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00:00In lieu of a lot of live sports over the next two days, we are
00:07going to talk some football because today, Wednesday, July
00:1117th, 2024, the first true veterans show up to training
00:16camp in the National Football League. The Texans send the
00:19rookies and their vets to training camp today. A couple
00:23more rookies join the show. We had eight teams send their
00:27rookies yesterday. The Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.
00:31The quarterbacks, as Donnie alluded to, all show up as
00:35well. It is time for football. Yesterday, one of the eight
00:40teams that sent their rookies, the San Francisco 49ers, in a
00:44rather peculiar offseason at the wide receiver spot for Sam
00:48Fran, they take Ricky Pearsall out of Florida with the second
00:52to last pick of the opening round. Pearsall placed on the
00:55non-football-related IL of sorts to start off camp. That
01:00was interesting, which leads to our next point about Brandon
01:05Ayuk. I guess it is the first time, although it feels like
01:09the seventh, eighth, or ninth time, that Brandon Ayuk has
01:13officially demanded a trade from the San Francisco 49ers.
01:17The reason it feels like the ninth time and that this is not
01:20really a new and breaking news update, DRS, is because Brandon
01:24Ayuk has not been happy with his contract situation with
01:27San Francisco all offseason long. No, he hasn't, and the
01:31interesting part about this is, too, this is not a rare
01:34phenomenon with the San Francisco 49ers. Now, last year,
01:37you saw Bosa real late getting the camp, got a monster
01:40contract. We always thought that was going to get done. The
01:42interesting one the year before was the Debo Samuels deal, but
01:45Debo Samuels is an awesome wide receiver, like can do it all, an
01:49intricate part of that offense for Kyle Shanahan, but we were
01:52led to believe that it wasn't even about the money. It was
01:54like he wasn't happy being on the 49ers when the 49ers always
01:57get him the football, and don't you remember some of those
01:59clause like, well, if I sign this deal, like you're not
02:01handing the football off to me more than like one time a game.
02:04It was really interesting, and basically, we heard like San
02:06Francisco, the upper management was like, here's a blank check,
02:09Debo. Fill it out. What do you want? Come in here happy, and
02:12it all turned out okay. Now, we're finding out Brandon Ayuk,
02:15we don't know if this is a money issue or if this is just a
02:17disrespect issue at this point. Now, granted, anytime a player
02:21wants a new contract, it's typically about the money. He's
02:23going to make 14 million dollars next year, but after
02:25that, you don't really have that basis where if you hurt
02:28yourself, that's going to cost you a lot of money in the
02:30future, but my question is, what is he actually asking for
02:33because we haven't seen anything with those leaks from
02:36either the team and or the agent go off. He's not asking
02:39for Justin Jefferson money, but he wants more money than AJ
02:41Brand. You know what I mean in that range. We know we want to
02:44be a high paid receiver and quite frankly, he deserves to
02:46be that. It's interesting how it's gone this long with this
02:49much animosity because typically you negotiate behind
02:52the scenes and if you see at the end of the tunnel, there's
02:54a light where you're like, okay, I think this is going to
02:56get done, but you're right that it feels like from the day the
02:58Super Bowl ended, Brandon Ayuk has been furious with the
03:0149ers and repeatedly going on social media and making it
03:04known he wants out and the 49ers are like, yeah, I don't
03:07care if you want out, you're staying here and you'll be
03:09happy with your 14 million dollars. They got a week to get
03:11this under to get this done before it actually shows up to
03:14camp and really can get out of control. Six days in Santa
03:18Clara next Wednesday is when the San Francisco 49ers
03:22send all of their veterans to training camp. Brandon Ayuk
03:25has kind of taken to social media to heighten the drama
03:29this offseason in the least subtle way possible. He has
03:32talked to his former Arizona State quarterback Jaden
03:35Daniels now in his rookie year with the Washington
03:38Commanders. Of course, there was a video shared out with his
03:41film crew behind the scenes of Ayuk talking to Daniels and
03:45saying San Francisco doesn't want me anymore so on and so
03:49forth. He has looked at what other teams do offensively and
03:53said, wow, that could be cool for me. All of this to say
03:57though, Adam Schefter of ESPN reporting that other teams have
04:00reached out and spoken to Sam Fran but they have been told
04:04the 49ers have no intention of trading the disgruntled wide
04:07receiver Brandon Ayuk who officially of course requested
04:11a trade. I don't think they want to trade him. I wonder
04:14what his trade market would be but the fascinating thing DRS
04:18Brandon Ayuk first round pick in 2020. That wide receiver
04:23class is getting paid this offseason at least we would
04:26seem to believe. Justin Jefferson a member of that
04:30class. Tee Higgins taken in the second round and CD Lam a
04:33first round pick as well slated we would believe to get his
04:37contract extension this offseason as well although they
04:41only have a week really for the Dallas Cowboys to get that
04:44done. Brandon Ayuk probably doesn't come to mind when you
04:46think about top ten receivers in the National Football League
04:49but last year, seventy-five grabs, thirteen hundred and
04:52forty-two yards, a career best, and seven touchdowns. Second
04:56team AP All Pro a year ago. Twenty twenty-two. Seventy-eight
05:00grabs. One thousand fifteen yards. Eight touchdowns. Both
05:05the grabs and the touchdowns career best as well. The reason
05:09we highlight the last two years both over a thousand but Brock
05:12Purdy was his quarterback for a good majority of it.
