- 14 hours ago
Jennifer Lee Chan joins the program to provide some details on the ongoing Brandon Aiyuk drama.
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00:00hello jennifer how are you i'm good how are you guys doing man we're tired of brandon iuke honestly
00:07um hey that goes both ways so can you can i want to every like all right i'm gonna try
00:16to compose
00:16my thoughts i think a lot of a lot of people are like making these assumptions and proclamations
00:24based on things we don't know especially here in washington like i don't believe i've ever
00:30maybe i talked to him at the combine 100 years ago i don't even know that i've ever talked to
00:33this
00:34dude can we go back in time to like when he was drafted when he had the big seasons just
00:41like
00:41what type of dude was this that you were in the locker room with every day he was he was
00:46a good
00:46kid like i mean i think kid because i feel like you know when they come out of college they're
00:50just
00:50young and they're new and the thing about when he first started it was covid so we didn't meet him
00:56as a rookie um so he was a rookie in 2020 and we started to get to know him in
01:0021 um had that kind
01:03of sophomore slump with kyle shanhan and then after that he had two really good seasons right he
01:09had the 2 000 yard seasons was really productive and you know when he spoke at his locker room he
01:15was
01:15thoughtful he um you know had interesting things to say and you know i think he seemed like a normal
01:22guy just a normal football player and then when the contract negotiations started for his extension
01:29that's when things went sideways was that at the end of year three kind of going in
01:35four okay okay yep so you know he had the hold in where everything was documented by um sports center
01:49by nfl network everything that he did right he was holding in but he would go and meet john lynch
01:54at
01:55half field during practice during otas and training camp and talk to them gap them up bro hug and all
02:01of
02:01that was documented and he had never really seemed like he had wanted to be you know in the spotlight
02:07in such a way but he obviously was at that point every move he made was documented everything you know
02:15oh he's here what is he wearing oh he's here he's watching uh practice he's watching he's hanging out
02:20with the wide receivers group all of those things were documented and then you know it was there was
02:27talks of trades and what is he going to do and you know i think there was new england and
02:34cleveland
02:35and pittsburgh that were kind of in the mix for him and then he decided he would sign and then
02:42normally once negotiations are over you know everybody's like okay we did it everybody's happy
02:48and it kind of goes back to business as usual but i think what happened then i don't know who
02:54put it
02:54out it someone from you know close to inside the building it went to adam schefter adam schefter
03:02tweeted that brandon iu just signed the deal that's been on the table for weeks
03:07now i don't know if that was the turning point where it was like oh you're gonna you know kind
03:12of just turn the screws a little bit yeah i mean because they were exasperated with him you know he
03:17was around the facility he was talking about wanting to get traded or you know and they tried to talk
03:22to
03:22other teams about trading him and nothing ever materialized but then once they got it done
03:27i think that information getting out might have been the impetus and i don't know because i'm not
03:33inside the building but that's the one thing that i think maybe kind of turned the corner and made
03:41things not as happy as they normally are after a contract extension is reached right you know like
03:46you get everybody who signs a contract okay richard sherman has talked about it like being like having
03:51braces contract negotiations are awful they suck but then when you get the braces off and you have
03:56your contract everything goes back to normal they clearly did not go back to normal with brandon iuk
04:01so i don't know if that was the thing that led it to be that way um but you know
04:07it just didn't
04:09feel normal and then he was kind of behind because he wasn't in training camp because of the hold in
04:14so his first you know few games he had very little production and you know i think it was like
04:21yeah two catches for 28 yards four catches for 43 he didn't even hit the 50 yard marker until
04:28week five where he had eight catches 147 yards and then we're like okay he's back
04:33then two weeks later he has the devastating knee injury acl mcl cartilage damage and then he's done
04:40for the year so he really only played seven games on the new contract and then you know okay he's
04:49working back through this injury so no one really thought anything after that but obviously there are
04:55other things afoot and when he came back in 2025 rehabbing and we thought okay he's running with the
05:03running routes with the wide receivers even though he wasn't supposed to because he's on ir but he
