The Real Reason the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk are Headed for Divorce

The Real Reason the 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk are Headed for Divorce

Feels like we’re only getting half the story about Brandon. What’s up? How’s it going? Welcome to 49ers after dark on the weekend while it’s light out. I’m Grant Conn. That’s Jesse Naylor. Uh, you know, I gotta call him in when the news is huge and this is huge news. We knew something was up with Brandon Aayuk. It was like the least well-kept secret ever, but we didn’t know the details and now we got a bunch of them on a Friday afternoon/ evening, which is what you call a Friday afternoon news dump. Um, I guess it was that’s when the Niners would want it to be dropped. Uh, when there’s the least scrutiny as as little scrutiny as possible. got a game coming up in a few days which they probably will win which could change things but for now it’s Brandon Iayuk time and here’s what we know so far Jesse they voided his guarantees during training camp because he didn’t fulfill the obligations of his contract which is supposed to be going to all the meetings or team functions or whatever that actually means and now it looks like he’s going to get released this off seasonason is do we know anything No, I I think that’s that’s what we know factually. That’s what’s been reported. Um the rest would be speculation. Um I had been hearing for weeks for about 6 weeks that he’s been healthy and ready to play. Um this now makes sense why he didn’t play. Uh I I would assume if the contract was voided in training camp, the reasons he would want to play if he’s healthy is that he wants to showcase for the next team. And the reason the 49ers wouldn’t want him to play is because they don’t want to showcase him for the next team. That’s not what they’re here to do. Um, and so him time really since the beginning of the year, that makes a lot of sense as well. Why they aren’t showing him on TV and press boxes, that all now starts to make a lot of sense. So, a lot of this speculation that’s that’s been out there, uh, hearsay that’s been out there is really all starting to add up once we get this piece of the puzzle. Um, but those are the factual things. I guess the question is is what led to this, right? And I’m curious to know your thoughts. But to me, Grant, like when I look at this team and I look at the injury history that they’ve had, would you want to rehab with the team? Would you trust this team to rehab you properly and get you back on the field? Or would is it possible that maybe BA wouldn’t want to do those things? Maybe he wanted to work with his own team. And that was enough for the 49ers to be like, “Well, you’re not you’re not here. You’re not rehabbing when we need you to. You’re not here with our guys, and so we’re going to avoid the contract.” And he’s like, “All right, we’ll then void it.” So to me, I don’t know. I I don’t know for again this is all speculation but to me Grant like that adds up. There’s another piece of information that was reported what we know this was reported by ESPN Nick Wagner and he said that the 49ers were going to trade Brandon Iayuk after the 2024 season. They made their minds up before he got injured. So that’s interesting too. It seems like they either signed him with the intention of flipping him after one year or they had instant buyer remorse. So to me, like the way they’re trying to the way this story has been portrayed so far or interpreted is that the NerS really liked Brandon Aayuk. They gave him every opportunity to earn his contract. He was just so unprofessional that they had no other choice but to void the guarantees. But it seems like if they wanted to trade him before he got hurt and then they tried to trade him when he was hurt, I mean they they confirmed it, he confirmed it, then it seems pretty clear that they were going to find a way to get out of this contract and avoid paying him another penny, which they did. I’m not saying he didn’t, you know, miss a meeting or give them cause, but they were going to find cause. That’s the way I look at it. You’re muted. You’re muted. Again, why even sign him though, Grant? Like, it doesn’t that doesn’t make any sense because you had trades on the table. The Steelers were interested. The Patriots were interested. Cleveland was interested. You had offers available to you. So, why not just make it happen then? And if Brandon Iuk was so happy with the team, why did he last minute be like, “I’m just joking. I’ll sign the contract.” Like, none of this, the whole thing makes no sense to me, Grant. the whole thing. It doesn’t make sense. Let me try to guess. It’s possible that you know Kyle Shanahan wanted to keep him. The rest of the team didn’t pretty much. I think we know that. Okay. And to get the the the team on board with keeping Aayuk. Maybe Kyle said look like we could trade him after one year if it doesn’t work out. But if you remember going into 2024, it was all about man, you know, we were one drive away from winning the Super Bowl. we got to keep this team together at least one more one more year and then we’ll pay Brock Py and then we’ll understand that we’ll have to gut this team but we got to give it one more chance and maybe they’re like all right you know we could we could tag him but he won’t be happy so we’ll give him an extension he’ll be happy he’ll play ball we’ll make a run and then we could trade him although given giving him the extension didn’t really seem to be the you know appeasement they thought it would be I don’t know that’s a theory well he and he got I mean he got injured I that through. But see, this is this is football. Guys get injured all the time. I mean, that’s a hell of a calculated risk. The 49ers, the 4, how do how do the 49ers always do this, Grant? How do they always get nothing for their players that have so much value around the league? It doesn’t make any sense. Like Jimmy Garopppolo was the first. He They could have traded him for who knows what, probably a first round pick after 2019. Brought in Tom Brady. They decided not to do that because of EPA. uh for whatever reason that they thought that he was as good or ascending or better than Tom Brady at that point. And then even like an offseason or two later, they could have traded him. They hung on to him again after drafting Trey Lance. You didn’t get anything for him essentially. Uh Debo Samuel, there was a first round pick on the table from the Jets in that draft before you signed him. You didn’t take that offer. You end up trading him for what did they trade him for this offseason? Was that a fifth? A fifth round pick, right? You traded him for a fifth years later after he didn’t produce at the level that was was an allp pro level that got him the contract. And then BA, same thing. He has the amazing year. You have offers on the table for a first round pick. You don’t take that because you might want to keep him for one year to try to make a run at things. I And now And now you’re cutting him for nothing. like they just don’t get value from their players when the value is there to be had. They they have no concept it seems of what the rest of the league thinks and how they value their own players. Yeah. I mean at the time I said I would trade Iuk and there were reasons I felt that way and why reasons why people didn’t feel that way. My argument was not that he wasn’t worth $30 million a year. is that the Niners couldn’t make that work. They would never feel like they got the return on their investment. They would always feel like they were overpaying for him because they don’t throw to him enough. Even though he could justify it on another team with another quarterback and another system and they knew that, too. That’s why they lowballed him. That’s why they offered him what they would, 25, that seemed more reasonable. And then the market dictated that he was worth more. Other teams would pay him more. They gave him the money he deserved, but they didn’t want to. and then they instantly regretted it. So, is that his fault? I mean, it seemed like they just had instant buyer remorse. And if you knew, so here’s what I wanted to say. If you knew that was too much for you and you were never going to get the return on investment, then just trade him. Trade him right then. Because once you get overpay, then you can’t trade him. Once he gets hurt, then you can’t trade him. Now you’re stuck with this contract. Now you’re taking dead cap hits. Now you’re filing grief. I mean, now you’re potentially going to have the NFLPA file a grievance even though uh Brandon told him not to. I mean, we’ll see how where this goes. Okay. Well, let’s let’s go with your uh theory, potential theory here of of why this happened and why they would have signed him to try to make one last run. The reason I wanted them to sign him is because I thought he could be a part of the future core. That’s that’s the way it made sense. If if you’re signing him for a one-year deal essentially and you’re like, “All right, he’s going to play well. We’ll showcase him. We’ll make a run at the Super Bowl and then after that we’ll get rid of him.” One, that’s a a a very poorly calculated risk again because we talked about the injuries. But even leading up to that point, Grant, the initial conversations started as soon as the season ended. This is according to Brandon Iayuk when he was on the pivot. He was content with like what was it 27 million 28 million or or even it might have been even less at that point because Aman Ra hadn’t been signed. Uh Wadd hadn’t been signed. A bunch of guys hadn’t been signed yet. So the 49ers clearly had a number in mind that they were uncomfortable with. Once it reaches that point you have to stick to your guns and then that’s when you trade them like okay well 30 clearly they weren’t comfortable with. So trade him now get the draft pick. move on from it versus, okay, you know what? He’s not worth 30. We don’t think he’s worth 30, but we’re going to try to rent him for one year and be smarter than everybody else, then we’ll trade him. Why? Why? You had bird in hand. That’s that doesn’t make any sense to me. Like, that’s organizational malpractice. if that was the case. Again, this is a lot of speculation. But we do know factually they had a number they were comfortable with and that number continued to grow because they slow played the wide receiver market for no reason. They ballooned up. They basically competed against themselves to balloon up his contract for a guy that they ultimately didn’t want. And that was clear from the very beginning. Yeah. It just seemed like they had