00:00All right, let's turn the conversation back to the NFL
00:04and what Washington's going to do at wide receiver.
00:06Matt Mayoko has been covering the 49ers for some time
00:11as part of the 49ers pregame and postgame live on NBC Sports Bay Area.
00:17You can follow Matt on X at Mayoko, M-A-I-O-C-C-O-N-B-C-S.
00:24I'll just start with this because I just think there's so much out there.
00:28There's so much mystery around it,
00:30and especially with the latest issue of an arrest warrant.
00:34What are you guys hearing about what's going on with Brandon Iyuk?
00:41Yeah, thanks for having me on, Kevin.
00:43But yeah, really nothing.
00:45Yeah, no, really nothing.
00:47I mean, people I've talked to who know him and are friends with him
00:52haven't spoken to him.
00:56It's just kind of been a mystery as far as where he is physically
01:01and I think kind of in where his mindset is.
01:04So, you know, he occasionally pops up on social media doing something,
01:10and you mentioned the arrest warrant.
01:12You know, he posted video of himself driving at a high rate of speed
01:18right down a kind of a residential area, or at least a commercial area,
01:24I should say, close to Levi's Stadium, right past Levi's Stadium in December.
01:30But there just is a lot of mystery.
01:33You know, why did he, you know, in essence kind of ghost the 49ers
01:38and prompting the 49ers to void all the guaranteed money remaining on his contract?
01:45And then, you know, he didn't dispute that.
01:48He didn't fight it at all through the NFLPA.
01:52And yeah, I think there's a lot of concern about him,
01:56just kind of where he is and what his future holds.
02:00And, you know, does he, I mean, there's so many questions.
02:04I cannot answer a lot more questions than I can answer,
02:08such as, you know, how intent is he to get back on the football field?
02:13Uh, what, what is his sense of urgency to continue playing football?
02:17Um, I don't know the answers to those questions.
02:20Yeah, it's, I mean, I think, you know, from afar and you guys are closer to it,
02:26but still, as you just described, you're still kind of far away
02:29because there just isn't a lot of information.
02:31Cause essentially he's been MIA now for a year plus,
02:35but at the very least from afar, you can say as, you know,
02:41an observer of the human condition, this guy makes terrible decisions.
02:47I mean, he literally had between 30 and $40 million in guaranteed money voided.
02:54It's unprecedented what happened.
02:56And by the way, I point out all the time and maybe you would disagree,
02:59but there's been no fight to get it back from him, a lawyer representing him,
03:04the NFL PA, they know they were in the wrong, I guess.
03:09Yeah, that's, that's the, uh, that's the suggestion.
03:13Definitely.
03:14Um, yeah, I mean, all he had to do is kind of the bare minimum to,
03:18to obtain or claim that $27 million guaranteed.
03:25Like that, that was in the contract, the 49ers, uh, you know,
03:30we're, we're willing to pay him that obviously,
03:33because they put that in his contract and, you know, just kind of interesting.
03:36A year ago when training camp started, uh, he, you know,
03:40he's rehabbing the significant knee injury that he had from the previous season.
03:45Um, we saw him out on the field quite a bit.
03:48You know, he was, he would be out there during warmup drills,
03:51running routes on air. And, um, you know, I,
03:56I was under the impression like, man, look at him. He's,
03:58he's so eager to get back out there. And, you know,
04:01I was told by someone very high up that, yeah,
04:04I think he's doing that for you guys. I think he's, you know,
04:07doing that to, uh, so that people see him, you know, on,
04:11on camera and, uh, and post on social media and everything else. But,
04:15you know, behind the scenes when we weren't out there, you know,
04:18he wasn't out there either. And so, um, it, it just,
04:21it remains to be seen. Um, a lot, I mean,
04:25there are a lot of, a lot of areas here where, um, there,
04:29there's a lot of hazy area. And this one is, you know,
04:33does he want to continue playing football? You know,
04:36the, the suggestions are, you know,
04:38looking at what he did on his social media,
04:40he basically unfollowed everybody except for his wife,
04:44Jaden Daniels and the Washington commanders.
04:46So that would lead you to believe that he wants to play for the commanders.
04:51But, um, again, that, that urgency is in question. Um,
04:57if he does come back, if he gets a shot with some team,
05:01is he going to be in a position, uh,
05:05physically and mentally to take, take advantage of it? Um, you know,
05:09it, it, it's, it just,
05:11you can't just roll out there and expect to make a football team and,
05:16and play high level football, uh,
05:19when you haven't been working up to it. So I don't know. I mean,
05:22it's, um, you know, I'm for air still hold his rights.