05:16You would think that Brandon Ayuk has been that top target
05:20for Brock Purdy. They would want to keep him there in San
05:22Francisco and yet a new payday has not hit the wire at least
05:26as of yet. Yeah, he fits perfectly in that offense. I
05:30mean, Debo's that short to intermediate route guy that can
05:32take it to distance. Ayuk is that perfect route runner that
05:34can get deep and run those long distance routes. You know,
05:37Kittle, Little, CMC in the back foot. Everything works just so
05:40well with them. You'd hate to see him leave but also keep in
05:43mind like you go back and sometimes you date yourself 20
05:46years ago. If you remember Terrell Owens going to camp,
05:48all he wanted was a guarantee out of the Philadelphia Eagles
05:51for one season that you guarantee my money and Joe
05:53Banner, of course, who Eagles probably should have multiple
05:56Super Bowls. He was the general manager. Never wanted to pay
05:58anybody and you saw how that went. Theo gets thrown out of
06:01training camp, comes back, actually has a decent half of
06:03the season. Then the Eagles basically tell him to go home.
06:05We never want to see again. Now, we don't think it's going
06:07to get to that level but understand the point I'm trying
06:10to make here and you guys out here, whether you know, you sit
06:12at a cubicle all day, you're in a high rise, whatever you're
06:15doing for your job, you want to show up at your workplace with
06:18effort and you want to know that you're wanted there and
06:20you want to be there. We can tell right away the people that
06:23are mailing it in and you say, so with that, how could you
06:25mail in making $14 million a year? They live a different
06:28life, professional athletes. He's probably showing up to the
06:30building every day with animosity. You don't want that.
06:33The minute he signs a brand new deal, he's going to show
06:35reinvigorate like, you know, I'm ready to go. Thank goodness
06:38this guy get gun. Every day he shows up, he's going to be
06:41angry. You don't want that out of your best players.
06:43Specifically, it's one thing like it's like, you know what?
06:45You're a great wide receiver. We're projected to win four
06:47games this year with or without you. It doesn't matter. Let's
06:50let the animosity go. The Niners are pushing all in for a
06:53Super Bowl this year. Why would you go into the season either
06:56a trading him or having him be unhappy? It just doesn't make,
06:59you know, dollars make sense. This makes no sense here. The
07:03San Francisco 49ers at a six to one price or co-favorites to
07:07win Super Bowl 59 with the team that has beaten them in two of
07:11the last five Super Bowls. That's the Kansas City Chiefs.
07:14They are the very short favorites in what is considered
07:17the weaker of the two conferences in the NFC to at
07:20least get back to a Super Bowl appearance in New Orleans this
07:24upcoming season and Brandon Iuk, whether you believe that
07:28he is or not, plays a significant role in all of that
07:32offensively for Kyle Shanahan. There are four wide receivers
07:36in the National Football League DRS that make 30 million
07:39dollars or more on an annual average basis entering this
07:42year. Justin Jefferson, thirty-five mil, AJ Brown about
07:46thirty-two, Amon Ross, St. Brown a little bit more than
07:48thirty, and Tyreek Hill at thirty million dollars. Jalen
07:52Waddell, top five paid, twenty-eight point two five
07:55million dollars per year, about to enter year number four,
07:58signing that big contract extension earlier this
08:02offseason, is the fifth highest paid wide receiver. You might
08:05ask, and it's a true statement because we are talking about
08:09so many millions of dollars. How could anybody be disgruntled
08:12making fourteen million dollars per year? It's all about
08:16relative value, whether you agree or not, it is what the
08:19market dictates and that is the case with where these salaries
08:23and paydays and contract extensions are going in the
08:26National Football League, really regardless of position,
08:30but at least as of late at the quarterback and wide receiver
08:33spot. And it's not, it's not getting any better and the
08:36reason I say this is Tyreek Hill is going to come up for a
08:38contract. He might even get it before training camp. C.D. Lamb
08:41is going to get his because the whole thing's like, well,
08:43Justin Jefferson's deal came out that upset the apple cart.