05:07wasn't catching passes so no one said anything you know he's just running out there then we come to
05:13find out in october that his guarantees were voided back in july so he didn't show up to the facility
05:20back in july of 2025 so he was you know i don't know why he was doing that other than
05:28maybe putting
05:29on a good show for publicity that he was out there trying to make his way back from injury i
05:33i don't know
05:34what the motivation was behind that but once that news came out that his contract guarantees were
05:41voided he really did no one saw him at the facility and except for very very early in the morning
05:48um
05:48some of the trainers and medical staff said that he was doing his rehab very early in the morning but
05:52was not around for meetings or when players were around and then he just i mean george kittle said it
05:58on
05:59one a podcast recently that he just never saw him again after that so you said when he was uh
06:06coming in he got everything documented he was talking he was hanging out with john lynch i hear
06:11anything like him hanging out with kyle shannon could that can kyle and he have an issue and john i
06:16mean
06:16i think they did back in his second year because you know he was there during covid so they didn't
06:22really
06:22have his his growth was kind of stunted a little bit i think because you know they didn't have
06:29hardly anything right they didn't have in-house training for covid that was his rookie year
06:33so his second year i think he thought he was going to you know have a big role which he
06:41did i think he
06:41had like around 800 yards um but i think he thought he was going to have even bigger role and
06:46there was
06:47that famous like oh he's in the doghouse and i think it was because his rookie year he was thrust
06:53into playing very quickly well kyle shanahan's hard in his wide receivers he always has been
06:59because his offense is timing based so if you don't know what everybody on the field is doing you don't
07:04do exactly what you're supposed to do and there's so many pre-snap motions in different lineups
07:09because i think he wasn't as um specifically accurate in those things you know he wasn't out
07:17there as much and you know there was so many there were so many stories written about his
07:21second year slump but then he came back and in his third year he had a thousand yard season and
07:26he
07:26you know there was talk about how okay he's really dialed in he knows exactly what he's doing he was
07:31there for all the meetings and involved and so his third year thousand yards fourth year you know
07:37almost 1400 yards 1300 that was his you know second team all pro year so i mean like when he's
07:42in it
07:43he's a great receiver i just don't know at this point you know what he said yesterday does that
07:50motivate another team to sign him i don't know yeah see the question i would ask like for me is
07:56you know do you think he can recapture what he had two years ago because it's been basically two years
08:04right right he hasn't played football in a really really long time i don't know what his motivation
08:10level is so his last game was october 20th 2024 wow that's great so he yeah and so i mean
08:19like a lot
08:20of players do come back from major injuries and are great i mean but i i just don't know you
08:27know is
08:27his motivation there to do that again and it seems like it from the video he's like i'm gonna you
08:32know
08:32basically i'm gonna show them that you know i i still can be a great receiver i mean everybody
08:38hopes that i mean the the game is better when great players are playing yeah right you're right
08:43with that right so i mean there's i don't think there's um you know i don't think the niners are
08:49like oh we don't want you to ever play again i mean they'd rather him have been productive for them
08:55after like he said paying him 50 million dollars in however many months it was
09:00they would have preferred to have him on the field of course every team who pays a player wants
09:05them to play for them but i mean there's i don't think there's any you know animosity like oh we
09:13hope
09:13he fails i think everybody wants him to succeed everybody wants good players to play so it didn't
09:20work out for the 49ers but also they're not going to just give them away to a team you know
09:26and release
09:26him when they could get some trade value for him so that's what they've been trying to do
09:30hasn't been successful yet i don't know if this uh this might even hurt the situation uh you know
09:36his video that he just posted so i i don't know it's a bizarre situation that you know we've all
09:42been
09:42in the business for quite some time i i've never seen anything like this they've they canceled um
09:49minicamp and so if he were to just start showing up because people are still going to the facility to
09:55work out he starts showing up to facilitate do you think that that would make them say okay we
09:59gotta get out get him out of here because he starts working out over and he gets hurt in that
10:03building
