- 2 days ago
The Washington Commanders signing Brandon Aiyuk this offseason would take the offense to an elite level! Kevin Sheehan thinks the Commanders should take a swing and sign Brandon Aiyuk when he becomes available to sign this offseason and breaks down why it's a low risk, high reward move.
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00:00But please understand, Roger, and everybody else, because I do think that there is a little bit of some ignorance
00:08when it comes to him as a player.
00:12If he is, you know, at 28 years old, what he was, and I'm not saying that that's not, you
00:20know, a significant if, although many players have come back from knee injuries and been even stronger.
00:25Like, if he's physically ready, the knee is not an issue.
00:31And you're three years, remember, you're really two seasons removed from him last playing.
00:37He got hurt early in the 2024 season.
00:40So if he's back for the 2026 season, it's really two seasons since he's played.
00:46But if he's right physically, I'm telling you, this dude is really good.
00:53He is the juice that you're looking for offensively.
00:57He's that, you know, true difference maker offensively that right now we only have two of.
01:06The quarterback and Terry McLaurin.
01:09Those are the two difference-making offensive players.
01:13Dan Quinn, when he was on with me a month and a half ago, I said, what are you looking
01:17for?
01:18You know, this was before free agency started.
01:20He said, I'm looking for somebody who can really wreck the game defensively, you know, and get after the quarterback
01:25and create, you know, high-impact plays.
01:30And I'm looking for somebody on offense that can score from anywhere.
01:34They only have two players right now.
01:36I don't know.
01:37Maybe Krosky Merritt is another.
01:39We certainly saw it against Dallas at the end of the season when he took off 76 yards.
01:45He's got some explosive game, you know, changing ability.
01:51He also has helped out the other team on occasion by putting the ball on the ground.
01:57But at wide receiver, you have Terry McLaurin and we don't know what else, really.
02:04If you really want more juice to the offense, the Brandon Iyuk that I remember is that.
02:13He's all that.
02:14He's elite as a wide receiver if you get the player that played in 2023.
02:20And again, we're not talking about a 35-year-old.
02:23We're not talking about DeAndre Hopkins at the end of his career.
02:26You know, we're talking about a guy who's had one serious injury and a serious relationship issue.
02:34You got to get all that cleared.
02:36You know, we can't do that from these seats.
02:39The team has to do that.
02:40I'd like to think that Adam Peters and Jaden Daniels, two people who know the player very well,
02:46can really come to a conclusion on risk-reward.
02:52You know, I don't want to take on, Roger, a headache.
02:56I don't, no matter how talented he is.
02:58I don't want that.
02:59But he was not a problem before the summer of 2024 and the contract,
03:06protracted contract negotiation with the 49ers.
03:09And from that moment, it's all gone downhill.
03:12He clearly appears to be immature professionally.
03:16There's no doubting that.
03:19By the way, that's probably 40, 50% of the league.
03:25But I definitely have this sense in interacting with so many of you that you guys just think he's a
03:33guy.
03:34Like, yeah, he's good.
03:35No, no, no.
03:36He's really good.
03:39He's better than our guy and was at the end of 2023.
03:44I mean, it's a 1A, 1B situation.
03:46I'm not saying that there's massive difference.
03:48But Ayuk is a real difference maker at the position.
03:53And the two of them together, you now have a top, what would it be?
04:00Would it be top five in terms of pairings at wide receiver?
04:04It'd be in the conversation.
04:06It'd be no worse than top 10.
04:07And right now, it's a weak position room on your roster.
04:14So, yeah, I'm interested.
04:17I'm willing to take on, you know, a player that's had problems in his current situation.
04:24But I'm only willing to do that if Adam Peters and the people that need to do the work on
04:31the player think that it's absolutely worth the risk because the reward's so great.
04:37And that they do it in an environment that is super low risk.
04:42You have to do it that way.
04:44You cannot just say, well, the 49ers aren't going to cut him until August 31st.
04:51And let's trade for him.
04:53Let's take on the contract.
04:55We've got the room.
04:57We can eat it if it doesn't work out.
04:59But we're, no, uh-uh.
05:01No picks.
05:02Just signing him after he gets released and restructuring, not restructuring, but signing him to a deal that is six,
05:12seven, eight million dollars for one year.
05:14High incentives based on performance.
05:18And then if he's really, really good next year, then, worst case, you franchise tag him going into 2027.
05:27I'm for that.
05:29Tommy and I were talking on my podcast yesterday, and Tommy said, is there a cutoff date for Brandon Iyuk?
05:36Like, if the 49ers are going to sit on this until the last moment in which they can, which is
05:44August 31st,
05:46their next payment per his current contract, I think it's a roster bonus.
05:51It may be something else.
05:52But it's not due based on the reporting until September 1st.
05:56So they could conceivably wait.