a line they wouldn’t cross. They crossed it. they regretted crossing it and then they’ve done all this stuff to sort of undo that decision they made and now that it’s pretty much undone. Uh they’re just sort of framing it as well, you know, we really liked Brandon and we wanted this to work and we entered this in good faith, but he just wasn’t the pro we thought he was. And you know, I can’t speak to his professionalism. I don’t know how he acts in meetings or if he’s there. I don’t know. But I feel like this is not what that’s not what this is about. This is about getting out of this contract by any means necessary. And we know they’ve been trying to get out from under it for almost 12 months. Okay. So then let’s look at how this season has played out and try to make sense of that because remember early on there was a report that came out that Brandon Iayuk is a great team leader. He’s in all the meetings. He’s helping coach up the young guys. Gosh, what a team player he is. Okay. So, was that a media spin by the 49ers? And if he’s not that and you’ve already avoided the contract, why even go down the media spin route? And then why for about five or six weeks, do you act as if he was coming back? Oh, maybe next week. Oh, you know, he’s looking better. John Lynch, I see him outside my window. He’s looking better. He’s not even around the team. He doesn’t care. He hasn’t been there. Why drag this thing on? It doesn’t. None of it makes sense to me. None of it makes sense. I got theories. I got theories. Okay, give me theories. Why did this drag on so long? Why did they keep saying this? Why did they finally Why did this finally drop now? Well, his replacement is Ricky Pear for the time being. And until Ricky Pearaw’s on the field, it’s tough to cut ties with Brandon Auk and have the fan base understand. But when Ricky comes back and Jawan’s back and and KD’s out there, it’s easy for the fan base to be like, “Duces Brandon, we never liked you in the first place.” Which is kind of what’s happening right now. So, that’s one theory. Ricky’s back. It’s it’s finally time to end the charade with Brandon. What was the other question? Um, why put out a report that he was around the team and such a great team leader? Okay, I like that question, too. Is it possible that the coaching staff and the front office are on different pages here? that the coaching staff wants Brandon Aayuk. It’s not their money that they actually like him. I mean, I don’t know h how good a friend Kyle and Brandon are, but Kyle wanted him. Kyle pushed for this contract. Kyle understands how much better Brandon makes the offense, even if he isn’t quite worth $30 million a year or or whatever. Um, is it possible they were trying to lobby for him? Like, hey guys, we know what’s happening behind closed doors, what the front office is going to say, the case they’re building against Brandon. We just want to put out there like, we think he’s doing really great. We think he’s been not only in the meetings but a leader in the meetings. I mean adding to the narrative there or changing it possible. Just I I Yeah, I mean it is possible but because the way I look at this is Kyle got this extension done and I would guess that Perog got it undone and this is a shift of power from football people to business people. And remember I put out that report before the 2024 season. I don’t even know what it meant, but I had a great source saying that the bean counters, the business people in the Niners front office are pissed about these uh contract extensions. Iuk in particular, and uh there’s going to be hell to pay. And look, I mean, no one got fired yet, but look what’s happening. That’s I I forgot that you’d put that out. Yeah, that was that’s all come true. I’m telling you, as soon as I heard that, I’m like, Aayuk has no chance because the there was one guy who advocated for him making that money and it felt like Kyle backed down. Like, all right, man. You know, if if if it’s me or him, it’ll be him. Goodbye, Brandon. I can work this out with Ricky Pier. You know what’s interesting is I had a topic last week and it kind of made sense at the time, but the correlation wasn’t necessarily there and now it makes total sense. So, we heard that cowing is going to come off of IR after the by-week. We still had no idea what was going on with Brandon. When’s he coming back? He’s weak to week. Are they opening the practice window? And the question that I posed at the time was, does Cowing does the news of of cowing coming back, does that mean that Aayuk is not? And S was like, oh, they’re probably not correlated, you know, maybe, maybe not. Clearly, they were, right? like they knew that I wasn’t coming back because cowing hasn’t produced either. It’s not like he’s done a lot. So why why even use opening an IR spot on him if I was coming back? Yeah, the Niners do stuff like that, right? Ners activate wide receiver and it’s Jacob Kelly. Jacob Kelly. Yeah. All right, let’s take some super chats and get back to the show. I’m Por says BA pulled an AB. Well, that’s what we’re talking about. Did he really BA interview soon? Hopefully. Jewish guy 1,00%. Oh, I I get BA is not the type of player to sit on his hands. He will absolutely be doing an interview at some point during this off season maybe before airing his grievances. I guarantee it. Sig Freed says Chris Olive, you are a Niner. He’s riding an N. It’s a possibility. Drewish guy says why not trade him at the deadline? Uh because I don’t think he wants to be traded here. To me, that’s another part of this. Like, why would Brandon, what’s the other thing we know? Brandon, IU did not challenge uh the voids in his in his contract. The Niners void his guarantees and he said, “Go for it.” Which on the surface looks like an admission that he messed up and he knows it, that he can’t fight it, which is possible. It’s possible that the Ners again were the good guys here and Brandon is just terrible and stupid and and all the bad things or he knows he he didn’t want to get traded in the first place. They were going to trade him New England and Cleveland and he’s like, “No, I don’t want you to just send me anywhere.” It’s possible that I mean, he’s already made $60 million in his career. It’s possible he he would rather go somewhere else as a free agent and work it out that way than um to get traded to anywhere on this current contract and then possibly get cut from that team. Yeah, I I mean I understand he probably wants to choose or he does want to choose his next destination. Hello Washington. Uh assuming you know he wants to play with Jane Daniels. Adam Peters is there. But this is a calculated risk. Like let’s talk about his career for just a second. Okay, Brandon Aayuk is what, 27, 28 years old. Uh, coming off of a major injury, just walked away from a ton of guaranteed money. He’s not going to get that offer this off season. Like, he this this is and this is what’s interesting. Somehow in this scenario, I feel like both sides have lost. I feel like the Niners have egg on their face in the way that they’ve handled it. And I feel like Brandon Aayuk has egg on his face in the way that he’s handled it. And I look at Brandon Iayuk almost like I did OBJ towards the end, which is like he’s probably going to be a year-to-year hired gun. I don’t know that he’s ever gonna get a multi-year deal. I don’t know that that’s in the cards for him. If he goes to, let’s say, Washington next year, has a good year, maybe he can get a two-year deal from somewhere else, but now he’s closer to 30. I I don’t know, man. I just I feel like this is a bad calculation on both sides. I got one last theory. It’s possible Ike knows his knee injury is really bad and he’s never going to be the player he was before. So, if that’s the case, go have fun. Go play with your guy uh in Washington. Go be a yearto-year guy. But, uh yeah, I mean, you’re going to get cut sooner or later. Once you go back out on the field and show that you’re not what you used to be, it’s it’s a matter of time before you’re not playing under that contract anyway. Is that possible? But if if that were true, then why not do whatever the team’s asking you to do and set yourself up financially forever? I mean, you’re going to That’s great to have fun, but you’re going to forego $50 million so you can have a good time with Jaden Daniels. He’s forgoing 25 million guaranteed next year. And he could say it is a lot, but he could say, you know, maybe I’ll get 20 million and I’ll recoup most of it for 2026. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. But maybe that’s what he’s thinking. Yeah. I don’t sign a one-year deal, sign a two-year deal, and you don’t lose all of it. And in the meantime, you get to go be happy in an organization that wants you. Is it possible? Also, we all assume he’s going to Washington, obviously. Yeah. Is it possible that Adam Peter’s been in the background being like BA, you know, you want to come over here, right? We can’t trade for you cuz that contract, you know, I tried. They want, but I got I got a scheme. Don’t tell anyone, but do this and we’ll get you over here. That’s called That’s That one’s sticky. I don’t know that Adam Peters would do would go that deep. That could get him in real hot water, but absolutely get him in hot water. But it just seems like he knows Brandon very well. Jaden knows Brandon very well. If the Washington Commanders wanted to bring him over there, they could do something. And I’m never going to uncover what it is, but I feel like this stuff happens more often in the NFL than people realize. Oh, for sure. But here’s how here’s how he does it. He talks through his quarterback. Hey, man, how’s BA doing? Hey, tell him tell him Adam says hi. Just little stuff like that. It’s not even Yeah. Nope. It’s just let him know that the relationship is still there if he wants it. Hey, tell him Adam says what’s up. I’m just saying like he signed Kinlaw. Uh he brought in Debo. Like there’s a 100% chance Brandon’s going to the Washington. Jake Moody. Don’t forget about Jake Moody. Jake Moody. Yeah, absolutely. I can’t wait for it. And I kind of hope he does well over there. Jewish guy says, “Why not trade him?” Got him. Bill Kennedy says, “I want to hear BA side. Betty makes a stink.” Or maybe he just doesn’t care. Is happy to be gone and and go to Washington. Too much sauces. How does Nick Wagner know so much? Special access. He’s got a good source. Kar says, “This situation makes Lynch look even worse. Who wanted to trade Aayuk to the Steelers but got overruled by Kyle? We don’t need a weak GM.” Yeah, man. I mean, you can’t blame it on Kyle. Like, it’s your job. Dis