NFL Updates: Brandon Aiyuk Stays with 49ers on $120M Deal
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00:00A football Friday live right here on the early line on Sports
00:09Grid, not just a college football recap. We're setting
00:11the stage for the weekend in CFP. We are less than a week
00:15away from the start of the National Football League
00:18season. That would be a week from last night inside Arrowhead
00:23Stadium between the Chiefs and the Ravens. It's an AFC
00:26Championship game rematch. KC won that game, won its second
00:30Super Bowl in that same amount of years. It's third Lombardi
00:35trophy in the last five seasons and KC enters 2024 as a
00:40co-favorite to make it three in a row. Who are they alongside?
00:44That would be the San Francisco 49ers. Both teams
00:47booked at a six to one number in a long offseason drama
00:51circulating San Francisco with wide receiver Brandon Ayuk has
00:55now officially reached its destination. Ayuk will remain
00:59by the bay with a very large new contract signing a four
01:03year $120 million deal yesterday with the 49ers $30
01:08million per year. One of six wide outs now in the $30
01:12million club around the National Football League. DRS,
01:16the offseason timeline is too confusing to even try to detail
01:19here for Brandon Ayuk, but he was unhappy. He requested a
01:23trade officially. He was reaching out to his former
01:25college teammate Jay and Daniels from their days
01:28together at Arizona State saying love what you guys are
01:30doing with the Commanders. He was a hold in at camp for the
01:3349ers, but was trying to get the deal done. It is now a done
01:38deal. What is your reaction? All roads led to this and if
01:42you're following along here on the early line, we told you
01:44multiple times Brandon Ayuk is probably going to wind up being
01:47a 49er because why it was in the best interest of Brandon
01:50Ayuk and also the San Francisco 49ers just had to
01:53work out those details. I wasn't buying into. Oh no CD
01:56Lamb and Justin Jefferson getting these big deals.
01:59There's no way they can sign him because here's what was
02:01going to happen. He wasn't going to play this season like
02:04he was going to hold out either a you traded him or paid him
02:07here and once we saw the tea leaves been about what three to
02:10four weeks ago, we're like okay. We got deals in place
02:13with the Washington Commanders with the New England Patriots
02:15with the Pittsburgh Steelers and with the Cleveland Browns
02:18pick one of those teams. We like the compensation back and
02:21apparently they're going to pay you the money that you're
02:22worth, but also thinking back the 49ers are a smart
02:26organization. Go out there find what you're worth. We don't
02:29have to trade you if you don't want to and if those four teams
02:32work out contracts, we'll then measure those contracts up
02:35against what we have and see if we can come to an agreement.
02:37Now the interesting part overall in this negotiation
02:40process, which I know Adam Schaffer was a little bit
02:42salty yesterday by saying this deal has been around since
02:45August the tenth. We have nothing has changed. He just
02:47waited three weeks. So part of me goes man. That's a smart
02:50man because there's not a single football player on this
02:53earth from playing peewee football, middle school
02:56football, high school football college or pros. That's like
02:58you know what camp is finally here. This is so exciting
03:02shout out to the guys that can make money and this all of that
03:05practice now now granted you want to be honing your skills
03:08getting in with the boys getting your work and getting
03:09ready for the season, but nobody likes camp. So Brandon
03:12I've got everything he wanted and in this training camp, that
03:16sounds like the biggest win of all time right now, Ben. Yeah,
03:19it certainly is and again, we talked about this DRS in terms
03:23of the overall prospect for Brandon. If he was demanding
03:27too much money, maybe some around the NFL, maybe even some
03:30in Northern California would have said listen man. You're
03:33not to the Pantheon that is Justin Jefferson or CD Lamb
03:37your fellow first round wideouts from the 2020 NFL
03:40draft, but we gotta push back on that narrative, especially
03:44in the last year and a half where Brendan Iuk has been that
03:47top target as a wide receiver for Brock Purdy. The other bit
03:51of that argument is probably the idea that San Francisco has
03:54so many offensive pieces, but yet I still remains that top
03:59target for the quarterback of the future in San Francisco
04:03Brock Purdy last year more than 1300 receiving yards in his
04:07first year fully with Purdy in 2022 more than 1100 receiving
04:12yards. Brendan Iuk is a darn good wide receiver and now
04:16compensated as so again six wideouts now in the National
04:20Football League make $30 million per year or more as
04:23Brendan Iuk joins the $30 million club. It's so big and
04:28it needed to happen because now you can start to concentrate
04:30on football. We talk about Trent Williams. You know he
04:32needs to get back into the fold. I think he will, but
04:34actually Trent Williams does have a history of holding out.
04:36Don't remember the one year Ben. I think with the commanders
04:39he was supposed to get like a $12 million base, but took so
04:41many fines and only got paid like $100,000 for the season.