05:27Yeah. He is, he's remains on the reserve left squad list. Uh,
05:32up to this point,
05:33there's been no indication of when the 49ers will release him. Um,
05:38it's quite clear that no team's going to trade for him. And then,
05:42you know,
05:42the team that everybody's keeping an eye on is the Washington commanders.
05:46Right. And they, you know,
05:48they have some questions that they need to answer too.
05:52And they have to clear some hurdles as far as that as well. I mean,
05:57is this something that, uh, the commanders want to take that on?
06:01And I mean, he would be coming to the team because of Jaden Daniels.
06:07It seems to me like Jaden Daniels already has enough on his plate. Um,
06:11a lot of pressure on him play to play winning football. Uh,
06:15I'm not sure it would be in the best interest of that organization to,
06:20um, put that on, on Jaden Daniels shoulders as well to,
06:25to basically be responsible for Brandon.
06:27Yeah. You don't want to have to end up being, you know,
06:30the padded fifth floor for a guy that's not exactly stable.
06:34If that's what it ends up becoming,
06:36I do want to ask you about sort of the perspective of 49er fans on this,
06:41but I want to go back a little bit. Also, what was he like?
06:45Were there any indications at the end of 23,
06:48when you guys lose the Superbowl and overtime to the chiefs,
06:52he was outstanding in 23.
06:55I remember just as a football fan saying that IUK is really good and he is
07:01ascending like this guy's on the verge of becoming a truly upper tier wide
07:07receiver.
07:08What was it like in terms of him as a teammate,
07:12him in the media, him in fans?
07:15What did you guys think of him at the end of 23?
07:18I I've always liked Brandon.
07:20I think he's I had some very enjoyable conversations with him at his locker.
07:27I, and you're right in 2023, he was one heck of a football player.
07:32You know, he was, you know, kind of,
07:34he never really had a breakout season because he started off at a pretty high
07:38level and just kind of kept gradually, you know,
07:42just kind of continually going in an upward trajectory.
07:47So the first times I started to hear, you know,
07:53negativity about him was after that 2023 season and the contract situation
08:00that he had going into the 2024 season.
08:05And that's the year where, you know,
08:08the 49ers and he had, you know, kind of a contentious, well, you know,
08:13maybe it wasn't even contentious because the 49ers would put a contract offer
08:17out there and it would just kind of sit out there for a long period of time.
08:22They wouldn't hear from him.
08:24And finally, you know,
08:25I know the 49ers had some deals worked out,
08:28some trades worked out with some other teams that were basically contingent on,
08:32on brand and signing off on it to,
08:35to get a new contract with, with some other team.
08:38And then ultimately, you know,
08:40I think there were indications then that, you know,
08:44maybe his,
08:45his urgency to play football wasn't what the 49ers wanted it to be.
08:49And eventually Kyle Shanahan, I think just kind of lost patience.
08:52And it was like, okay, what the heck, you know, do you want to play?
08:56You know, this,
08:57the contract that he ended up signing had been offered three weeks earlier.
09:01And there's that sat there untouched for three weeks.
09:06And then right before the start of that season,
09:08Brandon and I signed the deal and then got off to a slow start and had just
09:13started to look like the Brandon and I of 2023 when he sustained that,
09:20that knee injury.
09:21So the only time where I started to think like, okay,
09:26what what's going on here would have been during the contract negotiations,
09:31the summer of 2024.
09:33And then it's just kind of been weird, you know, ever since then.
09:37Yeah, that makes sense.
09:38Cause I remember we were talking about it here because he wanted to get traded
09:43to Washington and he, you know,
09:45he put that Jaden Daniels practice video out on social media.
09:50That was obviously supposed to remain between him and his former college
09:56quarterback.
09:57And it was at that point, I think even from afar,
10:00we started to question maybe his judgment.
10:03We're talking to Matt Mayoko of NBC sports out in the Bay area.
10:08So is it true that if he just had reported to any of these OTA days that the
10:1549ers would have been forced to either release him or change the, you know,
10:20reserved left, you know, left squad status, or is that not true?
10:24You know, well, I, I don't know the specifics on that,
10:28but that would seem to make sense to me.
10:31You know, if he's, if he's on the reserve left squad list and he remains
10:35under contract to the 49ers, uh, if he just had reported and, and show,
10:41showed up, um, I, I think that would have forced the 49ers hand to do
10:46something, you know, that quite obviously with, uh, the level of discontent or,
10:53or however we want to term it that Brandon I has with, uh, the team or his
10:58current situation.
