00:00Yesterday on the show, Avin, who's been a longtime caller, I enjoy Avin's calls, he said, go look at Brandon
00:09Ayuk's contract on SpotTrack because it looks like it's changed a bit.
00:15And whether or not it changed or not is actually immaterial, and I'll play the soundbite from my conversation with
00:23Mike Giannetti here in a moment, but what Avin said was, look, his base salary is only listed as $1
00:30.215 million, so just over $1.2 million is a base salary.
00:36So why wouldn't you trade for that, especially if the rest of his contract, the other two years, 2027 and
00:462028, where he is due in base salary $27.2 million in 2027 and then in 2028 $29.1 million,
00:55if those two years aren't guaranteed, why wouldn't you just do a sixth round, seventh round swap to get it
01:03done, to get him in,
01:05make sure he's able to participate in off-season activities, make sure he's able to participate in training camp, and
01:13have him for the full upcoming lead-up to the regular season.
01:17And I said, well, that's news to me because I thought it was $27 million in 2026 that a team
01:26would owe him.
01:28And he said, well, just look at it, and I pulled it up, and sure enough, it said base salary
01:32$1.215 million.
01:36But per usual, there's a lot of other stuff behind that.
01:42That is actually the base salary for Brandon Ayuk in 2026.
01:48But I had Mike Giannetti on the show, and I explained to him, you know, it looks like it changed
01:55a little bit, or did it change?
01:57What exactly is Brandon Ayuk's contractual deal that is keeping teams from trading for him versus waiting for him to
02:07be released?
02:08Here's what he said.
02:10Yeah, so along with that $1.2 million base salary is about $26 million more in roster bonuses, option bonuses,
02:18all those bells and whistles that come with NFL contracts, which are seemingly hard to understand at times.
02:23So it's a $27 million payout this year.
02:25However, none of that is guaranteed.
02:27Nothing going forward because of his issues with the 49ers and eventual suspension are guaranteed anymore.
02:34So while you are inheriting a contract that has, you know, finances to it, it is essentially an open book
02:43that you can,
02:44as long as the player and agent are on board, and maybe that's what the hang-up is with some
02:48of these scenarios,
02:49you can sort of move things around, start over from scratch.
02:53We'll see kind of where that lands.
02:54But I do think your first point is still the best of that point, which is there are 31 teams
03:00just waiting this situation out.
03:01They want the 49ers to, June 2nd, after, you know, the cap split can come into fruition,
03:08they want the 49ers to outright release him so that they can set their market with this player,
03:13because I do think it's a limited market, and the teams that are interested want to come way down
03:19on where that cost currently is, which is about $3 for $85 million total remaining on this contract.
03:27So, basically, you know, summarizing what he said, as a practical matter, yes, the base salary is $1.215 million,
03:38but if you trade for him and you inherit that contract, he's going to play for you in 2026,
03:46and if he plays for you in 2026 the entire season, it's going to cost you $27 million.
03:53And that's why teams are hesitant to trade for him, because if you trade for him, you're not trading,
04:00you're not giving up a pick with the, you know, idea of, well, let's just see if it works out,
04:06you know,
04:06and if it doesn't, we'll cut him loose.
04:08Unless you're trading for him because you expect him to, at the very least, play in 2026,
04:14which would cost you $27 million if he plays in 2026.
04:19Now, I had a longer conversation with Mike, and let me just essentially net it out for you.
04:26So, you know, the number one is this.
04:30It is possible that to get to a team that he wants to play for,
04:35and let's assume that he really wants to be in Washington for a moment,
04:39that Washington could, you know, do a late round swap, trade a sixth for a seventh, something like that,
04:47maybe just give up a seventh, a day three pick to the 49ers.
04:52And he commits prior to the trade,
04:55because the 49ers give him and his agent permission to talk to Washington,
04:59he commits to tearing up his current deal and playing on a much more team-friendly deal,
05:05you know, a one-year prove-it deal, which, by the way, Mike said he believes there will be enough
05:11interest
05:12that if he played it out, he'd probably get between $12 million and $15 million as a base
05:18with incentives that might get him to $20 million for next year.
05:22That's higher than I would have thought, but that is coming from somebody who's much more expert
05:28at these scenarios than I am.
05:31But you could potentially work out a deal, but he doesn't have to.
05:38Like, if you trade for him, you're inheriting his contract unless he commits to tearing it up
05:44and doing a new deal, right?
05:46So if you inherit that contract and he plays for you next year,
05:50you've given up a pick and you're going to pay him at least $27 million next year
05:54if he plays the entire season, you could, you know, you could decide you're going to cut him
05:59in October and not have the rest of whatever the prorated version of it would be.
06:04But the bottom line is you're probably going to pay him $27 million next year.
06:08And then you're going to be, he'll be under contract for two more years if it goes well.
06:16That's actually the advantage of inheriting his current contract.
06:20Is if it goes well in 2026, he's under contract in 27 and 28 for a pretty decent number
06:27if he turns out to be high level again.
06:31But the rest of it is not guaranteed and you could cut him loose and not owe him anything
06:36and no dead cap, you know, penalty because that's all absorbed by San Francisco.
06:41So netting it out, the reason teams don't want to give up a pick is that it's going to cost
06:48them $27 million next year if he plays the whole season.
