seems to believe that if the Niners and Aiyuk can’t reach terms, there is an agreement in place between Aiyuk and the Steelers.

Plus, there seems to be an agreed upon deal in terms of compensation leaving Pittsburgh for San Francisco in return.

Waiting it out

The Cincinnati Bengals are dealing with an issue at wide receiver as well. Ja’Marr Chase is continuing his “hold-in.”

Much like recent situations in Pittsburgh surrounding T.J. Watt and Diontae Johnson, Chase is showing up for practices to avoid being fined. But he’s not participating in team drills to minimize injury risk.

Via Paul Dehner Jr. of TheAthletic.com, Cincy head coach Zac Taylor simply said the team is taking Chase’s situation “day to day.” That’s despite the fact that Week 2 of the preseason is rapidly approaching.

Unlike Aiyuk (who is on his fifth-year option), Chase is just now entering the fourth year of his rookie contract. That means Chase is eligible for a contract extension. However, Bengals owner Mike Brown indicated the organization would prefer to give Chase an extension after this season.

The Bengals have already exercised the $21.816 million fifth-year option on his contract for 2025. However, the three-time Pro Bowler is only slated to earn $1.055 million in base salary for 2024.

In 2023, the 24-year-old caught 100 passes for 1,216 yards and seven touchdowns.

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Ex-Steelers replacing ex-Steelers

As the Buffalo Bills prepare to visit Acrisure Stadium for a joint practice with the Steelers on Thursday, they’ll do so without ex-Steeler Chase Claypool.

The wide receiver suffered a toe injury in training camp. He’s been placed on injured reserve. Claypool was hoping to reboot his career in Western New York after washing out with the Steelers, Bears and Dolphins.

Via ESPN.com, “a new league rule allows teams to designate two injured players on the final 53-man roster who can return later in the season, but those designations have to be made by cutdown day on Aug. 27. If the Bills and Claypool agree to an injury settlement, he would later have the opportunity to re-sign with the Bills or another team. But if he remains on IR, he will not play this season.”

Claypool will be replaced on the active roster by another former Steelers pass-catcher, Deon Cain. The 28-year-old was under contract in Pittsburgh from 2019-20. In six games with the Steelers in 2019, Cain caught five passes for 72 yards.

The Clemson Tiger alum also suited up for two games in 2020 but didn’t catch any passes.

Since then, Cain has spent time on the rosters of the Baltimore Ravens and Philadelphia Eagles. He also played two seasons with the Birmingham Stallions, winning a USFL title in 2023, and a UFL title in 2024.

Another T.J.

No. Steelers star linebacker T.J. Watt isn’t getting an extension yet. But the Steelers did sign someone else named T.J. on Tuesday.

It’s former New York Jet and New England Patriot T.J. Luther. As chronicled at Steelersnow.com, the wide receiver was an undrafted free agent out of Gardner-Webb last year. He hooked on with the Jets as a free agent but was released after training camp.

From there he had two stints on the Pats’ practice squad and was picked up for the 2024 season to stay in Foxborough, but was released in June. The 24-year-old had a tryout with the Steelers earlier this month.

A 5-foot-11, 180-pound native of Florida, Luther caught 55 passes for 1,035 yards and seven touchdowns and was a first-team All-Big South wide receiver as a redshirt senior at Gardner-Webb in 2022.

Luther comes on board the same day fellow wide receiver Tarik Black was waived with an injury designation. He suffered a hamstring injury earlier this week.

Even goalies are bigger in Texas

On Tuesday, the Dallas Stars announced that they signed goaltender Magnus Hellberg to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2024-25 season.

The 6-foot-6, 220-pound netminder was a Pittsburgh Penguin last season. The 33-year-old finished the year with a 2.50 goals-against average and .922 save percentage in three appearances with the Pens.

The native of Sweden also appeared in 27 combined American Hockey League (AHL) regular-season games with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and Charlotte Checkers. Hellberg went 9-8-2 with a 2.92 GAA and .905 SV% in 19 games with WBS.

The Penguins currently have a curious goalie depth chart. Last year’s primary goaltenders, Tristan Jarry and Alex Nedeljkovic, are both back. Plus, prospects Joel Blomqvist and Sergei Murashov are knocking on the door.

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