Thursday’s “First Call” takes a look behind the curtain as to what it may have cost the Pittsburgh Steelers to land Brandon Aiyuk in a trade with San Francisco.

A former Steelers pass-catcher is back on the open market. A second former Steelers front office alum is in the hunt for a job with the Patriots.

And T.J. McConnell got it done in the NBA playoffs again Wednesday night. But his team did not.

Pretty penny

What would it have cost the Steelers to trade for San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk? Well, think about the A.J. Brown trade to Philadelphia.

According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com, “multiple teams” admitted to him that they “had interest” in Aiyuk. But apparently, the asking price was a first-round pick for him, with one club comparing the situation to what Tennessee got from the Eagles for Brown in advance of the 2022 season.

That deal yielded the 18th pick in the draft for Tennessee, as well as a third-round pick at No. 101 from Philly.

Also incumbent on that swap was a new contract for Brown. The Eagles then signed Brown to a four-year, $100 million deal.

So, presumably, the Steelers (or any other club) would have inked Aiyuk to an extension beyond (or instead of) his fifth-year option of $14.1 million.

Before the Steelers rumors heated up, there had been a rumor that Jacksonville was willing to trade San Francisco the No. 17 pick and receiver Zay Jones for Aiyuk.

Honestly, if a four-year deal had come along with the trade, I would’ve been OK with that move for the Steelers and worried about drafting a tackle in the first round next year. Especially now, knowing how barren they might be at wide receiver.

Meanwhile, Fowler also added, “The 49ers did discuss Deebo Samuel with teams on Day 2 of the draft, but a source said definitively two hours before the second round that San Francisco ‘isn’t moving him.’”

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So how desperate are they?

A familiar name at wide receiver has been turned loose into free agency.

It’s ex-Steeler Martavis Bryant.

After signing with the Dallas Cowboys practice squad last season, Bryant didn’t make the active roster. He was kept on a futures contract after the 2023 campaign concluded.

Now 32 years old, Bryant last played an NFL game in 2018 for the (then) Oakland Raiders.

Bryant was a 2014 fourth-round pick by the Steelers and caught eight touchdowns in 10 games as a rookie. He has been suspended three times because of substance abuse violations.

Since he was kicked out of the league, Bryant has been all over the map. He was in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts and Edmonton Elks. He played this spring with the Vegas Vipers of the XFL. The Massachusetts Pirates of the Indoor Football League gave him a shot in 2021. He even played with the FCF Beasts of the Fan Controlled Football league.

I know the Steelers are desperate at receiver, but they wouldn’t be so desperate as to sign Bryant … would they?

Can you imagine a wide receiver room with Bryant and George Pickens in it at the same time? That may be enough to drive Russell Wilson back to minor league baseball and make Justin Fields truly consider those kick-return duties as a full-time job.

Another layer

A second NFL executive with Steelers ties is interviewing for the New England Patriots’ executive vice president of player personnel job.

That’ll essentially serve as the franchise’s general manager position.

In Wednesday’s “First Call,” we told you that The Athletic had reported that Pine-Richland’s Brandon Hunt was up for that gig. Now the Eagles’ director of scouting, Hunt had been Pittsburgh’s pro scouting coordinator from 2009-22.

A few hours later, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated posted that Samir Suleiman was granted an interview as well.

In Pittsburgh, Suleiman served as the organization’s football administration coordinator for seven years. He then went to Carolina as vice president of football administration, where he was the franchise’s primary negotiator, managing the salary cap and budgeting of football operations.

However, Suleiman was let go when the team hired Dan Morgan to be the general manager before the 2023 season.

As Breer pointed out, Eliot Wolf is the perceived front runner for the position. Technically, the Patriots have not had an open general manager position since 1990. Bill Belichick served in that role, as well as head coach, until he parted ways with the team in January. Scott Pioli, who was vice president of player personnel from 2000-08, also absorbed some GM-type duties.

Not enough

Despite another solid effort from Chartiers Valley product T.J. McConnell, the Indiana Pacers weren’t good enough to beat the New York Knicks in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference playoff series.

Indy lost 130-121. McConnell posted 10 points, 12 assists and four rebounds. He was a plus-10 in 23 minutes off the bench to go along with 5 of 9 shooting from the floor.

The former Duquesne Duke probably should’ve played more late in the game than he did.

The series now shifts to Indiana on Friday, with the Pacers down 2-0.

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.

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