brother Boba says, “What up, Gizo?” And Jay Dizzle, stop ghosting me, Jess. Jal Far says, “Nice Browns move by the Niner.” That’s another thing I want to say, man. The Niners do this and they and the news comes out on a Friday and everyone just takes their side and says, “God, man, I must be a jerk.” Niners are a great organization. It’s a good move for the Niners. Dude, if the Bengals had done the same thing, like had some contentious uh negotiation with T. Higgins or Jamar Chase and then never repaired the relationship and then took away his guarantees and released him, everyone would ridicule the Bengals. Oh my god, Bengals did it again. They’re so stupid and cheap. Why would they bangle bangle? It’s like, and that would be the right thing to say, but the Niners, are the Niners a good organization or do they just have like good schemes on offense and defense and the rest of their organization is the same organization that was awful when freaking Jim Tomula was here? I don’t I mean I mean there’s only so much that Kyle and Salah can really do. they can put together a good game plan, but it seems like everything else from the injuries to the contracts to it’s just amateur hour. It’s interesting how winning somewhat consistently, I guess, can change your perception of everything. I mean, is Jed York really that different? Because all of a sudden, he comes across like he’s put together. Ah, he knows what he’s doing. Oh, well, he’s a good owner, right? But when you kind of peel things back, it’s like, well, he’s kind of the same guy that wasn’t a good owner when he made those other hires. Yeah. I think at the very least, and this is where Kyle Shanahan does deserve a lot of credit, at the very least, what you have to say is he’s brought up the floor of this organization to make it respectable. So, even if he was fired this off season, they would get good candidates because Kyle Shanahan was here for what he built. And that’s what you probably the biggest uh hole in my argument to replace Kyle when I say look Kyle’s very good but he’s never going to win the championship. So you got to go find someone who could take you over the top. And that I think that logic checks out for most organizations. But if you take Kyle out it’s still Pog and Jed and they’re not necessarily good at anything. And the the last time they tried to do that because Harbaugh couldn’t quite get them over the top the bottom fell out and they were floundering. So, it’s too bad that the Niners, I mean, the Eddie D ners, that wouldn’t happen to them. They could shoot for the highest standards. But with York, I mean, they could very quickly be back in the cellar because even with Lynch and Shanahan and Salah, like look at this stuff under the surface that we don’t even know about. That’s embarrassing. Embarrassing. This is embarrassing. I have a topic that I want to I want to add on the fly whenever we get a do it. we ever get it. Okay. So, when we look at this team and we figure out what the future looks like, we know that Trent Williams is aging. CMC, Fred Warner is now coming off of a major injury. Um, KD’s on the other side of 30. Bosa is coming off his third torn ACL. He’s approaching 30. When you look at a plan, because all organizations that stay good for a long time, they have at least a three-year running plan, right? The Eagles are always preparing for the next thing. When Kelsey was on the verge of retiring, they drafted his replacement two years prior. The year that they had the 75 sack defensive line, they had all four of them replaced already. Ready to go for the very next season. All four starters gone. Didn’t matter. They kept it humming. The 49ers don’t seem to have a plan to keep this future together. And now that BA is off of the future of this team, what the hell is the core? What is the future core of this team that you can say for sure this guy’s a part of the future core? In three years, he’s for sure one of the guys that’s a part of the core of this team that is going to continue to have success. How many of those guys do they have on the roster? Without a doubt. I love the question and I think there’s a correct answer here. I think the correct answer is zero. There is no guarantee that Brock Perie will be on this team in three years. There’s no guarantee that Diamador Lenor will be on this team and there’s no guarantee that Kyle Shanahan will be on this team in 3 years. It looks like what the NerS are flirting with, what Jed and Perog are flirting with is a complete organizational reset. And maybe that’s the right thing to do. I’ve been campaigning for that for a while. I mean, you can’t just let the same coach be the coach for 20 years. But again, it’s Jed and Perog and you got to be nervous anytime they’re making decisions or thinking. Thinking is not what they do best. So, I don’t know. And I I mean technically I guess you could go across every I don’t know. I mean how do we know this player is not going to get injured? Injuries aside, who based off of pure talent and youth is going to be on this team. And you to your point, none of those guys fit the criteria. None of them. Not a single player got a ton to prove. He’s he’s hurt heard more than he’s healthy. Uh Lenor’s a good player, but you don’t know where he’s going to be in three years. Um Warner getting old. Bosa will be in his 30s. Not KD, not the left tackle, not the running back. Puny. Poney could be on the team if they want to give a second contract to an offensive lineman. Senil, so real. Senil put out that the Niners have given out second contracts to four day one and two picks since Lynch have has taken over. Bosa, Aayuk, Warner, Debo. That’s it. That’s it. That’s it. None of them. None of them are currently playing on this version of the 49ers right now. Two of them are done for the season. One of them is going to get cut at the end of the season and one of them’s on Washington. None. Wow. That’s really incredible. That’s the first, second, and third round picks over nine years. And that’s what you have to show for it. And then let’s go through the last two years because obviously those guys don’t qualify yet. Ricky Pieraw, first round pick, hasn’t proven he can stay healthy. Really has had five good games in his two-year career thus far. There’s no guarantee he gets extended. Ronaldo Green, who I like a lot, has shown flashes, struggled a little bit to begin the year, got benched for a half a game. There’s no guarantee he’s there. Pun’s absolutely regressed, so who knows what’s going on with him. And then you look at this year’s drafts, your first round pick already has a torn ACL. Um, I like Alfred Collins, but again, it’s early, but is he worth a second big-time contract? Not based off of what we’ve seen thus far. Um, and your third round picks, Nick Martin, can’t even get on the freaking field. Like, I just I don’t know, man. This is their drafting is atrocious. Atrocious in the first three rounds overall. Okay, more back to IU. Who would you say is more at fault here for this divorce? Iayuk or the 49? I mean, I’m sure they’re both at at fault to a degree. It’s just the way this report came out. It really made it seem like the Ners were patient. You know, they really wanted this to work. They went to couples therapy. They they read the books. It was just Aayuk had no intention of fixing this at all. And he really went out of his way to, you know, not do things that anyone could do, not show up for meetings. I mean, we got 25 million at stake and you didn’t even show up for meetings. Like, that’s on you, pal. Who do you think’s at fault? The 49ers 100%. I mean, if Listen, they both played a part in this. I’m not acting as if I was like this good soldier because that’s would not be true based off the reporting, but the 49ers knew who he was before they signed him. They had trepidation in signing him for a reason. It wasn’t just money related. They knew what type of guy they were getting into bed with. And quite frankly, Brandon Aayuk has never fit the mold of what they’re looking for. He’s never been buddy buddy with a quote unquote Cabo click. He’s always kind of beat to his own drum. His rookie year, he was put in the doghouse, Grant, and took and spoke up about it. Wasn’t didn’t speak kindly of it. So, even as a young player in this league, he was willing to go against the grain. They knew exactly who they were getting into business with. They chose to do that. and this is the result of that. So, you have to blame the 49ers because it’s like, okay, so I know exactly who he is and then he reshowed who he was and now it’s his fault. No, it’s your fault for bringing him back, signing the extension. You had great offers on the table and chose not to take them. I blame the 49ers. Yeah. And again, I I don’t buy it that they loved this contract until he missed a few meetings in the off. Like first of all, we’re talking about training camp. How how many players missed training camp? Everything, not even the meetings, and are rewarded with more guarantees. I mean, I was one. I sat out all of training camp and got an extension. Trent Williams set out all of training camp, got an extension. CMC, I mean, all of a sudden, now that’s grounds for fire firing for cause when before that’s grounds for an extension. I mean, what are we talking about here? It it this to me that’s just an excuse that the organization’s going to use to you change the narrative when really this is just business. It’s not about right and wrong and morals or professionalism. It’s business. You wanted to give him 25. He got 30 out you. He beat you in the or in the in the negotiation. Kyle helped him win. Perog didn’t want to take the loss. And now he just uh or the organization just rewrote that one. So you didn’t want to give him the money. you gave him the money, you took it back. Although, you did give him $50 million for seven games and I don’t think they’ll ever get over that. So, I think they look, we knew they wanted to he had that um there was a day like March or something where if they if he’s still on the or on the roster that day 25 million guarantees kick in, right? And we knew they were trying to trade him before that day hit. So, the next team would have to pay him. And every team was like, “Are you crazy? Why would we want to do that?” So, they had to pay him. And I’m sure at that moment Jed Perog said that never again. We’re going to make sure that never happens again. And so Oh, guess what, Brandon? You’re being fired because you were you stole boxes. Boxes? I was even working today. Yeah, we got you on tape stealing boxes, man. Sorry. It’s like Craig in Friday. We got you on tape. How