06:00And, again, I said this yesterday.
06:02And, you know, somebody sent me a video of somebody in San Francisco saying the 49ers are embarrassing themselves.
06:08They should just release him.
06:10This is terrible to treat a player like that.
06:12That's not the way I would feel if I were a 49ers fan.
06:16If I had just signed this guy after a long, contentious contract negotiation in the summer of 2024
06:23to one of the biggest deals in the game, and he got hurt, and then he went AWOL and was
06:30incredibly immature.
06:31And, yes, not the sharpest tool in the tool shed to give away $30 million to $40 million in voided
06:38guarantees.
06:40I would not want my team to do him any favors or, more importantly, any competing team any favors.
06:50Why would they want Brandon Iyuk, if they still believe in him as a player, as a talent, and I
06:57bet they do, but they've had it with him.
06:59Obviously, the damage is not repairable between the two sides.
07:06They wanted, at one point during the season, they wanted him to show up to the facility.
07:10They wanted him to potentially play at the end of last year when they were, you know, in the playoff
07:15mix,
07:16and more than in the playoff mix, had a really good record and needed him.
07:20But he had zero interest in that.
07:23And then they essentially, you know, they separated.
07:27And now they're not officially divorced.
07:30That'll come when they release him.
07:32But they are separated right now for all intents and purposes.
07:34But why would the 49ers do him a favor?
07:39More importantly, do Washington a favor?
07:42They're in Washington's conference.
07:44Why would they want Washington to benefit from having him for two months leading up to the season
07:52or a month leading up to the season versus a few days before the season begins?
07:57I think that's an absurd take.
08:00If I'm a 49ers fan, there's nothing embarrassing about holding on to him.
08:06You know, the distractions are always overrated, always inflated by media people.
08:14Cooley used to tell us all the time, had no idea that that's what you guys were talking about.
08:18Inside the building, those things were never an issue.
08:22There can be inside the building issues caused by outside attention.
08:27I doubt this is one that would rise to the level of being a major distraction for the players in
08:33that locker room.
08:34Sure, Kyle's going to get asked about it.
08:36John Lynch is going to get asked about it.
08:38He got asked about it the other day and said, no, we're not releasing him.
08:41You know, they seem pretty adamant.
08:43If I were a 49ers fan, I'd say, great, don't do anybody else any favors.
08:49If we can wait until August 31st to release him, if we can wait until training camp is done,
08:55the preseason is done across the league, which, by the way, creates another opportunity for maybe a long shot trade.
09:04You know, somebody loses a receiver or two and is desperate, 49ers should hold on to him as long as
09:10they can.
09:12Somebody could get desperate and send him a pick at the end of camp, after the preseason.
09:20Yeah, I don't know who the person was.
09:22I forget.
09:23Somebody sent this video.
09:25I think it was a San Francisco talk show host saying that the Niners are embarrassing themselves in this process.
09:32They're treating the player poorly, etc.
09:34It's competitive, man.
09:36I'm not giving Washington or anybody else an opportunity to have him for, you know, a long period of time
09:44to get him ready for the season.
09:45Why would I do that?
09:47It doesn't make any sense.
09:49There are situations where you want to take care of a player, where you want to treat the player so
09:54that it works out in his best interest,
09:56but not this player with their relationship.
10:03You know, it reminds me of the Albert Hainsworth days.
10:07So many of you, so many of you, I remember this so vividly, just wanted them to release Albert Hainsworth.
10:17You know, stop making them look bad.
10:20Stop doing, you know, this is making the team look bad.
10:23Look, it was hard for the team to ever make itself look worse because it was just always perceived as
10:29low rent.
10:31Mike Shanahan got a fifth round pick from Belichick for Albert Hainsworth.
10:36If he had taken your advice with him or with Donovan McNabb, that was the other one.
10:40Just release Donovan McNabb.
10:43I mean, do right by him.
10:45Do right by him.
10:46He wouldn't even wear a wristband during the games.
10:50They asked him to do that.
10:51He wouldn't do that.
10:52Look, he was set in his ways.
10:55Probably a bad acquisition.
10:56It was.
10:57It wasn't one that Mike wanted.
10:59It was a Dan Bruce, you know, concoction.
11:03And what happened?
11:04They ended up dealing him to Minnesota for a sixth rounder that became Alfred Morris.
11:11There are situations where it probably is in the best interest of the franchise to treat the player at a
11:18level that's highly respectful because it will look bad if you don't.
11:24I don't think the rest of the league is going to view the 49ers if they hold on to IUK
11:29for the rest of the summer hoping to get a pick before August 31st.
11:34Or in the worst case, not giving a competitor an advantage of having him for longer than they need to.
11:42I just don't see that as a problem for them.
11:45They may have other issues.
11:46I know a lot of their contracts and contract negotiations over the years have, you know, gone on and on.