10:59I, I really, I doubt that the 49ers would have wanted him in the locker room.
11:05Um, and so I think, I mean, to my knowledge, it, it would have forced the 49ers
11:12hand to do something.
11:13Why didn't he just do it?
11:14I know it would have been awkward.
11:16I don't know.
11:17I don't know.
11:18And there's no other opportunities.
11:19Am I right about that?
11:20That Kyle canceled mini camp and there are no more OTA days.
11:24That is correct.
11:26Yeah.
11:26Um, so the next time would be day one of training camp.
11:29Uh, the opening.
11:30Yeah.
11:31Yes.
11:32And I, I don't, I mean, I, I don't know how this is going to, I mean,
11:36I know how it's going to play out.
11:37I mean, he's, he's not going to step on the field for the San Francisco 49ers
11:41ever again, but I don't know how it gets to that point.
11:46And, and at what point he, you know, at what point he is allowed to, to go play
11:53for some, someone else.
11:55And, and we don't know, you know, I guess the, uh, circumstantial evidence is that
12:02he appears to want to play for the Washington commanders, but we, I, I, I mean, I'm
12:09speaking for myself here and, um, and probably a lot of other people too, who are closer
12:15to him than I am.
12:16I don't know where, where he is as far as, you know, his relationship with football.
12:21You know, if he, it sounds like nobody even knows where he is period.
12:26Yeah.
12:27And, you know, I know, um, Adam Schefter had reported, uh, several weeks ago that even
12:32teams that, you know, were, were interested or just wanted to do a little bit of homework,
12:38uh, as far as pursuing a trade that they couldn't even get in touch with him.
12:43So I don't know if I know, I know he has a relationship with Adam Peters.
12:47Um, I, I would assume that the 49ers have given, you know, teams or his, uh, Brandon
12:54and I use representation, uh, permission to speak to other teams.
12:59So, um, I, I don't, I, I don't know if, if Adam Peters has made any contact with them
13:05or not, but you know, that is, that's certainly, you know, the, the team, I guess it can work
13:11both ways.
13:12You know, a team that would want him would be either a team that knows him well, but maybe
13:18if the team knows him well, maybe they know him too well and maybe he'd have better luck
13:22with a team that, that doesn't know him.
13:24I don't know.
13:25I, I, it just, uh, it's, you know, I've covered this league a long time and, and I've never,
13:30uh, come close to say that people say this is truly the one of one in terms of, especially
13:40when it comes to the voiding of guaranteed dollars that just is so hard to pull off.
13:46Um, and yet it is, it is.
13:49And the thing, I mean, you're, you're a professional football player, you know, he, he put in, uh,
13:54you know, some really good seasons to get to that point where he earned that contract.
13:58He earned it.
13:59He earned that money.
14:01He earned the guaranteed money, uh, and for him to just not live up to the terms of the
14:07contract and, and to see, uh, $27 million just evaporate is mind boggling.
14:17Look, I I've said this, um, that if I were a 49er fan, I wouldn't want them to release
14:25him until the last possible moment.
14:27Why would I want my competitor, uh, uh, you know, a potential competitor in the NFC to get
14:32him for the entire summer?
14:34Um, why would I be doing him any favors?
14:37So I, I think there's still a possibility, I guess he could show up and make it uncomfortable
14:43for them, but do you think there's a possibility, if not a likelihood that they don't release
14:49him until August 31st, that the day before they actually have to pay him anything?
14:54I do.
14:55Well, they don't have to pay him anything period until he shows up.
14:59Right.
15:00Uh, but I think the next trigger data, the roster bonus would be September 1st from what
15:05the guy in the spot track told me.
15:07Yeah.
15:08And I'm not even sure.
15:08I mean, this is such an unprecedented thing.
15:11I mean, a lot of these questions, I don't even have the answers through because I've never
15:15dealt with this before, but you know, I don't think a person would qualify for a roster bonus
15:20or anything of that nature.
15:22If he's on the reserve left squad list.
15:24Yeah, maybe.
15:25Uh, and again, and again, as far as, um, kind of pushing it and, and taking, taking a step
15:33that, uh, forces the 49ers and, you know, he hasn't shown a willingness to do that either,
15:39such as what we're talking about, just showing up and saying, okay, you know, I'm here, take
15:44me off the, uh, the reserve left squad list.
15:47And I mean, in my mind, that would be the, uh, the quickest way for him to, to, to become
15:53a free agent and, and, uh, and move on with his career.
15:57If that's what he, if that's what he desires.
