00:00I have Brandon-IU conversation fatigue, frankly.
00:04Brandon-IU conversation fatigue syndrome.
00:06Or with people that you run into just out and about?
00:09Both.
00:09Both, okay.
00:10All the above.
00:11Yeah.
00:11Like, both in, like, real reporting circles where I'm trying to ascertain information
00:15and both in just, like, the newest theory, right,
00:22is that they drafted Antonio Williams to start a run on wide receivers in the third round.
00:29He has some versatility.
00:31I think he'll be in motion a lot.
00:33I think he won't be a one-trick pony of a slot guy as maybe he's being described.
00:42But he's largely going to play on the inside.
00:45That's just, like, the reality.
00:47And I don't know that you're familiar with this, Abe, or that you choose to be,
00:50but there's a working theory that they took Antonio Williams in the third round
00:54because they're so confident they're going to get Brandon-IU,
00:57and he's naturally an outside fit opposite Terry.
01:00Hmm.
01:02And I just don't know that that's accurate.
01:05I think they took Antonio Williams because they wanted Antonio Williams.
01:08Well, there's two parts of what's not accurate.
01:11One would be whether or not they're going to get IU,
01:14and the other one is whether or not their pick of Williams was contingent upon that.
01:20I can't imagine it was.
01:21I think if they want IU, they're going to get IU.
01:25I think IU wants to come here, number one.
01:28And I think if Peters trusts him, which he better have some angle on this guy
01:34that we the public don't have, because every red flag,
01:38every warning siren is screaming, nah, this guy ain't worth it.
01:42I'm hoping if they go into the business of IU that somehow Peters knows something better
01:50or different about the guy.
01:53I want no part of it.
01:55So a story this morning from Nicky Jabbala and Matt Barrows from The Athletic.
02:03And I can't stress this enough, contractually there's this assumption
02:08that they'll have to release IU after the June 1 deadline
02:13because that June 1 calendar date spurs a lot of action in the NFL.
02:20I'm reading now from The Athletic.
02:23How much longer can the 49ers hold IU in limbo?
02:26There's nothing in his contract that forces the issue anytime soon.
02:30He was due $1.2 million in base salary and a $24.9 million option bonus,
02:36which originally became guaranteed in April 2025 and 26.
02:39But the Niners voided the guarantees in July.
02:43He remains on the reserve left squad list where players are not paid.
02:51Practically, the 49ers' first OTA's practice on May 27th
02:54might be an unofficial marker.
02:56He could show up and cause a bunch of trouble.
02:58But he hasn't shown up in a while.
03:01Define cause trouble.
03:04Give interviews and rip the team.
03:06Yeah, be on the sideline.
03:07Say they didn't do me right.
03:09I want out of here.
03:13Brock Purdy P's sitting down.
03:15That kind of stuff.
03:16Yeah, sure.
03:19I, I look, he could.
03:21I mean, it sounds like the Niners are in a theoretically strong position
03:26because theoretically they could keep them.
03:30But why do you want to prolong this?
03:32I have found over the years, JP, most teams don't like coming into a summer dirty
03:38with everything.
03:40They, they want it all lined up.
03:42Here's the direction we're marching.
03:44Here's the rope we're pulling.
03:46Everybody get on board, get in line.
03:48They don't want these things on the side.
03:49And we have seen what happens when the circus comes to town in late July with things like
03:55conditioning tests and Albert Hainsworth.
03:58Who was the coach?
03:59It is wholly unproductive.
04:00If I may, who was the coach of the conditioning test?
04:02Shanahan.
04:03Mike.
04:03Mike, the 49ers, since Kyle's taken over out there, they got Trent done this time.
04:10Yeah.
04:12Which, which Bosa do they have?
04:13Nick.
04:14Yeah.
04:15Google for me real quick when Nick Bosa's deal got done, when he held out.
04:19Because it was damn Labor Day weekend.
04:22Okay.
04:23Was it coming off his knee injury?
04:25Trent's done this out there.
04:26They take things to the limit.
04:28Sure.
04:29And, and I think, I think the assumption that IU's getting released because they care about
04:38the sideshow, their sideshow is an electronic substation.
04:42That's right next door.
04:43They're not worried about that.
04:44All right.
04:44So maybe they're going to, maybe they'll stick it out.
04:47That franchise in the, in the Shanahan Lynch era.
04:51Yeah.
04:52Takes it to the limit.
04:53Okay.
04:53Here's the thing though, is that at some point IU cast a show.
04:57So he's ready and willing to be an NFL player for another team, be it the commanders or somebody
05:03else.
05:04And that requires actually showing up, actually doing a workout or two, actually doing an
05:10interview where you sound like a sane human being.
05:14And until that happens, I don't see any team wanting to get in the business of him.
05:18And I don't see the Niners getting anything better than a seventh round pick and return,
05:22which means the juice probably ain't even worth the squeezing.
05:25So what are you doing exactly?
05:28September 6th, 23 for Bosa.
05:32Yeah.
05:32That was week one.
05:33That was Wednesday of week one.
05:35Yeah.
05:35No, they, they push it to the limit.
05:37And we saw, we saw AP do that here last year.
05:39Right.
05:40They could have gotten the Terry thing done.
05:42Maybe Terry needed to be a little more flexible too, but.
05:44So what, what does a win look like for the Niners?
05:48Paint the best case scenario for the Niners.
05:51I don't, I don't think a Niners win exists.
05:53Oh, it doesn't.