are you fired my day off? Yeah. I’m sorry, man. That is interesting because now when you look at the timeline, they let him they kept him on the team in March to put lock in that 25 million fully guaranteed for 2026 and then five months later are avoiding that. Yeah. But so was that was the thought they were trying to avoid that first 25 million by any means, but there was nothing they could do. There’s nothing they could do. So yeah. So the thought process was in this next five months we’ll be able to trade him without him being fully healthy. That’s is that what they really thought? That’s what they really thought. And then remember IU came out and said y’all tried to trade me but I wasn’t healthy. Yeah. Here’s here’s what we found out. Hey uh John Lynch goes into Perog and Jed’s office. Hey, so we tried to trade him and turns out no one wants his contract. It’s the funniest thing. He you know three of his ligaments are are ruined and no one wants that that contract that you guys didn’t want to begin with. So, what should we do? And Prague’s like, I have a scheme. We can avoid the contract. We can void the guarantees. How are we going to do that? Well, now I don’t want to I mean, I’m just saying I was thinking this this is a this is imagination. This is But couldn’t you I mean, this is a lot of money. We got to figure out a way to not give him another 25 million to do nothing or to or to come up short of expectations. What is the plan? Well, he missed a meeting. Oh, that’s that’s that’s grounds for fire for cause right there. He missed a meeting. I mean, who doesn’t miss a meeting here and there? Sometimes you miss a meeting, you forget. Maybe he missed a lot. Both receivers for the Cowboys just missed it. They were apparently out drunk. But if the organization likes you and you’re part of the core for the future, it’s all right. If they don’t like you, you’re fired and they’re taking back money. It’s how it works. Yeah. If CMC missed a meeting or two, I highly doubt this. We never hear about it. Didn’t Kyle use say a story about how he like almost missed a meeting in his first day with the Niners and then it was all cool and they laugh about it? It’s like, yeah, because they like him. The BA, how dare you? Yeah. Anyway, I don’t think it’s really about morals or professionalism. I think it’s just about money. And the 49ers have been trying to save as much money on the on the on the football team as possible this year. That’s another 25 million they get to save and put towards soccer. I think it’s a great deal for leads. You think Kyle’s happy about this? You think Kyle’s happy about this? Great. We’re gonna get rid of Brandon and we’re gonna cut him and we get nothing for him. That’s super dope. Love that. Yeah, literally nothing. Literally nothing. We could have traded him for something. We get literally nothing. Great. Well, and now I’m expected to keep Ricky Pierce all healthy for 17 weeks. Okay. And Brandon Iuk is uh he’s the type of dude that is so spiteful. like he’s going to work his butt. Not that he wasn’t working hard anyways, but you know, he is going to work his butt off to make sure that he makes the 49ers look awful. If he can go out next year and get a thousand yards with another team, it’s not going to look good at all. If if he goes out next year and is clearly better than Ricky Pieraw on some new team, you know, that’s what he wants to prove. Hell yeah. What does this debacle say about the Niners organization? We alluded to alluded to it a little bit earlier. I mean, we know they have uh a playbook on offense and a playbook on defense that most organizations would love and and those coaches do go a long way to raising the floor of this organization, but there’s so much more that goes into football. This team has gotten close and not won Super Bowls. They’re always the most injured team. They have weird contract stuff. This is another one. What does this latest one say about the organization as a whole? Well, I I think that this says that they’re terrible negotiators for one. I mean, they get their feet held to the fire by every major player. They always cave in whether they want to or not. They probably shouldn’t have caved in with dbo. They shouldn’t have caved in with with IU. They shouldn’t have caved in with with Trent or CMC, but they did. All of those look bad at some point or or another for a completely different reason. Um it just it looks like they don’t have any they don’t have a singular direction whether that’s John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan um the Yorks Prague Morate it just seems like somebody different steps in and calls a different shot. Oh Trent Williams we’re going to let him walk. Nope. I’ll just call Kyle Shanahan. He’ll get me a new deal. Oh CMC you’re you’re hurt. Well Kyle’s in my wedding. They’ll get a new deal. Oh Brandon Iuk, you’re going to get traded. Just kidding. I’ll just tell Kyle that I want to stay here and and I’m good to go. So, it just it seems like there’s no clear feels like those days are over though. It feels like those days are over. It does. It does feel. Yeah. But leading up to this and then like they just don’t have a backbone in negotiation like at all. No backbone when it comes to negotiation. And it’s landed them in hot water so many times. So many times they’ve lost the art of the negotiation. They just have. Yeah. I mean, I think that the Niners get so much credit for ch like turning their organization around and people say that Jed’s improved and grown, but it seems to me like it’s still the same organization that ran Harbaugh out of town, the same organization that thought Jim Tom Sula would be just as good or better. The same organization that thought Chip Kelly could be a head coach. I mean, I have a lot of problems with Kyle Shanahan, and I don’t think he’s going to win a Super Bowl, but he’s objectively better at his job than Jed is at his or Parog is at his. I mean, I could see Jed Kyle being like, “What do these guys do and they think they’re good? Like, just get out of my way and and say yes when I need things.” If if those days are over and they’re going to be imposing their expertise on Kyle, I could see him getting, you know, alienated and resigning the way that Jim Harbaugh kind of did. I mean, they’re never going to have the courage to to fire Kyle Shanahan. Let’s be real clear about that. But you start taking power away from him. You fire Lynch, you bring in another general manager, you start telling him who he can and can’t pay, he could be out. Because if he quits and resigns, dude, there’s going to be so many teams that want him. Teams with legit quarterbacks, not quarterbacks that he made look good. I’m not naming any names. And I’m sure it’ll be a big uh I’m sure it’ll be a big shot to his ego. Like the Niners didn’t want me, but every other team Oh, and now I get to go coach Josh now. Do you know do you understand how quickly he’d be coaching the Buffalo Bills if and I’m like do you understand how fast that would happen fast the only reason Sean McDermott has a job is because Jed York is also a job so it’s so true it is so true Kyle Shanahan with with Josh Allen would be absurd absolutely absurd Josh Allen would be happy Kyle Shannon would be happy and the Niners would be over here trying to make I don’t know someone look like a a coach trying to make Brock Pury look like a good investor investment. Anyway, so look, the Niners organization, they’ve gotten a lot of like image rehabilitation the last nine years, and that’s mostly Kyle. It’s mostly Kyle. And the stuff that falls outside of Kyle’s purview, is that a word? Is where we see the same stuff, dude. And yes, we blame Kyle for the injuries, but we got to acknowledge that it was an issue before Kyle. It’s going to be an issue after Kyle. And it’s because there’s something a little rinky dink about the postardal ners. There just is. I don’t give a damn. Look at their stadium, man. It’s rinky dink. It’s trash. There is just something about it. If you look at the if you look at their organization as a house and you really look at the stuff they used to build it, it’s like kind of cheap. Like why’ you cheap out on this stuff? But they do. Even and even though you can point to all the money they spent on players and stuff. Yeah, but then they but then they sold 10% of the organization this offseason so they could invest in other passions like soccer. It seems like I don’t know if if if all of what you’re saying is true though, right? So Jed’s not a great owner. Perog’s antiquated. Um John Lynch if he’s the one that’s that’s doing the drafting. I mean he hasn’t done a good job. How good is Kyle Shanahan really? Yeah, that makes Kyle Shanahan look really, really freaking good. Really talking about the organization the way that Harbaugh did. But I think that like by himself, but like he can’t win a Super Bowl by himself. He needs the help of an organization, which is probably another reason why the Niners are terrified to let him go because if he goes to a good organization with a good general manager and a good owner and he could just do his job, then maybe he could win a Super Bowl. But it’s never going to have that here because if he weren’t making every decision then who is Parog? Who else is there to think? Yeah. This isn’t like an Andy Reed situation where the Eagles won a Super Bowl and um the Chiefs won a Super Bowl because there’s no Howie Roseman here. There is no Howie. Howie is not walking through those doors. Okay, I got another one. Give me some lessons the Niners should have learned from this ridiculous situation that’s drawn on for like two years. I mean first and foremost that whatever whatever it is that you set in place as your limit you cannot exceed that. So you sit down as an organization and you decide this is what we’re comfortable paying this player or this is the amount of years that we are comfortable giving this player. If it exceeds that, you cannot have anybody folding, right? Like this is this is like an interrogation. Imagine you have this plan and it’s like, “All right, the police are at the door. We all know what we’re going to say.” And then everybody gets in the individual interrogation room and then somebody’s like, “It was him. It was Jesse. He’s crazy. Yeah, dude. It was him. I didn’t I had nothing to do with this, man. So, you can’t you can’t fold just because it gets hard. You know, it’s going to get hard. So, whatever the organization decides, and that’s everybody included. You all have to be willing to stick to your guns. And if it goes beyond that, then you’re moving on. You’re not you’re not negotiating. You’re not