08:45You should have had him signed already. It's why A.J. Brown
08:48has signed. That's why like Devonta Smith here in
08:49Philadelphia is signed because they were happy with the money
08:52at that time. Every time a new player comes into the equation
08:55and signs for even more money, Brennan, I was not going to
08:57take a discount at that point. It's only costing you money.
09:00You could have wrapped this up in March and saved a ton of
09:02money and a ton of acrimony off the field, but instead you let
09:05this slide. Now, one of your best players in the Super Bowl
09:08year for what you think is going to be angry coming into
09:10camp and doesn't want to be there. We have more wide
09:14receiver news around the NFL. Will Devonta Adams be a Raider
09:18or maybe a jet? We'll talk about it up next. You're on the
09:22early line. NFL news and notes brighten early on this
09:25Wednesday morning on the early line on sports grid because
09:29Aaron Rodgers always has drama surrounding him that the
09:33American century championship, the amateur golf event in Lake
09:37Tahoe last weekend. Aaron Rodgers made some sort of
09:40reference that he's talked to Devonta Adams, his long time
09:43number one target in Green Bay about potentially reuniting in
09:48the NFL. It has led to Devonta Adams may be being in trade
09:53speculation. This from Adams agents Kenny Chapman and Frank
09:57Bauer regarding the recent trade talk surrounding their
10:00client to ESPN's Adam Schefter. This is baseless, unfounded
10:05speculation and Devonta is expected to be with the Raiders
10:09as there has been absolutely no trade talk period and quote
10:14Donnie. Do you buy it? Will Devonta Adams be in Las Vegas
10:18all 2024 NFL season long? That's a good question too
10:22because right now I think obviously in Las Vegas and also
10:25let's go back to what actually happened in his career. He was
10:27an absolutely filthy dominant wide receiver for the Green Bay
10:31Packers with a quarterback who loved his wide receiver where
10:34he would just like the other side of the field double
10:36coverage double coverage here. Oh triple coverage of Devonta.
10:39Whoo. You only live once. Let me throw it up to you. He had
10:42the perfect storm as a wide receiver and was getting paid.
10:44Well, I thought it was interesting that he demanded
10:46the trade to go to Las Vegas, but when you figured I'm going
10:49to live in Green Bay, I'm going to live in Las Vegas. So I
10:51might you know college roommate here a teammate. I can't wait
10:54to get back up with it. Then they sort of pulled the rug out
10:56from under him and it's not so much about sometimes as a top
10:58wide receiver. Okay. Well, I still went here my favorite
11:02quarterback who I came here for he's gone, but I got an
11:04unbelievable quarterback, which you don't have now and there's
11:07no Super Bowl aspirations for the Oakland or the excuse me,
11:09the Vegas Raiders at this point right now. So now you could
11:12figure that you might be able to pry him loose, but your
11:14question is valid right now. I don't think he cares, but let's
11:16just say the Raiders are one in six getting bad quarterback
11:20play. You know that is going to absolutely ramp up with the
11:24trade deadline because you're in a spot where yes wide
11:27receivers. There's two things they want them forget and and
11:30quite frankly winning probably way down on the ladder, which
11:32sounds crazy. They want to get paid. They also want to have
11:35productivity like that's the whole key like and also like
11:37just say Justin Jefferson, right? We think he's going to
11:40have a rookie quarterback. Oh, he got paid. He's going to be
11:42happy. Trust me when I tell you this he could make all the
11:44money in the world, but when his boys are catching 50 to 60
11:47to 70 passes midway through the season and he's at 24, he's not
11:50going to be like well, my bank account is fat. He's going to
11:52be furious. That's the way wide receivers operate, but I don't
11:55know how this even get started where Aaron Rodgers like I have
11:57an unbelievably talented wide receiver room with great young
12:00players and I'm making comments like I still need another all
12:03pro wide receiver because I don't like the wide receivers
12:06that I currently have which basically is handpicking just
12:08about every one of them. So for my money, I do think there's a
12:11really good chance that Devontae Adams is out of Las Vegas
12:14midway through the season just because the productivity isn't
12:17there and quite frankly, he was sort of building goods where
12:19I'm going to go play with my teammate for three to four
12:22years. We're going to do a lot of damage and it happened quick
12:24and they move them out of town. Usually superstar players get
12:27upset by that like, hey, I came here to play with this guy.