04:44So maybe he might be dug in a little bit more than other
04:47players, but Brendan Iuk is a perfect fit for this offense
04:49and as you pointed out, it's not so much that Brock Purdy
04:52can't survive without Brendan Iuk, but they fit so well as a
04:54team and it's his favorite target. Why would you upset the
04:57apple cart here when you're heading into a season where you
04:59expect to get back to the Super Bowl and win it this
05:02season and also keep in mind from depth purposes. Let's just
05:05say they let Brendan Iuk go trade him for a first round
05:07pick, but you didn't get that compensation to be able to use
05:09for this year. Deebo Samuel is a great wide receiver, but
05:13Deebo Samuel plays a position at wide receiver that's almost
05:15like a running back. So let's just say, you know, he gets
05:18clipped a little bit here, misses two to three weeks. Now
05:20you don't have Iuk either. That offense doesn't look so good at
05:23this point. When this offense is firing, it's perfect. Good
05:26offensive line, unbelievable tailback, wide receiver
05:29position that has the medium guy, the deep guy, and also the
05:33superstar tight end. You didn't want to upset that for the
05:36season. From an Eagles fan perspective and saying, you
05:38know what? I wish he would have got traded away, but that's
05:40not how we look at it here. Optimistically, handicapping
05:43wise, great move for the Niners. No more question marks.
05:46Get your left tackle and camp and I deserve that money.
05:49Otherwise, he would have been traded away. This was a big
05:51component to that team that they got back and they're better
05:54for it now. San Francisco, a short favorite to win the NFC
05:58Championship this year at three to one. Detroit and
06:01Philadelphia tied for the second best price at plus 550,
06:05but it's nearly double that number of the 49ers and what we
06:09know about San Francisco, that is always the expectation by
06:12the Bay. They have played in four of the last five NFC
06:16Championship games, two Super Bowl appearances in the last
06:20half decade, but whether it was Kyle Shanahan or well before
06:23him, San Francisco, we don't give the same slack and
06:26rightfully so that we do to the Dallas Cowboys or the same
06:30flack. I should say we give San Francisco more slack because
06:34the 49ers last Lombardi trophy 1994 in the 30 years since
06:40that point, the Niners have reached eight NFC Championship
06:44games. They have played in three Super Bowls, but they have
06:47not taken home another Super Bowl ring. That is the
06:51expectation and oh by the way, not sure for whatever reason
06:54necessarily, but some market movement here in the final few
06:58days before 2024 begins Kansas City now the shortest price to
07:02win Super Bowl 59 at plus 550 half a buck in front of the
07:06Niners. It is crazy when you bring that up right because
07:09Dallas does take a lot of flack because Americans team more
07:12eyeballs, richest franchise in the history of sport, but
07:15there's one thing about getting there like the Buffalo Bills in
07:17the 1990s. Okay. Say what you want. Yeah, they didn't win a
07:19Super Bowl, but they went to four straight. They were a
07:21quality football team that was showing up to the big game,
07:24but just not performing well in that big game. The Dallas
07:27Cowboys never even get to that big game, but the 49ers you're
07:30right multiple Super Bowl chances a lot of NFC
07:32championship game. I thought they would win the Super Bowl
07:35last year and a half and so you're right. It's a talented
07:37roster that should really be getting that from the fan base
07:41that says you know what it's fun and we're talented, but we
07:44were used to winning championship after championship
07:46in the 1980s in the early 1990s. What happened to this
07:49franchise? We'll see if that turns around this year, but
07:52also keep in mind. It's very hard when you get to the Super
07:54Bowl and lose it man that next season everybody's gunning for
07:57you. Everybody wants more money. Apparently next year,
08:00your quarterback is going to want even more, but pound for
08:02pound one of the best football teams in the NFL. No doubt
08:05about it. You gotta make those signs right now. You gotta get
08:10those deals done because Brock Purdy is due for a very large
08:13payday and when you had Mr. Irrelevant at his very
08:16inexpensive rookie deal for the last three years, including
08:20what is going to be 2024. It's going to look very different in
08:242025 and beyond Purdy did play in the final two preseason
08:29games. By the way for the 49ers did not look great in either
08:33an interception in both and not a touchdown pass in those two
08:37preseason outings, but a lot to be determined. Trent Williams
08:41is now the focus for San Francisco. The 49ers in week
08:45number one will host Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets
08:49to end out the week. Of course at home in Santa Clara as Aaron
08:53Rodgers returns to Northern California as I track down the
08:57line for that game now just a three and a half point spread
09:00in favor of the 49ers. 44 and a half is the total. Donnie did
09:04you notice that on the FanDuel Sportsbook game green is now
09:07the favorite to win the AFC East. I think honestly it's
09:12correct. That's the way it actually should be before this
09:14season starts. So I do agree with the FanDuel Sportsbook.
09:17There's more people over there, huh?