caving. You have to have one steadfast vision. That’s number one. Um, and PE people tell you who they are. Listen to them. If if you felt like Brandon Iuk could be an issue later on, this is like what exactly what the Steelers did with with AB. Um, and it came out, you know, much later. Ryan Clark talked about it. We all knew this was the guy he always was. It was just covered up by Tomlin. We saw it immediately. Grant, remember the shorts incident in training camp? Remember that shorts gate? And everybody’s like, “Oh, no big deal.” Like everything else. Everything else that happened that Grant post, no big deal. It’s just he’s just making up a bunch of nothing. Okay. Well, it apparently was a big deal because this was his personality. He never was trying to fit in with the core group of the team. Now, that’s we may not agree with it. I The Cabo Click thing has always been weird to me. I’m not a big fan of it. I think the core is a little strange, but either way, that is the core of your team. And if you aren’t going to fit within that and in fact you’re going against the grain, probably shouldn’t assign that guy. So you if if players tell you who they are, then listen to them though. This is why you shouldn’t have that click though because the Niners click is so weird that it’s not enough to be friends with you and KD. Your girlfriend or wife has to be friends with their girlfriend or wife. I mean, I don’t want to get into it like that cuz it feels it gets weird when a beat writer starts talking about it seems personal, right? But is I mean it’s been nine years. Doesn’t it seem like there’s a little bit of that? And I could see how a couple like Aayuk and his girlfriend or wife wife wife would feel like, “Hey, I don’t we didn’t get an invite. We didn’t seem like uh we’re really wanted in the click. I could I could try to invite myself, but that’s never great. I I’m just saying it seems like the things you got to do and the people who are at the top. It’s just weird.” And um maybe they should address that. So they could have a real team and not have stuff like this happen. Yeah. But okay, so then this goes back to Kyle, right? And they’ll never get rid of Kyle. And we just made the case for why Kyle was awesome. But along with that, this does also come with Kyle. He’s the same guy that’s throwing footballs in pizza ovens in the offseason with certain players and going on trips with certain players. Yeah, that came back to bite him. Younger Kyle wanted to be friends with Joe Staley and Debo. And you can’t be friends with everyone because No, I seem like I was dying to get that treatment and Kyle just wouldn’t give it to him. Yeah. How come I can’t be your buddy? Cuz I don’t like you. Cuz we’re not buddies. Like this. What’s crazy is um I won’t say who it was. You probably got the same thing, but I remember I think it was this offseason or maybe it was the offseason before. I don’t remember. But Brandon Aayuk was in Cabo and so was all the 49ers brass. But they were not together. They weren’t together. So there was a conversation that was had with Lynch and Shanahan and and York and then BA comes walking in. They act like they don’t see each other and they go their separate ways. I was that last offseason or the one before? I don’t remember. But yeah. Yeah. I I was getting pictures in my DMs of all of them. Like it was crazy, dude. Absolutely crazy. I got another lesson. We can move on. Um maybe stop paying wide receivers. I’m not saying every team should stop paying wide receivers, but maybe this team should because they’re expensive and you don’t really throw to him as much as like the Bengals throw to Jamar Chase. And it seems like a lot of the production for the wide receivers on the Niners is scheme dependent. Like not that Aayuk wouldn’t do that on another team, but you bring in Kendrick Bourne and he puts up 140 in backto-back games. Like if you can get production from guys on rookie contracts and journeymen who just know your system, then maybe spend that off that money on the offensive line. Well, yeah. I I think the lesson there is is know who your core is. Establish your You should always be establishing your core. They knew that Jennings wasn’t part of the core. That’s why he hasn’t been extended. But you can’t have 10 people that are a part of your core. You know, you you have It’s like three or four, right? It’s cornerstones. There’s four corners, not 11. Yes. Yeah. Exa Exactly. Yes. Cornerstones. Yeah. Yeah. Ironically, Brandon Aayuk’s number. Uh Yeah. So, that that’s the other thing. They should have known he’s not a part of the cornerstone. He’s not one of the four cornerstones, so we should probably move on from him. Yeah. And and I I guess the last lesson is when someone requests a trade, grantite, trade him. That guy’s out. You got He’s out. It either worked out or it didn’t. He either wanted the the offer you wanted or he didn’t. You’re not going to up your offer. You’re not going to hold him here against his will for a year. Now, I did say don’t pay Brock. Don’t give Mack an extension just cuz he wants one. But I do think there’s like I don’t think Brock would have done this. I think there’s a difference between quarterbacks and wide receivers. And wide receivers are the ones requesting trades. And they’re the ones who will make your life miserable if you don’t give it to them. So give it to them, man. Give it to them. The Rams would. The Chiefs would. They don’t mess around. I know we got to do price picks, but I have another topic. So let’s do price picks first and then we’ll Okay. Yeah, let’s do price picks. Price picks time. Uh, kind of an awkward transition, but the Niners do play a game this weekend. It’s against the Panthers. So, let’s get into it. Brock Pery, 252 and a half passing yards, more or less. What do you think? He went on. He had less than that last week, right? So, 200. Yeah, I’ll go less. Okay, they may not have to do Well, we’ll see. Bryce Young 203 and a half because he had been doing so awful. But then last week he went for a bunch and he gets to face the 49ers this weekend. I know that this is like one of those that seems like a total trap because he threw for 448 last week or whatever it was and the 49ers gave up 450 yards passing. So nob brainer. He’s going to do it. I think they’re going to run the hell out of the ball. I don’t know. Uh let’s go more. I’m gonna go more but I don’t feel good about it. Grant I really don’t. I think the Niners are just conceding six-yard passes at this point. And if the Panthers want them, they’ll have them. Let’s go running. Rico D 75 and a half. He’s been cooling off a little bit. Their offensive line’s a little banged up, but he’s pretty good. More the 49ers can’t stop the run by anybody that puts up a threat. More Christian 71 and a half rushing yards. Less. He’s here’s my thought on that one is that he’s he’s gonna have to do a lot of outside zone which is where the loss to step thing shows up in my opinion and uh up the middle they got Brown. Yeah, they got Brown up the middle. So, it’s a great point. T McMillan 62 and a half Kyle Shanahan real upset they didn’t get him. He operates out of the slot. I mean is Upton Stout going to slow this guy down? Probably not. So, I’ll go more. It’s going to be a bad day for Does Up and Stout get benched today? I mean on on Monday. Oh, he might. What’s crazy is I think the 49ers are actually going to win this game, Grant. I just think yardage-wise it’s going to be easy to come across yards, you know. I agree. Ricky Pieraw 42 and a half hit zero last week. Cool, Ricky. I um Yeah, I feel like they’re okay. You the Brandon IU comes out, news comes out, you don’t think they’re going to force feed him the ball to make it this look like a smart decision? Hell yeah, they are. We’re going more. We’re on the same page there. Agree. Let’s flex that. I’m going to come back to Ricky in a second. Uh submit it. Flex it. Download prize pickics yourself. Use promo code CON. That’s my last name. Con. Play five bucks. Get 50 instantly in lineups when you use my promo code. It’s prize picks available in uh 50 states. So you I mean 45 of 50 states, Texas and California included. You mentioned Ricky. What I want to say about Ricky? Yeah, he got no catches last week. He’s going to get a lot of catches this week because they have to justify this whole this news. Have to. Okay. I don’t remember what I wanted to say, but it’ll come back to I got a top. I got a topic. I got a topic. Tell me what’s topic. And we and we can parlay the Ricky thing into it. Okay. George KD said that this team has to be offensively led and it will be. They’ll put up plenty of points because why? We got Ricky coming back. We got Perie coming back. We got I coming back. I’s not coming back. So, can this offense continue to do what the expectation is from George KD himself to overcome this defense week in and week out now that Brandon Aayuka is not going to be a part of this thing? And Ricky Pieraw. And if it if that is the case, then is Ricky Pierce the answer or who is the answer? It is interesting, right? cuz it was just two week I guess Rick uh uh George didn’t get the memo cuz it was just two weeks ago after the Rams game where he was like I really think Brandon is coming back. It’s like hey man maybe you should talk to your coach cuz he doesn’t seem like he is. Yeah. For the guy that acts like the GM of the team when he was up there. You’d think he would know that, huh? I I never really thought that Aayuk would make an impact this year because it’s like I never thought he was act I know there’s a debate about how good he was in those seven games last year but he didn’t seem like himself. I think that’s fair to say he wasn’t quite what he had been and I think that’s he had a good game against the Cardinals, but when you miss all of training camp, it’s hard to just hit the ground running and that was going to be like that this year too. No training camp, no preeason, plus it’s still pretty fresh coming off this injury. I didn’t think he was going to put him over the top. KD did. So, this doesn’t really change my expectations. I always thought that that was a fantasy. I don’t know, maybe it changes the team’s ex expectations. Yeah, I think just BA being on the field though, right? Like even for a game or two, I’ll give you an example. True. Last year, Christian McCaffrey clearly was not himself. But I’ll tell you what, game one against Tampa, Tampa absolutely game planned as if Christian McAffrey was still that dude because they had no idea what to expect last week. Like him and that’s what I wanted to say. Okay, here’s my question about Paw. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, I asked about Ricky. So, he goes down week four. Perie goes down week four and it like Pieraw’s recovery is strange because he’s not even practicing at all. Brock’s limited. Pierall’s not. He’s on the side. He’s running sprints, but he won’t he can’t even practice in a limited fashion. And then in the locker room, he’s shooting jumpers. And I mentioned that after I mentioned that to Kyle, he got all upset about it. Brought it up yesterday or the day before. Persaw comes back the next week, practices, plays, but he doesn’t get the ball. What’s more likely? He’d been ready and they’ve been holding him or they rushed him back out before he was 100% healthy because Brock came back and they felt suddenly, you know, it’d be nice to just have his presence on the field. Run a good clear out route. I I well what I think is more likely is that he had been ready and they held him, but I don’t think it was like a long-term Ben ready. I think he had been ready like Party had been ready, which was they both could have played against the Rams and neither didn’t is the way that I view it. Um they they just wanted one more week uh to be precautionary because well one they already had egg on their face the way they handled the situation the first time around. So it’s like ah we feel like we’re good but we know we’ll be good if we just give it one more week. So, we’ll just rest him one more week. And then Ricky, he has been banged up. It’s actually I’m going to bring this up uh because it was brought up on Twitter and I kind of want to defend the point um because I think pe people will still somehow misremember the how Ricky Pierol’s career has gone thus far because he was shot and that kind of overshadows things. I talked about how Ricky Pierol has been he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. I didn’t use the word injuryprone. Right. I said he hasn’t been able to stay healthy. Um stats pushed back against that and was like he’s only had one football injury that has kept him off the field. I said not really true because when you look at year one OTAAS and training camp, he had the shoulder subluxation, he had hamstring issues. This year during training camp and OTAAS, he had hamstring issues. Yep. So, yes, he’s only had one football injury technically that’s kept him out of games, but he’s had multiple football injuries that have kept him out of practice during the off season. It’s just about timing. He hasn’t been healthy. He hasn’t. And they’ve been all been soft tissue injuries. Yes. Either uh muscle or tendon. Yep. It’s not great. It’s not great. So, yeah. I I mean, I don’t know when you look at Yeah. I just I had to bring that up because I think he’s a hell of a player. He’s been injured. I’ve called him the white Odell Beckham Jr. I think he’s got a lot of speed and explosiveness and I think he can create separation. But he gives you nothing in the red zone as a deep threat. He’s not running a 4-3. And it does seem like I’m not even talking about the like you could say his body doesn’t hold up to the contact in the NFL. That doesn’t even seem to be the issue. It doesn’t even be the issue at all. like his he has soft tissue injuries that prevent him from being available week in and week out for practices and stuff, but when he is healthy, I mean, he’s he’s a nice wide receiver, too, but he’s not available enough to be a wide receiver one, durable enough to be a wide receiver one. And really, I mean, he might be more of a wide receiver three if you’re only going to get him every other week or what, I don’t know, when he’s 100% healthy. Yeah. I mean, at this point, it’s debatable on whether he’ll ever be a thousand yard receiver in this league. And for a guy who’s a first round pick, you you kind of need to be that. He’s not going to get 1,000 yards this year unless he goes on an absolute tear down the stretch. He didn’t get 1,000 yards last year um because he’s missing games, you know, for different reasons, obviously. But um your original point was what was more likely because of that those injuries that we talk about that have been there not just in the season during the offseason and what have you. It does seem more likely that he was healthy enough to play against the Rams and they just said, “Ah, just one more week. Let’s just give it one more week.” I mean, I understand like he can normally run 20 miles an hour plus, no problem. And if Kyle said he was having discomfort at 18, I 100% believe him. But that doesn’t mean he can’t play. I mean, Ricky Pieraw running 18 miles an hour is still going to threaten defenses more than Demarcus Robinson doing whatever he does. It just he just does. So, I just think it’s interesting that all of a sudden Ricky come Brock comes back, Ricky comes back. Brock went down, Ricky was out, and he didn’t get the ball, but still he had an impact uh on the offense. You’re telling me that in a 4-day time span, he was able to gain 2 miles per hour and do do so without pain? That doesn’t make any sense. And it was 6 weeks where he made no real like material improvement. All of a sudden, oh, boom, he’s back. I just think it’s strange. And I I really want to give myself the tap the hat tip here for for mentioning the jumpers because all of a sudden he was back after that. You think Kyle brought in Ricky and was like, why why did you shoot a jumper in front of Grant? Why did you do that? Shoot the J. Shoot it. Shoot the J. How about this? Who’s going to replace Brandon Iayuk assuming he won’t be on the team next year? Is it just well they got year three Ricky Pieraw? Um they can sort of run the same routes. We’re good. We we already have the replacement. Or is it, you know, we really wanted to get Ted McMillan and we couldn’t pull it off. And um we like Ricky as a number two, but he’s kind of like a ZF and we need an X and and and we’re going to give all that money to Jawan Jennings. Come on down, Jawan. Or is it the first round pick? I I was just going to say we have all said they need offensive linemen for however long. This seems like they’re trending towards a first round pick wide receiver to me. I Well, they do have Jacob Cowing and Jordan Watkins. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Uh because that’s the other thing, right? When you look at Okay, let’s go look at at the way this team was constructed going into their last push for a Super Bowl, the 2024 season. All three wide receivers, your top three guys are going to be off the team after the 2025 season. So, in two short years, Debo’s gone, Aayuk’s gone, Jennings is gone. You’ve brought in Ricky Pierol essentially to replace all three of them. Like, that’s not going to be good enough. They’re going to have to go get a wide receiver somewhere. Maybe they trade for AJ Brown. Doubt that. I mean, that doesn’t seem very likely. Um, to me it sounds like they’re gonna draft a wide receiver either in round one or round two. Yeah, I would think so. They could go Dline again, but they just went Dline with their first two picks last year. I don’t think they’ll go Dline again considering they have just as big of a need at wide receiver. It’s Kyle Sanan’s favorite position. Uh, yeah, now they’re going to have a late first round pick. It won’t be a Mechbuka who they could have had this year if they planned ahead a little bit. Um, it’s not going to be Ted McMillan, but they could get another Ricky Pierce Hall type, which is exciting, and I hope they do. They could have had Jaylen Null instead of Martin in round three. Uh, he’s they could have had Jaylen Null instead of Martin, but Martin had a good 14 snaps last week. Of course, one of them was awful, according to Robert Salah. Don’t know exactly which one it was, wanted it back. The other ones were not terrible, so that’s good. They got that going for them. Let’s look at the free agent wide receivers just real quick. Uh, we’ll just go like Joan Jennings. Well, I’m saying I’m saying across the league. Yeah, you’re right. Both those guys. Um, okay. Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, Debo Samuel, you can go get Debo. Jacobe Myers, Alan Lazard, Diami. Gez, this wide receiver class is trash. Um, they’ll probably go sign 22 Atwell because, uh, Jacob Cowing is not who they thought he was. And so, they’ll just spend money on Tutu because he’s what they want. And because Brock Purie’s the best deep ball thrower in the game, you got to uh for sure. You got to pair him up with some real speed. For sure. And maybe they sign Mike Evans to a one-year deal. I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah. Mike Evans definitely wants part of that. For sure. Hey, Mike, you want five targets? Come here. You were just playing with Baker. Um, you want to be third in the pecking order behind a running back and a tight end. Colin, you come over here. And not win a Super Bowl. That would be great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, it’s going to I mean, we know exactly how they’re going to replace IU. uh if you were looking forward to an offensive lineman getting drafted in round one. Hilarious. Okay. How does this news impact the team? I mean, yeah, it seemed like they were riding a wave of positivity. They’ve been winning and losing, winning and losing, but they they get Pery back. They get Pearl back. It seemed like the the conversation around the team was mostly about football for the first time in a while. And then they beat the Cardinals. They whoop the out of the Cardinals. and Pertie looks good. It’s all good and then this comes down and it really reveals that the organization hasn’t really been allin about winning this year considering they voided the the guarant I mean imagine players on the team being like, “Hey, Brandon’s coming back, right? Brandon’s coming back, right? We’re going to make a run, right? You voided his guarantees in training camp and didn’t tell us and that’s why we didn’t do anything at the deadline.” like is this another dark cloud they didn’t need or do you think that the players are like you know what his problem let’s go play football I well I think it’s a dark cloud they didn’t need but I don’t necessarily think that it impacts the team I I think that you and I and fans probably look at him and be like oh man that would be a psychological blow I genuinely think that players in the locker room are like he hasn’t been here all year was really kind of out of sight out of mind other than you know KD mentioning him one random off time. Um, he hasn’t been a part of this core all year long. We’re just going to keep doing what we’ve done all year, which is not play with him. And did he really