10:03they're gonna pay him some money right right he's i don't think he's ever going to step foot on the
10:08practice field or levi's stadium field unless he's with another team again if he does that he's gonna
10:12hurt himself if he doesn't keep him on the left squad list right yeah um so he's on the reserve
10:19left squad list and it's funny when i had never heard of this list before but it basically is
10:24because they left the squad um and i didn't realize it was that actually you know it was actually what
10:29it meant um but if he so i i honestly think that the two aren't related so i think they
10:37canceled
10:38minicamp because they had 100 attendance the week before and also fifa is taking over levi's stadium
10:44which is now not levi's stadium it is san francisco bay area stadium so uh the last week of otas
10:50for
10:50all of us were very very challenging getting in and out security is incredibly tight so there was i
10:56mean the players can still go in and rehab and whatnot but they have to get cleared i mean they
11:00have there's a whole protocol to getting in out of that building right now because the world cup is
11:05being held there yeah i'm not saying that the two are related but what i'm saying is if brandon and
11:10i you
11:11just like the rest of the guys start going to the well he got a warrant out for his arrest
11:15right now
11:15so he probably won't be coming there so it's a lot of stuff working there but if he let's say
11:20in a
11:20regular situation he starts going to the building working out they will be pushed and forced to do
11:27something because he happened to get hurt in that weight room they got to pay him right right so i
11:32mean
11:32that's what he should do to kind of push the wheel forward but he didn't do that i mean if
11:39he showed up
11:40that would force the 49ers hand to do something right now they don't have to do anything totally
11:45so i mean yes him showing up to the facility absolutely would get the wheels moving and they
11:49would have to do something because if he shows up and they don't let him in the building then they
11:53can
11:53file a grievance and then it is a whole different thing but you just don't expect that do you expect
11:58that to happen i don't i don't know i mean like from his behavior i don't know but now that
12:06i think
12:06there's definitely a lot of sports talk about you know what what has to be done to move this forward
12:12it's him showing up the building yeah it's great so that's the craziest part to me is
12:16yeah the fix here is relatively simple and we we it's like we're ignoring he's ignoring that
12:24right i mean there's so many people talking about all he has to do is show up
12:29but i mean that was the problem this is why his contract was the guarantees are voided because
12:33he didn't show up yeah right so then it goes back to what is his motivation does he really want
12:39to
12:39play again does you know where does his motivation stand where is his mental capacity like what what
12:45is his mental state right now no one knows except for brandon iuk yeah it's just it's it's honestly
12:51such a mystery um as to what is really going on right now it's so bizarre because the niners i
12:59think
13:00don't want him to end up in washington and that reminds me of when when kyle and john got the
13:06job
13:06out there and they wanted to trade for kirk and dan snyder's like hell no we're not trading him there
13:10and then the reserve left squad list the first time i became aware of that was when trent williams
13:16had his situation who then eventually ends up in san francisco it's like whenever there's a san
13:22francisco washington transaction it has to be as bizarre as possible right right um jennifer thank
13:31you for the time please yeah but now i mean like one more thing i mean adam peters is a
13:35guy who knows
13:35brandon iuk so if anyone is going to take a risk on brandon iuk it would be potentially adam peters
13:43you know because he i asked him straight up at the combine you were there and i was like what
13:47about
13:47brandon iuk what do you have anything to say and he said jennifer i cannot speak about a player that's
13:53on another team but love the player can't talk about the person so i mean there is a connection
13:59there and obviously he's great friends with jade daniels that's the only football player he follows
14:05now he posted himself in the washington commander's hat he follows the team and you know other than
14:11that just a few others so it's just i mean if i think if he obviously he's channeling that he
14:16wants to go there but will adam peters be able to you know negotiate something
14:22be able to wait long enough just wait yeah look like they're gonna push this one to the end
14:29yeah this will be uh this is definitely uh as the world turns kind of moment for the nfl here
14:35jennifer thank you for the time as always appreciate you no problem all right talk to you guys soon
14:39great jennifer lee chan give her a follow at jennifer lee chan does a great job covering the 49ers for
14:46nbc sports bay area
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