- 1 day ago
One of the most interesting stories this NFL offseason is the situation between Brandon Aiyuk and the 49ers. 49ers Reporter Matt Maiocco from NBC Sports joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to give his analysis on what is going on with Brandon Aiyuk and the possibility of him joining the Commanders prior to the start of the NFL season.
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00:00All right, let's turn the conversation back to the NFL
00:04and what Washington's going to do at wide receiver.
00:06Matt Mayoko has been covering the 49ers for some time
00:11as part of the 49ers pregame and postgame live on NBC Sports Bay Area.
00:17You can follow Matt on X at Mayoko, M-A-I-O-C-C-O-N-B-C-S.
00:24I'll just start with this because I just think there's so much out there.
00:28There's so much mystery around it,
00:30and especially with the latest issue of an arrest warrant.
00:34What are you guys hearing about what's going on with Brandon Iyuk?
00:41Yeah, thanks for having me on, Kevin.
00:43But yeah, really nothing.
00:45Yeah, no, really nothing.
00:47I mean, people I've talked to who know him and are friends with him
00:52haven't spoken to him.
00:56It's just kind of been a mystery as far as where he is physically
01:01and I think kind of in where his mindset is.
01:04So, you know, he occasionally pops up on social media doing something,
01:10and you mentioned the arrest warrant.
01:12You know, he posted video of himself driving at a high rate of speed
01:18right down a kind of a residential area, or at least a commercial area,
01:24I should say, close to Levi's Stadium, right past Levi's Stadium in December.
01:30But there just is a lot of mystery.
01:33You know, why did he, you know, in essence kind of ghost the 49ers
01:38and prompting the 49ers to void all the guaranteed money remaining on his contract?
01:45And then, you know, he didn't dispute that.
01:48He didn't fight it at all through the NFLPA.
01:52And yeah, I think there's a lot of concern about him,
01:56just kind of where he is and what his future holds.
02:00And, you know, does he, I mean, there's so many questions.
02:04I cannot answer a lot more questions than I can answer,
02:08such as, you know, how intent is he to get back on the football field?
02:13Uh, what, what is his sense of urgency to continue playing football?
02:17Um, I don't know the answers to those questions.
02:20Yeah, it's, I mean, I think, you know, from afar and you guys are closer to it,
02:26but still, as you just described, you're still kind of far away
02:29because there just isn't a lot of information.
02:31Cause essentially he's been MIA now for a year plus,
02:35but at the very least from afar, you can say as, you know,
02:41an observer of the human condition, this guy makes terrible decisions.
02:47I mean, he literally had between 30 and $40 million in guaranteed money voided.
02:54It's unprecedented what happened.
02:56And by the way, I point out all the time and maybe you would disagree,
02:59but there's been no fight to get it back from him, a lawyer representing him,
03:04the NFL PA, they know they were in the wrong, I guess.
03:09Yeah, that's, that's the, uh, that's the suggestion.
03:13Definitely.
03:14Um, yeah, I mean, all he had to do is kind of the bare minimum to,
03:18to obtain or claim that $27 million guaranteed.
03:25Like that, that was in the contract, the 49ers, uh, you know,
03:30we're, we're willing to pay him that obviously,
03:33because they put that in his contract and, you know, just kind of interesting.
03:36A year ago when training camp started, uh, he, you know,
03:40he's rehabbing the significant knee injury that he had from the previous season.
03:45Um, we saw him out on the field quite a bit.
03:48You know, he was, he would be out there during warmup drills,
03:51running routes on air. And, um, you know, I,
03:56I was under the impression like, man, look at him. He's,
03:58he's so eager to get back out there. And, you know,
04:01I was told by someone very high up that, yeah,
04:04I think he's doing that for you guys. I think he's, you know,
04:07doing that to, uh, so that people see him, you know, on,
04:11on camera and, uh, and post on social media and everything else. But,
04:15you know, behind the scenes when we weren't out there, you know,
04:18he wasn't out there either. And so, um, it, it just,
04:21it remains to be seen. Um, a lot, I mean,
04:25there are a lot of, a lot of areas here where, um, there,
04:29there's a lot of hazy area. And this one is, you know,
04:33does he want to continue playing football? You know,
04:36the, the suggestions are, you know,
04:38looking at what he did on his social media,
04:40he basically unfollowed everybody except for his wife,
04:44Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders.
04:46So that would lead you to believe that he wants to play for the commanders.