He hasn’t even he hasn’t been around for 6 eight weeks either. So, he’s It’s not like he’s like ingratiated into this current iteration of the 49ers. So, I I genuinely don’t think that it impacts the players on the field or the play on the field at all. I I I don’t foresee it being any issue. They look at, and I know we don’t know the answer to this. Do you think they look at IU and say, “Boy, what a jerk. Why did you just lose yourself all this money and get yourself, you know, essentially released from this team?” Or do you think they look at the situation like, “Man, they did IU dirty, dude.” Like, that’s my guy. And I feel like the official story from the organization isn’t what really happened. Like, they did him dirty. And who’s next? Is it me? I think that there’s probably a split somewhere. I wouldn’t say it’s 50/50, but you know that I has his guys in the locker room. I think so, right? That 100% are like, we know the truth or at least we’re we believe what Brandon’s telling us. He’s our guy. Uh this is just another point of why this is a business. Uh Jawan Jennings probably was privy to this the way that he’s been acting to be honest with you. You know what I mean? He he probably because receivers at the very least are going to be close with Brandon Iayuk and Jawan Jennings has been here a long time. You got to imagine the way that he’s kind of carried himself. He’s looking at it like I know what you’re doing to my guy Ba. You’ll definitely do it to me. Like screw you guys. I’m going to do whatever is best for me. I got one more point to make and maybe this isn’t part of this topic, but Brandon Iayuk, you could argue that Kyle helped him get paid, you know, putting him in this system and whatnot, but I feel like I also helped other people get paid like Well, yeah, but I was thinking the quarterback. I mean, part of party putting up those numbers was Aayuk catching those passes and would his EPA per play have been so freaking high if Aayuk wasn’t leading the league in yards per route run. So, Aayuk does all this to help Pertie get paid and Aayuk was team Perty. We love him. We don’t need Baker Mayfield for a long time and then it didn’t work out in the Super Bowl and Pertie didn’t go as to Aayuk very much and all this stuff has happened since then and Pertie hasn’t set a peep. I mean, a lot of times quarterbacks stand up and advocate for their wide receivers. I mean, Tom Brady advocated for freaking Antonio Brown way after he lost his mind. I mean, Joe Burrow was advocating for Jamar Chase and T. Higgins in the press. Like, what are we doing? We got to These guys are essential. Brock never said anything about Brandon. Maybe he didn’t feel like Brandon was essential, but isn’t that kind of your job to Yes or no? I don’t know. I I think there’s there’s gota there’s tension there. And and let’s go through the whole thing real quick. Um what we do know is Trey Lance was Freddy Auk’s guy. They were very good friends. Um so I’m sure that he wasn’t a fan with how the Trey situation was handled. Um, going into last offseason, Brandon Iay, to be fair, um, talked really, really good about a quarterback in the NFL that wasn’t his. Uh, that was Jaden Daniels before it even taken an NFL snap. Went out of his way to him. Both and IU got married in the same offseason. Neither one neither went to each other’s wings. Mhm. Um Brandon IU probably looks at his injury and how he got injured and is like that was a hospital ball. You laid me out to dry, man. And now my career is hanging in the balance. So you I mean you add all and it doesn’t make any one of them right. These are just things that have happened. Yeah. I’m sure that those guys probably aren’t the best of friends. I I would imagine that I don’t think cares. I just feel like I grew up on Steve Young and Steve Young made it known that he was best friends with Jerry Rice and I’m sure he would have been best friends who with whoever wide receiver. I mean Jerry Rice was established prior to Steve Young though. Let me another one though like he had to on his best freaking behavior. Go back and look at Tio’s career. That to that he pulled the larger than life more above the team stuff that was post Steve Young. When Steve Young was the quarterback, Tio was ter and he was the sir yes sir wide receiver too on that team behind Jerry Rice. And that was the best I was arguably the best years of Tio’s career because he actually was a team player because of Steve and Steve wasn’t like hard on Tio. He wasn’t tough love like he loved Tio and Tio loved him. I mean he went back to Tio in that game against the Packers when he’ been dropping passes left and right. He trusted him. Tio came back crying, hugging him. I mean, that’s a different level of leadership. And if I can only imagine if Steve Young were Brandon Iayuk’s quarterback and he needed Brandon Iayuk and felt like he was valuable, he wouldn’t let this happen, man. He would have speak he would have been speaking on behalf of Brandon. He would have made sure that he was here and that the whole thing worked. It’s part of the something that’s not your duty as a quarterback, but it’s something you could do considering you’re the CEO essentially. Yeah. And you know, but I also want to be fair to Brock as well. Again, I I fired some of the shots. Um, you can see that those guys there was there you could see why there might be slight animosity or at least at the very least that they wouldn’t stand up for each other. Um, but I I believe that Pertie has advocated publicly for some of his other players. You know, he definitely does for Ricky, um, Jawan Jennings, uh, George KD. You know, he talks highly of those guys. It’s just Brandon that you hardly knew you. I guess I don’t know. It just seemed like Aayuk was clearly feeling alienated starting last year and it seemed like the whole organization since his rookie year since his rookie year Grant and it feels like the whole locker room and organization attitude is tough Like sorry it’s a football team. We’re paying you. You have a job. And I can see why they’d feel that way. But there’s also this other like buddy buddy click thing on this team that’s very different from other teams. And I could see where he’s like, “Look, you don’t like me, but I’m better than you. You you you I’m better than the fullback. I’m better than that guy in the click.” Then like you got to let me in the click, right? It’s like I I will I tell you though, BA does BA seems to rub people the wrong way. Whether that’s his fault or not, he and Debo are not friends at all. They’re not friends. They they spent how many years on a team together being wide receiver one and wide receiver two. They’re not friends. They don’t even follow each other on Instagram. Nothing. Like they’re not friends with each other at all. Who is BA’s friend on this team? I think his friends in Washington. Yeah, I think I think he and Jennings are friends. I do. I think he and Jennings are probably pretty good friends, but that’s about it. I don’t even know. I’m sure they’re cord. I’m not even sure. I don’t even know. I’m I’m sure that he’s friends with Jaden Daniels. And he’s such good friends with Dana Daniels, it almost feels like that’s his only friend. Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. I think he’s I do think he’s a bit misunderstood, too. You know, I I genuinely think that’s part of that. But I don’t think he fully understands himself yet. He’s still pretty young. I didn’t know me until I mean at 27, let alone 37. I mean, yeah. I mean he but you know one thing that we can say about BA is going back to a couple training camps ago. What was it going into the 2023 season was it where he got in a fight with Fred Warner like that was him being a leader. Um the crap talking he did with with Demo. It was good fun banter. Uh Deemo has said that he’s made him a better player. So like he was a trash teammate. At the same time, Fred Warner literally did square off against Brandon Aayuk. I’ve never seen any of the other any of the other core members do that. Like maybe that was a glimpse into how certain team leaders felt about Brandon, how Brandon felt about the team and how alienated he was from it. Like Pretty Boy, Golden Boy, Fred Warner. Yeah. Knuckle up. I’m not but that’s that’s what I’m saying with Aayuk is like to me like that show I the reason I said that that’s him being a good teammate by fighting fighting Warner is because people don’t realize but the offense and defense are very separated. They’re like they’re almost two separate teams. Like yes they’re all on one team but most of the time they don’t cross over. They’re not in team meetings together. They don’t share lunchroom tables and all they’re they’re very very separate. And so when he’s out on the field and he felt like his guys were taking extra shots that weren’t deserved, he stood up for his guys and did so against Fred Warner. So that’s true. Oh, I got one more thing I want to say before we do our super chats. So I feel like moments like that kind of showed you that he was an outsider and I’m an outsider. So I like that about Brandon Iayuk um fighting Fred Warner. And the last one I feel like this is I had a feeling it was over with Brandon Iuk and the Niners when this happened. Remember during preseason I was downstairs about to do my uh instant reaction and Brandon IU came over and gave me a big hug and I talked about it in my postgame stream. Man, I feel like that’s what you do when you’re about to not be on the 49ers anymore. You can’t hug me. Yeah. I’m I’m persona non gratada around here. Like if you if the Niners have paid you and you’re in with the niners like what one of the things you do not hugging Grant, you’re not hugging me. You know, like you check wouldn’t like that. Shanahan wouldn’t like that. I mean, Shanahan’s been cool with me this year, but like he didn’t like me. He’s he’s been he’s been we’ve been professional this year, but uh hugging me. Nah, I feel like that’s what you do when you’re like, man, I get it. I don’t like this organization and you’ve been saying truth stuff and I don’t really care if the Niners see me hugging you because I’m out anyway. So, that’s another If they don’t like that, hey, what about guarantees? Cuz I hug Grant Con. How about that? Is that against the rules? How about them apples? Yeah. How about them apples? Spider. No, we got this guy. Jewish guy says, “Imagine how good Mack would have been with BA.” Oh, they would have been I hope they traded in Minnesota. Sincerely, I want to see what that looks like. Spider 3 says, “So, we have problems with BA and not use check being paid for none. This team is a mess. Does