06:53And if you trade for him, you're intending for him to play the entire season next year.
07:00Again, it's possible he could work out a deal with Washington that's more team friendly
07:04because he wants to be here.
07:07But the idea, here's the other part of this, like just do the math.
07:11If Gennetti's right, that he's going to end up getting a deal that's 12 to 15 million base
07:17with incentives up to 20 million for one season.
07:20And that's the prove it deal.
07:23Seems like an expensive prove it deal, but let's just say that's the prove it deal.
07:27Well, you know, if you traded for him and he played in 2026, you were going to pay him 27
07:34million.
07:35If he performs, that's a difference between, you know, 20 and 27 million, $7 million.
07:42So maybe it would make sense to give up, you know, a late day three pick swap for him just
07:50to get him in early.
07:51Um, Mike, uh, totally agreed that even though, you know, the 49ers get the benefit of, you
07:58know, splitting up the dead cap money over two years, if they do it, whatever they decide
08:03to do post June one, they don't have to pay him anything until September 1st.
08:08It's like a $25 million bonus.
08:11They'll never pay that.
08:13They could take it all the way to the end of August without having to write a check to
08:19him for anything and then turn them loose then.
08:23And out of spite or maybe just out of good business, they may choose to do that.
08:28So that was the situation with Brandon.
08:31I, you, uh, when a vein brought that up, I thought it was interesting.
08:34There's a lot of ways to look at this, but it certainly feels like teams aren't interested
08:40in trading for him because of the idea that you'd be, be inheriting a contract that would
08:46pay him $27 million, regardless of what the base is, all of the other options, all of
08:51the roster bonuses, et cetera, would get it up to 27 million if he were to play, um, in
08:5820, 27, uh, in 2026.
09:01In fact, the $25 million roster bonus on September 1st would be due by the new team, by the acquiring
09:08team.
09:08So there wouldn't even be a big savings if you cut them loose midway through the season.
09:13Uh, now, um, I also asked him while I had him on about Stefan Diggs and what a Stefan
09:21Diggs contract might look like, uh, in free agency.
09:25This is what he said.
09:27Yeah.
09:27It's a bumpy road there.
09:28Um, but this is one of those guys that sort of, whether it's self-induced or, or, or,
09:33you know, from injury perspective has always sort of bounced back and been the exact player
09:38that said team that signed him is asking to be, there's a lot to that despite his age
09:43and what's going on around him right now, we've got to be priced exactly with IU here.
09:49You know, he's still a 13 to $15 million player, even on a one-year look on a one-year
09:53guarantee.
09:54Uh, it kind of feels like that Cooper cup situation in Seattle where, you know, we know
10:00we're kind of overpaying a little bit for that whole, for what, you know, he's going
10:03to provide for us, but there's a moment in a season.
10:06If things are going well, uh, he's going to be the guy we're looking to, uh, that's
10:11exactly what Diggs can be and has been for multiple teams now.
10:14So again, in that 12 to 15 range on a one-year deal and, uh, you throw some incentives in
10:19there, which he's, he's, he's had tons of incentives throughout his career that have
10:23sort of self-motivated him through the dog days of the season.
10:26Do you think there's a, uh, an active and, and, you know, sizable market for him in terms
10:33of number of teams, you know, it's, I, I'd probably put these two players pretty close
10:39together.
10:39I think the teams that need it are looking at these two players specifically right now.
10:43Maybe there's a couple of names on the trade block, uh, you know, that are in conjunction
10:48with it, but yeah, I'd say there's probably four to five teams monitoring both of these
10:53scenarios with IU having the slight favor because of age and, and maybe ability.
10:58But yeah, I, I, I, I'd put this all into one big basket right now in terms of teams that
11:03are at least, uh, you know, fringe WR2 need right now.
11:08There you go.
11:09Um, you know, I thought the, uh, interesting thing, and I, I, I'd have to go back and match
11:14it up to when he signed these deals, but that Stefan Diggs has pretty much lived up to whatever
11:22deal he has signed when he has signed a new deal.
11:25Now in Houston, he got injured, you know, um, during that season, that was the one season
11:31in which he's been seriously injured, uh, but came back last year and, you know, performed
11:36up to the contract with 85 catches for over a thousand yards.
11:40You know what?
11:41I bet whoever signed Stefan Diggs, as long as the quarterback situation is solid and the
11:45team is decent, I bet he'll live up to whatever they sign him to next year.
11:50I'm interested in both.
11:52I don't know why you guys wouldn't be.
11:53I mean, obviously we don't have all of the information you gotta, you gotta, you know,
11:59trust that Adam Peters, Lance, Newmark, Sassana, the whole group, like they're, they're looking
12:05into all of those items that we're not, we don't have access to, and we're not able to
12:13sort of decipher in, in a decision making process.
12:17But yeah, I mean, if they were to sign either one of those players, my assumption would be
12:22they believe they're getting a player that's motivated, healthy, mentally, physically, and
12:28ready to roll.
12:28Why would you do it?
12:30You know, for any other reason?
12:32Um, so if they ended up signing either one of the two, I'd feel good about it.
12:37If they ended up signing both of them, I'd feel good about it.
12:40I would trust that they've checked off the boxes on the kind of people they're bringing
12:46into, you know, a pretty good culture in terms of the locker room.
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