05:54What do you think they get a conditional seventh?
05:57I mean, if they got a third for him, that's a huge win.
06:00On, on, on no planet.
06:02A fifth for him.
06:03On no planet.
06:04Okay.
06:05Um, then what?
06:07End his career by holding onto him and sticking your fingers in your ears as he makes trouble
06:12and goes, ah, I can't hear you.
06:14You're on the non-football injury list.
06:16We don't owe you any money.
06:17Nah, nah, nah, nah.
06:18Like run out the clock for another two years in his career.
06:20What do you win by that?
06:21How's that a win?
06:22I, if you are petty may not be the right word, but if you are mad enough, if you want
06:31to
06:31stand on business, if you stand on principle, there was a Mike silver article, maybe two
06:35years ago about an internal fight in the building about holding onto some aging free agents, paying
06:42them.
06:43And then I use name was in the middle of it.
06:46And at the last moment, Kyle was like, let's get this done.
06:49He's got to be a part of this team.
06:51Yeah.
06:52If you're Kyle and you made sure this dude got paid, he got a monster extension and then
06:58he just goes AWOL four years, one 20 is the number he went AWOL.
07:03I know.
07:05And I, now depending who you read and talk to the, this stuff goes way back that his rookie
07:11season was COVID.
07:12So he wasn't used to the training camp rules and he never really got the rookie hazing and
07:17who knows legit with this one, Zabe, who knows where the truth is with any of it.
07:22Right.
07:25And I don't know that the Niners will take this to the finish line, whatever that finish
07:32line is, but I believe they can.
07:34If you're on that reserve, not interest list, but you just said to me, there's no win even
07:39on the board for the Niners.
07:40So, and I believe you're right about that.
07:44So if there's no win, the clock will expire on June one and then quietly, they're going
07:49to be like, get out of here.
07:51There's a loss.
07:52There might not be a win, but there's a loss.
07:54Okay.
07:55If Iuke, they release him and he lands in Washington with his boy Jaden and has a good season.
08:01Yeah.
08:01That's a big old loss for them.
08:02Yeah.
08:03And I think.
08:03Is it a loss?
08:04How does it affect them?
08:06Are we playing them this year?
08:07Yes.
08:07Are they in our division?
08:08No.
08:09Okay.
08:09In the same conference, but they do play, but it's a, are you really worried about?
08:13Oh my God.
08:14Iuke is killing us.
08:16If the Niners can just stay healthy for one year and his son, Kyle, you don't think they
08:21care about that?
08:22I'll listen.
08:23I know the pettiness of the Shanna high, both dad and son, but I just don't think they're
08:29that worried about it.
08:30Again, maybe I'm wrong on this.
08:32I just, I've seen this happen a number of times where owners get backed into a corner
08:37trying to stand on business with a guy and they're going to, all right, I'm going to keep
08:40you out.
08:41And we hold your rights.
08:42It's at some point it becomes counterproductive for the team.
08:45Like why are you holding onto this grudge?
08:47I agree with that.
08:48It just becomes a distraction.
08:50Right?
08:50Yeah.
08:50Even if you're relatively immune from distractions, which you say the Niners are, and I would agree.
08:57It just, it's another thing that you don't want to deal with.
09:01Agree with that.
09:02Turn the page at some point.
09:04I don't know that they will.
09:05I don't know.
09:06It seems no one knows what's up with IU.
09:09Period.
09:10And I guess my biggest, what I want to implore upon fans of the Burgundy and gold, for some
09:20there's this assumption that he's going to show up and be really good.
09:22And that's like the missing piece to this offense.
09:25And I just, I think that assumption is a boat with a lot of holes in it.
09:29Of course.
09:29Like that's called being a fan and I'm a fan too.
09:32But you know, everyone who feels like a certain player can still do it, could make a huge
09:37difference is going to create the most rosy scenario in their head and they're going to
09:41see it play out.
09:41Now there are some exceptions that people might be using as a template.
09:45I would say Stefan Diggs is one of those templates had a nice year, but then whoops, legal problems
09:51at the end of the year, he's one of a handful of wide receivers still out there along with
09:55Brandon Jennings long.
09:57Iook is gettable.
09:58I'm trying to, I looked at the list of available wide receivers, but yeah.
10:02Yeah.
10:02Jawan Jennings.
10:03Jawan Jennings is one.
10:05Diggs is another.
10:07Debo, our Debo.
10:08Let me ask you that question.
10:10Still out there.
10:11Would you rather get Diggs who you could sign tomorrow or wait around on this Iook thing?
10:18Okay.
10:18Diggs, Iook.
10:20Diggs had a thousand yards last year.
10:21Diggs, Iook, Debo, Jennings.
10:24I'd go no, no, no.
10:26Yes.
10:27The only guy is Jennings at the right price.
10:30And then it becomes a price thing.
10:32I imagine his price has dipped considerably.
10:34I imagine when free agency opened, he was hoping for a multi-year, multi-year guaranteed
10:38deal.
10:38The longer you're sitting on the lot as a car that's not sold, yes, your price should be
10:42going down.
10:42For sure.
10:43I just, now Diggs may be more of a slot guy at this point in his career too.
10:48Um, I just think that this expectation to me, the extrapolation from Antonio Williams in
10:54the third round means we're going to get Iook just, just seems farfetched somewhere towards
11:00fan fiction.
11:01And I think we, we gotta be reasonable in expectations for Brandon Iook.
11:09He hasn't caught a NFL pass since October of 24.
11:12For.
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