12:30You ship them out. What's the deal? One of the worst beats of
12:33all time for Devontae Adams wanted to reunite with his
12:36college best friend and quarterback from their Fresno
12:39State days in Derek Carr who had been a lifelong Raider and
12:43probably everybody thought would be a lifelong Raider
12:46throughout the duration of his NFL career. They ship him after
12:49benching him at the end of 2022, but even last year with a
12:53rotating cast and crew at the QB spot, Jimmy Garoppolo to
12:57start. Of course, Aidan O'Connell after that Devontae
12:59played in all 17 games. Still had more than 1100 receiving
13:03yards and eight receiving touchdowns his first year in
13:06Vegas. He had more than 1400 yards. Let all of the NFL with
13:1014 receiving touchdowns was an AP All-Pro first teamer in the
13:14NFL. He's had success in terms of production statistically in
13:18Las Vegas, but the Raiders not so much six and a half to win
13:22total for Las Vegas. The over does have the juice. They have
13:25that buy-in and belief in their new head coach Antonio
13:29Pierce contract news yesterday. What was expected is now done
13:34as the Bears send the rookies to training camp. There are two
13:37first round picks first overall Caleb Williams ninth overall
13:41Roma Dunes. They have finally signed the dotted line. It was
13:44a little bit murky. They were unsigned entering the opening
13:48day of training camp yesterday, but Caleb Williams that four
13:51year fully guaranteed contract worth $39 million that includes
13:55a 25 and a half million dollar signing bonus. Caleb Williams
14:00is officially signed. He is the face of the franchise in the
14:03Windy City. Yeah, the fine print and sometimes that's what
14:06just comes down to where you're arguing over like that fourth
14:09or fifth season. If I'm a really bad quarterback and you
14:11get rid of me are all my guarantees going to be in line.
14:14So that's probably just waiting for the lawyers to get back out
14:17of it. We didn't anticipate us or them having any issues here
14:20in the past. This is what that slotted system in the NFL is
14:23now doing in round number one. You know exactly what you're
14:26supposed to make here. There's very few details that have to
14:28be ironed out as opposed to in the past. Hey, I'm going to
14:31ask for $300 million in a guaranteed contract. Then it
14:33could get a little bit tricky at that point, but we expect
14:35them to be in camp. He's in camp. No more restrictions on
14:38who I wonder if he's going to show up. He's there. It's ready
14:40to go for the Bears. Same thing with Roma Dunes. They get that
14:43out of the way get the training camp get to work. I think there
14:46was more speculation. It was a slightly strange scenario
14:50because Caleb Williams who has had interesting people
14:53represent him throughout his time and weird reports have
14:56come out about what his father and other representatives have
14:59said about what his desires are individually in the National
15:03Football League. He wasn't represented and is not
15:05currently by an NFL PA agent, which means the Bears can only
15:10speak to the individual that is Caleb Williams. Even if it's a
15:14lawyer that is technically using a Caleb Williams email to
15:17have those contract negotiations, but it's done. He
15:21has signed same with Roma Dunes. A only three of the first
15:25round selections from 2024 have not signed both in
15:29Minneapolis. JJ McCarthy, the quarterback Dallas Turner, the
15:32edge rusher out of Alabama and the big old lineman out of
15:36Georgia Amarius Mims, who was taken 18th overall by the
15:40Bengals as those rooks start to show up. I would expect the
15:43dotted line to be inked as well. Caleb Williams is the
15:46short favorite to win the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year
15:50Award at plus 140, more than $5 in front of the number two
15:54overall selection. Jaden Daniels at plus 650. Donnie, if
15:58you had to bet if I gave you Caleb Williams at plus 140 or
16:02anybody else, what would you take? It's Caleb Williams easy
16:06in this point because he's supposed to put up the big
16:08numbers. There's supposed to be a much better football team
16:10with a legitimate chance to make the playoffs. That'll be
16:12easy. But by the way, did you tell me there's still a couple
16:14people left out there and one of those players is a Bengals
16:16player? Did I hear that correctly? Correct. Yes. The
16:22way they negotiate is wild. Like there's the thing was
16:24Andre Smith, the tackle out of Alabama, what maybe more than a
16:27decade ago, got drafted in the top ten. Like, yeah, we don't
16:30think you're a top ten player. We want to play you like you're
16:31the 15th overall pick. What is with that franchise, man? Handle
16:34your business. Pay your players over there.