11:53But you know what also is true in most of the cases?
11:56The players end up staying there and signing there.
12:00Nick Bosa, Trent Williams, George Kittle.
12:04Brandon Ayuk and others that have had long contract negotiations that have been reportedly contentious.
12:14But ultimately, they get done and the players stay there.
12:18Fred Warner, you know, they like the organization.
12:22They like the coaching staff for sure.
12:24They are well coached year in and year out.
12:28Yeah, there's for in terms of a cutoff date, though, answering that question, which Tommy asked me, I'd have to,
12:36you know, part of me believes that a coaching staff is going to be like, just get him in here
12:42a week or two before the season starts and we're good.
12:45And if it's, you know, September 1st, the actual opener will be Sunday, I think, September 10th or something like
12:52that, we'll get him up to speed.
12:54This guy is probably intelligent enough when it comes to football to certainly, you know, thrive in a Kyle Shanahan
13:02based system.
13:03And there are going to be some similarities with the system he'll be in.
13:08He knows the quarterback.
13:09Yes, they're far removed from playing with one another.
13:14But I don't know if there's a, I mean, part of me wants to say training camp and then let's
13:19do something else.
13:20You know, let's go get Stefan Diggs if he is legally ready to play football.
13:26Let's, you know, Juwan Jennings, by the way, Ben reported, Standing reported that Washington has had interest in Juwan Jennings,
13:36but it's more of a cursory interest level.
13:39So right now, I think the Juwan Jennings situation is that he has asked and he and his agent, I
13:46think it's Drew Rosenhaus, has asked for too much money.
13:50May end up wanting to stay in San Francisco.
13:53If he's going to, you know, not make what he thought he could make on the open market, he may
13:57want to stay in San Francisco.
13:59That'd be another example of players actually like it there.
14:04But I thought that was interesting.
14:06I mean, Juwan Jennings would not be Brandon Ayuk in terms of the playmaking boost, but Juwan Jennings is a
14:13real solid football player all the way around.
14:15And you'd plug him in at number two, you know, as the opposite, you know, outside receiver to Terry.
14:21And he is, you know, as Jay Gruden has said many times over the years, Juwan Jennings is the best
14:27blocking wide receiver he's ever seen.
14:32Yeah.
14:34All right.
14:35Thank you, Roger, for that.
14:37Yes, I'm definitely in on Brandon Ayuk, but with several ifs.
14:44If they deem him to be physically and mentally ready, and if you get him on a deal that's highly
14:54incentivized, where the team can walk at any moment, can send him home at any moment, and there's no ramifications
15:02financially to the cap to their budget.
15:07That's the way I would see it.
15:36of having that player opposite Terry McLaurin, they'd be really dynamic offensively.
15:43And look, I think they can be dynamic offensively, even if they don't add Ayuk, even if they don't add,
15:48you know, more offensive playmaking ability.
15:52I do.
15:52We saw it in 24.
15:56But that would be a home run if he's mentally and physically ready to go and you do it on
16:04a highly incentivized deal.
16:05All right.
16:06I think we already did the Brandon Ayuk thing on the phones yesterday, didn't we, Max?
16:10I mean, that was all the way back to yesterday.
16:13Didn't we take calls on Ayuk?
16:15Yeah, it was what do they need to do?
16:17And what do they need to add?
16:19I'm, I just, I don't see where the downside of adding him on an incentivized contract would be.
16:28Why wouldn't you do that?
16:30Why wouldn't you just, you know, take literally a zero to very low risk swing?
16:38That's the way I would view, you know, doing it.
16:41And hopefully they would see it the same way.
16:42I would assume they see it the same way.
16:45Although watch us get shocked with, you know, a report, you know, in the next week or two,
16:52Washington, you know, trades a future sixth or conditional late round pick for Brandon Ayuk.
16:59If they did that, man, you'd have to think they know the state he's in and it is superb because
17:09you don't do that with this player based on the last year and a half.
17:13Nobody's done what he's done.
17:15It's unprecedented what he's done in terms of walking away from between 30 and $40 million when all he had
17:24to do was show up at the facility a few times a month to get his knee checked.
17:28That is not good judgment.
17:30I totally agree with that.
17:32I totally agree that that is a red flag, especially when you consider that clearly he's in the wrong because
17:41nobody has gone after that money.
17:43Not him, not his agent, not his lawyers, not the NFL Players Association.
17:48It's gone.
17:49Maybe they'll go after it later.
17:51I don't know.
17:52But there has not been any pushback publicly anyway to having that much money voided and not paid from his
18:00contract.
18:01That was guaranteed for injury money, voided.
18:05Rarely do you see that.
18:07And if you do see it, you don't see it without a fight to get it back.
18:12Rarely do you see it without a fight to get it back.
18:12Rarely do you see it without a fight to get it back.
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