04:51But, um, again, that, that urgency is in question. Um,
04:57if he does come back, if he gets a shot with some team,
05:01is he going to be in a position, uh,
05:05physically and mentally to take, take advantage of it? Um, you know,
05:09it, it, it's, it just,
05:11you can't just roll out there and expect to make a football team and,
05:16and play high level football, uh,
05:19when you haven't been working up to it. So I don't know. I mean,
05:22it's, um, you know, I'm for air still hold his rights.
05:27Yeah. He is, he's remains on the reserve left squad list. Uh,
05:32up to this point,
05:33there's been no indication of when the 49ers will release him. Um,
05:38it's quite clear that no team's going to trade for him. And then,
05:42you know,
05:42the team that everybody's keeping an eye on is the Washington commanders.
05:46Right. And they, you know,
05:48they have some questions that they need to answer too.
05:52And they have to clear some hurdles as far as that as well. I mean,
05:57is this something that, uh, the commanders want to take that on?
06:01And I mean, he would be coming to the team because of Jaden Daniels.
06:07It seems to me like Jaden Daniels already has enough on his plate. Um,
06:11a lot of pressure on him play to play winning football. Uh,
06:15I'm not sure it would be in the best interest of that organization to,
06:20um, put that on, on Jaden Daniels shoulders as well to,
06:25to basically be responsible for Brandon.
06:27Yeah. You don't want to have to end up being, you know,
06:30the padded fifth floor for a guy that's not exactly stable.
06:34If that's what it ends up becoming,
06:36I do want to ask you about sort of the perspective of 49er fans on this,
06:41but I want to go back a little bit. Also, what was he like?
06:45Were there any indications at the end of 23,
06:48when you guys lose the Superbowl and overtime to the chiefs,
06:52he was outstanding in 23.
06:55I remember just as a football fan saying that IUK is really good and he is
07:01ascending like this guy's on the verge of becoming a truly upper tier wide
07:07receiver.
07:08What was it like in terms of him as a teammate,
07:12him in the media, him in fans?
07:15What did you guys think of him at the end of 23?
07:18I I've always liked Brandon.
07:20I think he's I had some very enjoyable conversations with him at his locker.
07:27I, and you're right in 2023, he was one heck of a football player.
07:32You know, he was, you know, kind of,
07:34he never really had a breakout season because he started off at a pretty high
07:38level and just kind of kept gradually, you know,
07:42just kind of continually going in an upward trajectory.
07:47So the first times I started to hear, you know,
07:53negativity about him was after that 2023 season and the contract situation
08:00that he had going into the 2024 season.
08:05And that's the year where, you know,
08:08the 49ers and he had, you know, kind of a contentious, well, you know,
08:13maybe it wasn't even contentious because the 49ers would put a contract offer
08:17out there and it would just kind of sit out there for a long period of time.
08:22They wouldn't hear from him.
08:24And finally, you know,
08:25I know the 49ers had some deals worked out,
08:28some trades worked out with some other teams that were basically contingent on,
08:32on brand and signing off on it to,
08:35to get a new contract with, with some other team.
08:38And then ultimately, you know,
08:40I think there were indications then that, you know,
08:44maybe his,
08:45his urgency to play football wasn't what the 49ers wanted it to be.
08:49And eventually Kyle Shanahan, I think just kind of lost patience.
08:52And it was like, okay, what the heck, you know, do you want to play?
08:56You know, this,
08:57the contract that he ended up signing had been offered three weeks earlier.
09:01And there's that sat there untouched for three weeks.
09:06And then right before the start of that season,
09:08Brandon and I signed the deal and then got off to a slow start and had just
09:13started to look like the Brandon and I of 2023 when he sustained that,
09:20that knee injury.
09:21So the only time where I started to think like, okay,
09:26what what's going on here would have been during the contract negotiations,
09:31the summer of 2024.
09:33And then it's just kind of been weird, you know, ever since then.
09:37Yeah, that makes sense.
09:38Cause I remember we were talking about it here because he wanted to get traded
09:43to Washington and he, you know,
09:45he put that Jaden Daniels practice video out on social media.
09:50That was obviously supposed to remain between him and his former college
09:56quarterback.
09:57And it was at that point, I think even from afar,
10:00we started to question maybe his judgment.
10:03We're talking to Matt Mayoko of NBC sports out in the Bay area.
10:08So is it true that if he just had reported to any of these OTA days that the
10:1549ers would have been forced to either release him or change the, you know,
10:20reserved left, you know, left squad status, or is that not true?
10:24You know, well, I, I don't know the specifics on that,
10:28but that would seem to make sense to me.
10:31You know, if he's, if he's on the reserve left squad list and he remains
10:35under contract to the 49ers, uh, if he just had reported and, and show,
10:41showed up, um, I, I think that would have forced the 49ers hand to do
10:46something, you know, that quite obviously with, uh, the level of discontent or,
10:53or however we want to term it that Brandon I has with, uh, the team or his
10:58current situation.
