Aiyuk's behavior not helping him get moved from SF
Mike Florio delves into Brandon Aiyuk's behavior and how it's not advancing his interests to get moved from the San Francisco 49ers and allow him to sign with another team.
Video Transcript
I posted this last night at PFT after we saw two more videos from Brandon Aiyuk throughout the day on Thursday.
One, he's in an empty closet, but for a backpack that is sitting on a shelf.
He goes in and he starts pulling out handfuls of cash, throwing them on the ground, eventually puts a backpack on and walks out.
Then later, wearing the Commanders hat, giving out the web address to buy Commanders tickets.
He's made no bones about his desire to play for the Commanders.
And I've been saying that the solution for him is simple.
He just needs to show up at training camp, and they'll cut him because number one, they can't keep him from practicing if he shows up.
Number two, when he sets foot on the practice field, if he suffers a season-ending injury, they owe him more than $26 million.
But I saw someone mention that he's still on the left squad list, and I looked up the 49ers website and he's not on the roster.
He is still on the reserve/left squad list.
That is the nuclear option that a team uses when a guy who's already in the building leaves.
That's why it's always better to hold out and never show up for training camp than show up and leave.
Because once you are there and leave at any point, the team can set in motion a process that results in you being shut down for the entire year.
You can't play for anyone, can't be traded, can't be cut.
You are locked in until the end of the season.
And I looked through the CBA for the rules about the reserve left squad list, and for all the stuff that's in there, there's nothing in there about the reserve left squad list.
So I got in touch with someone who told me it's in the player personnel manual, and I was sent portions of the relevant information as to how this works.
He's gonna have to petition the league for reinstatement, specifically the commissioner.
Now, it should be a fairly basic exercise, but we thought applying for the supplemental draft was a fairly basic exercise too, until a few days ago.
So even though it may be something that has been rubber-stamped in the past, not so sure the rubber stamp would be used now because of the stuff that Aiyuk has been doing.
It's just a bad look for everyone.
It's a bad look for him.
It's a bad look for the 49ers.
It's a bad look for the Commanders who have been quiet through all of this.
It's almost getting to the point where the Commanders need to come out and say, "Hey, we're not interested in Brandon Aiyuk," if they're not.
Until they do, there's a chance they are.
But how this would work, he's gotta put in the paperwork to petition for reinstatement.
The 49ers would then have a 30-day window to evaluate him.
Now, part of that evaluation would be put him on the practice field.
And when you put him on the practice field, that's when you run the risk of owing him more than $26 million.
So they possibly would cut him after he petitions, after he's reinstated, and then after he shows up and says, "I'm here and I'm ready to work," because that's when you incur the risk.
Otherwise, the only way they owe him anything this year is if he's on the active roster for week one.
That's when, under the collective bargaining agreement, if you cut him, you owe him his entire salary for the year as termination pay.
But, you know, this is a chessboard, and there's moves he needs to be making.
There's moves he already should have made.
He should have petitioned for reinstatement immediately after the season ended.
He should have been there for the entirety of the off-season program because all he would've had to do was show up, "Hey, I'm ready to work out."
Any injury happens that knocks him out for the year, you owe him $26 million.
He's done nothing to try to move this in the direction where the 49ers are in checkmate, and the 49ers may end up putting him in checkmate.
I was communicating with the general manager today who said, "I'd put him on the suspended list for conduct detrimental to the team at this point."
You can suspend a guy for up to four weeks without pay for conduct detrimental to the team.
And then if he continues to engage in conduct detrimental to the team, you can suspend him again.
Now, in order to do it right, there needs to be a proper papering of the record.
There needs to be letters to the player explaining that you need to stop this, that if this continues, you will be found to have engaged in conduct detrimental to the team.
And maybe that's why he deleted the two videos from several weeks ago that attacked the 49ers.
And he hasn't directly attacked the 49ers.
What he's been doing is cozying up to the Commanders, and who knows what kind of communications have been happening.
But this whole thing seems extremely ill-advised.
He's not doing the things he needs to be doing to position himself to be released, and he is doing stuff that could make it more complicated for him to get to where he wants to go.
And that caused me to raise the question last night on PFT, is anyone advising him?
There's, there's two simple explanations.
He does have an agent.
Ryan Williams from Athletes First represents Brandon Aiyuk.
Williams also apparently is part of the management team for 49ers GM John Lynch, which is awkward to say the least.
I know they allow that.
The union allows that.
The league allows it.
Doesn't mean it's the best way for business to get done, but that's the situation and it violates no rules.
So either Williams has told Brandon Aiyuk to do these things, that this is how we implement our strategy.
If so, it's horrible advice.
I think the more likely explanation is he's not been advised to do what he's doing.
He's acting against advice.
And for anybody who's in a representative capacity, lawyer, agent, whatever, if someone has hired you to advise them, and you give your advice, and they ignore your advice, at some point, you fire them.
When Antonio Brown was acting erratically in early 2020, Drew Rosenhaus fired him.
It drags you down as the agent.
And look, I'm not advocating that Brian Williams fire Brandon Aiyuk.
I'm just asking why hasn't he?
It's just another strange wrinkle.
Either no one's giving him advice, or he's getting advice that he's not heeding, and whoever's giving him the advice is okay with him ignoring the advice he's getting.
I'm not going to try to diagnose someone's mental health based upon social media videos.
I'm looking at this from the standpoint of, how does it advance your interests?
We know what you need to do to position yourself to be released by the forty-niners.
Go do those things.
Quit making videos.
Hey, if no one else is gonna advise him, I will.
Number one, stop making videos.
Delete the videos you've made where you express an interest in playing for the Commanders.
Number two, petition the commissioner for reinstatement from the left squad list now.
Do it now.
And then when you get the reinstatement, the conditional reinstatement, up to thirty days, they have the roster exemption, you show up and you say, "I'm ready to work.
I'm ready to do whatever you want me to do."
'Cause that's when they'll cut you, and then you can sign with the Commanders if the Commanders want you.
It's pretty simple.
And it's sad because these videos keep giving people in the media fodder for criticizing him, questioning his mental health, questioning his fitness to play.
It's just unfortunate.
And hey, if he's my client, and I'm attached to this guy, and he's out there doing this stuff that doesn't make any sense, and he's defying my advice, you're not gonna be my client much longer.
'Cause at some point, it makes me look bad.
It may, makes me look ineffective.
It makes me look like I'm committing malpractice by not reining you in.