this lead to John Lynch being fired?” I don’t know that this leads to John Lynch being fired. I think there’s a lot of reasons to move on from John Lynch. Someone’s going to have to pay for this. I wonder at the end of the season. It could be John. BNA uh established 1988 says it’s like the Niners are surprised the cap exists. Brother Bob says he just this why we should have fired Kyle Levy and company. Steve Lewis says out of the recent front office blunders, three first rounders for Lance Brock extension BA contract. What is the most regretful one? Uh for the Niners, I think it’s been the BA one. I mean they in their minds they 50 million for seven games. They they can’t get over that. Those are the numbers. Yeah, Brock Brock makes up for Lance and they like Brock, so they extended him BA for sure. And while they gave up the picks for Lance, that’s not cash. They gave Lance like $20 million. It’s more than they would have liked, but you know what I mean? Like it’s picks like the 50 million is when they’re selling off parts of the team, they’re thinking about that. You know what I mean? Silent says BA got that CT knee money going to Bosa extension. Hope not. What you talking about? Will says, “Even though the BA extension was most likely coming from Kyle, this is a hit on John Lynch, the GM. How many L’s going to take uh you get a new one?” Yeah, I think this is essentially on his resume on his ledger. Lame lame duck near lame duck year next year potentially for him. We’ll see. It’s true. Good point. So, it’s so that’s a good point. Will they let him be a lame duck or will they do an extension or a a moving on? Like out of respect to John, we didn’t want him to be a lame duck. I feel like they’ll lame duck him. Steven Draper says, “This is a coordinated ruse by BA and the Niners.” A ruse. I like a ruse. That’s a good brother. Bob says, “Our first round picks all gone, hurt, or trash.” Yep. Sean for the win says, “How is it a bad calculation for both sides unless BA returns to pre-injury form? They recoup the cap. If Pierall pounds out pans out the Niners look like they offloaded a Malcont intent and a bad contract because they had a first round pick on the table one year prior to avoiding his contract. That’s why it’s a it’s a bad bad miscalculation by the 49ers. Brother Bob says, “You mean Jake Moody reunited with Debo? Can’t wait.” Michael Hoff says, “The Ners still have pieces, but the wide receiver room needs a complete revamping. Do they hit a proper wide receiver in the first round? Yeah, I mean they’re going to try probably. I don’t know that they’ll position they scout the best or one of the best receiver although they drafted Danny Gray so I don’t know. And Herd and Pettis and true cowing and sidelines 19 says made my day to see this duo. The consistency and intelligence you both put into every video is genuinely inspiring. Thanks for always delivering. I appreciate that. That was very nice. I feel like you’re in the you’re in the minority there, brother. I appreciate you seeing it. So, I don’t know about that. TVYT143 says, “It’s been reported that the Niners have an unconventional training staff practices for the NFL. Who in the front office is enabling such practices?” Who reported that? Someone told me that that like Chase Senior, I think. Oh, interesting. He had talked to uh other training medical training staffs. And I need to know a little bit more. I appreciate that though. Um, uh, McCann in 78 says, “Reason 102 why Lynch is out after 2025.” I don’t know that he should be maybe, but I don’t know that he will. Cry for him if he gets fired. I don’t think I think Niner fans might want someone to get fired, and I don’t think they want it to be Kyle just yet. Josh B says, “Uh, Niners at fault against LA. They ran out with Bourne, MVS, Turner, Tandis, Juice, and one contract is worse than Parties in my opinion. Uh, because we knew Aayuk like Jess said, I mean, pretty requested trade. IU requested one. Joseph Nber says this regime never winning a Super Bowl. Time to move on. What What are we covering next? Why don’t we all start? I’m going to start covering the Arizona Cardinals and we can all talk about them and pretend like we care about Michael Wilson. Abu Marco 23 says, “We in the same spot if I didn’t shatter his knee.” Well, no. I because I I think they probably would have traded him this off season if they could. I mean that contract was a lot but there were teams that they were interested in giving him that contract so maybe Joseph Nberg says hi Grant and hi Jesse have a great day. Okay what’s up too much sauce says y’all mentioned that ownership cheaped out on Levi Stadium. It does seem like a decent stadium that can host Super Bowls. Just wondering where did they cut corners? Oh that’s a good question. So the thing with Levi Stadium is that it was designed for Hunter Point in San Francisco and the Bay Area is microclimate. So, San Francisco is like the coldest place in the It’s like the coldest place in the freaking world. And there’s always fog coming in through there. So, it’s open air stadium. It’d be fine. But they they put it in Santa Clara, which is like Irvine, and it’s hot. It’s like 7580 with no shade anywhere. So, there’s the half of the stadium that’s not facing the sun, which is where all the rich people sit, and it’s wonderful for them. It’s where the the booths are, the suites are, and then there’s the have knots on the east side, which I mean, there’s been people have died over there with heat stroke. I mean, it’s just very uncomfortable. And a lot of people who do get those tickets end up just sitting in like lounges inside because why would you want to bake? So, there’s that. And they keep upgrading it, but they won’t put on shade, which is like that’s the one thing you got to do. And the 49ers acknowledge this because they go to the NFL league office and request road games to start the season and wear what color jerseys at home to start the season, which is really weird. Yeah, because it Yeah. So, I mean, instead of just doing all of that, just move back to San Francisco. That’s what I would do. You’re worth eight billion dollars. Work it out. Peter does not drink. Says even if released, it still shout out my mama. That is true for life. But 78 says, “Do you think bringing back juice was part of KD negotiation?” Could you imagine? He’s like, “Yeah, but you got to bring back my guy Juice.” I feel like KD made a call like, “How could you do this?” You No one asked me if if no one I didn’t I didn’t clear this. Part owner Sean for the win says, “Hey, yes, Jesse, they have enough on offense. There’s only one ball, Ricky, if healthy plus George if healthy and CMC if healthy is enough. They can run the ball. They have mismatches at wide receiver, tight end, running back if they can rush for 75.” Yeah, if healthy, the Niners have a lot on offense for sure. But but also, I love that we’re including Ricky in Rick. Ricky with two potential Hall of Fame players. Like, he’s proven something cuz he hasn’t. He’s had a few good games. Two what? Two 100 yard games in his career. Three. Three. Excuse me. I’m just saying. Yeah. Clown Baby 408 says, “After Harbaugh Balky, Jed values Kyle Lynch, not ruffling each other’s feathers, but Kyle needs to be challenged. What are the chances a new GM comes in?” Are we sure they don’t ruffle each other’s feathers? I don’t know that they’re on the same page. Maybe they’ll just make Parag the new GM. The real lyrics media says, “What’s annoying is the Rams snuck in a Super Bowl and rebuilt their team on the fly. Good drafting with smart free agent moves, i.e. Devonte Adams. Niners seem consistently to make bad moves. knee-jerk reaction. PNBA, their future looks brighter than the 49ers, and they’ve done a complete tear down. True. Uh, DGTY225 says, “I don’t trust that we can keep our quarterbacks healthy, especially with a playoff run. Do you trust Adrien Martinez to step in and win a game enough first team reps? I think he would have smacked Arizona last week.” Yeah, maybe. Probably. Uh, Spider says, “Pertie wide receiver won a CMC.” True. Very true. Josh B says makes their decision at trade deadline look trash. They knew this was going to happen. Then why not get defensive players knowing you’re uh going wide receiver round one again. I hadn’t thought of it that way. Uh DoubleB Studio says, “Do you think the Niner strategy of misdirection lies about players contributes to the success since Kyle took over to confuse the opponents? Every team does it, but I feel like no one is falling for it anymore.” That’s a tough one, man. It does seem like the Niners every time they say something, it’s like, “Oh, wow. You misled us again. That’s crazy. So he Well, people act like they tell the truth all the time. It’s like, oh, when it fits my narrative, it’s like the Niners said this, so clearly this is what’s happening. When have they ever again D4 is still week to week, so I’ll just throw that out there. Double B says, “If Tom Brady came here, this would be uh his offense, not Kyle’s, and would hold receivers accountable no matter what they get paid. But Kyle runs it.” Silky smooth says BA going through withdrawals. What kind? Sean for the win says BA is a small circle kind of guy. Doesn’t care if he is liked but a great teammate. Actually respect him not being in the click. He earned the payday. He just didn’t get to validate the contract. I I do too. Um I’m a small circle kind of guy too and I wouldn’t want to be in Kyle’s click. BNA says a fun fact Texans versus Bills 2 and 0. Kyle’s uh 49ers 0 and3. That is impressive. Solid did a pretty good job against Josh Allen over there. Again, Kyle’s going to be coaching Josh Allen in a year or two. Just keep that in mind. The whole league’s going to be on notice. Jesse, thanks for giving me an hour and a half. Man, this has been a big one. I appreciate you coming in for an emergency stream. Yeah, absolutely, man. Gosh, it’s been a while since we’ve done an actual 49ers after dark show, huh? I know. Um, look, if you guys haven’t seen us in a while, you want to watch us do our thing again every Wednesday. Members only, you can be a member on his channel, my channel, the coach’s channel, we do it uh for the OGs. So, we send out the little link on Wednesday in the community post. Check it out. We’re still streaming. Follow uh Last Second Sports on YouTube and on all social media platforms. Jesse, thank you. Appreciate it, Grant. It was fun.

Grant Cohn and Jessie Naylor discuss the real reason that the San Francisco 49ers and Brandon Aiyuk are headed for divorce, plus much more.

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