10:59I, I really, I doubt that the 49ers would have wanted him in the locker room.
11:05Um, and so I think, I mean, to my knowledge, it, it would have forced the 49ers
11:12hand to do something.
11:13Why didn't he just do it?
11:14I know it would have been awkward.
11:16I don't know.
11:17I don't know.
11:18And there's no other opportunities.
11:19Am I right about that?
11:20That Kyle canceled mini camp and there are no more OTA days.
11:24That is correct.
11:26Yeah.
11:26Um, so the next time would be day one of training camp.
11:29Uh, the opening.
11:30Yeah.
11:31Yes.
11:32And I, I don't, I mean, I, I don't know how this is going to, I mean,
11:36I know how it's going to play out.
11:37I mean, he's, he's not going to step on the field for the San Francisco 49ers
11:41ever again, but I don't know how it gets to that point.
11:46And, and at what point he, you know, at what point he is allowed to, to go play
11:53for some, someone else.
11:55And, and we don't know, you know, I guess the, uh, circumstantial evidence is that
12:02he appears to want to play for the Washington commanders, but we, I, I, I mean, I'm
12:09speaking for myself here and, um, and probably a lot of other people too, who are closer
12:15to him than I am.
12:16I don't know where, where he is as far as, you know, his relationship with football.
12:21You know, if he, it sounds like nobody even knows where he is period.
12:26Yeah.
12:27And, you know, I know, um, Adam Schefter had reported, uh, several weeks ago that even
12:32teams that, you know, were, were interested or just wanted to do a little bit of homework,
12:38uh, as far as pursuing a trade that they couldn't even get in touch with him.
12:43So I don't know if I know, I know he has a relationship with Adam Peters.
12:47Um, I, I would assume that the 49ers have given, you know, teams or his, uh, Brandon
12:54and I use representation, uh, permission to speak to other teams.
12:59So, um, I, I don't, I, I don't know if, if Adam Peters has made any contact with them
13:05or not, but you know, that is, that's certainly, you know, the, the team, I guess it can work
13:11both ways.
13:12You know, a team that would want him would be either a team that knows him well, but maybe
13:18if the team knows him well, maybe they know him too well and maybe he'd have better luck
13:22with a team that, that doesn't know him.
13:24I don't know.
13:25I, I, it just, uh, it's, you know, I've covered this league a long time and, and I've never,
13:30uh, come close to say that people say this is truly the one of one in terms of, especially
13:40when it comes to the voiding of guaranteed dollars that just is so hard to pull off.
13:46Um, and yet it is, it is.
13:49And the thing, I mean, you're, you're a professional football player, you know, he, he put in, uh,
13:54you know, some really good seasons to get to that point where he earned that contract.
13:58He earned it.
13:59He earned that money.
14:01He earned the guaranteed money, uh, and for him to just not live up to the terms of the
14:07contract and, and to see, uh, $27 million just evaporate is mind boggling.
14:17Look, I I've said this, um, that if I were a 49er fan, I wouldn't want them to release
14:25him until the last possible moment.
14:27Why would I want my competitor, uh, uh, you know, a potential competitor in the NFC to get
14:32him for the entire summer?
14:34Um, why would I be doing him any favors?
14:37So I, I think there's still a possibility, I guess he could show up and make it uncomfortable
14:43for them, but do you think there's a possibility, if not a likelihood that they don't release
14:49him until August 31st, that the day before they actually have to pay him anything?
14:54I do.
14:55Well, they don't have to pay him anything period until he shows up.
14:59Right.
15:00Uh, but I think the next trigger data, the roster bonus would be September 1st from what
15:05the guy in the spot track told me.
15:07Yeah.
15:08And I'm not even sure.
15:08I mean, this is such an unprecedented thing.
15:11I mean, a lot of these questions, I don't even have the answers through because I've never
15:15dealt with this before, but you know, I don't think a person would qualify for a roster bonus
15:20or anything of that nature.
15:22If he's on the reserve left squad list.
15:24Yeah, maybe.
15:25Uh, and again, and again, as far as, um, kind of pushing it and, and taking, taking a step
15:33that, uh, forces the 49ers and, you know, he hasn't shown a willingness to do that either,
15:39such as what we're talking about, just showing up and saying, okay, you know, I'm here, take
15:44me off the, uh, the reserve left squad list.
15:47And I mean, in my mind, that would be the, uh, the quickest way for him to, to, to become
15:53a free agent and, and, uh, and move on with his career.
15:57If that's what he, if that's what he desires.
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