The Kevin Sheehan Show - More BA, Some AD, + Jay Gruden

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

Kevin opened with reaction to Brandon Aiyuk's weekend social media messaging. He talked Wizards and the reported interest the Warriors have in trading for Anthony Davis. Jay Gruden jumped on with his latest thinking about Brandon Aiyuk and how he feels about the wide receiver room as it currently sits.   For all your football betting needs: DCRELOAD at MyBookie for a 50% Deposit Match Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

You don't want it. You don't need it, but you're going to get it anyway. The Kevin Sheehan Show. Here's Kevin. Cubs down to one last play. And it's going to be getting longer by the second. You're all the way back at the 30-yard line. Now you get stuffed into it.

Here comes the Hail Mary with the game on the line. And the ball is caught. Caut! It's a miracle. It's no. This town is going crazy. It's a madhouse in Landover, Maryland. He did it.

No real important reason for playing that highlight coming into today's show, the Hail Mary Throw from Jaden Daniels to Noah Brown in October 2024 to beat the Bears. It just serves as a reminder that 2024 wasn't that long ago. And it serves to remind all of us that real. and more interesting football conversations are coming soon. We are only two and a half months away from real football. It'll be here before we know it. And we'll have some real and interesting conversations about football between now and then.

But the Brandon Iyuk stuff has become exhausting. The show's presenting sponsor is always Windonation. major heat wave on the way. More on that coming up in a moment. If you have older windows, you should reach out to Windonation today. Call them at 86690 Nation or head to windownation.com. Jay Gruden's going to join me on the show today.

Jay really wanted Brandon IUk, kind of like I did when I talked to him the last time, which was shortly after the draft. But how does he feel now about Iyuk? We will find out coming up. The Wizards might be trading Anthony Davis to the Warriors, according to reports out there today. I will get to that on the show as well. This from Neil in D.C., Neil writes, Kevin, are you getting geeked up for the heat wave later this week?

This is a weather junkie's dream. I am a weather junkie, as some of you know. But Neil, I'm not a heatwave weather junkie. I'm much more into winter storms. Hurricanes to a lesser degree, but winter storms are the absolute best. They're unpredictable. And a heat wave really isn't unpredictable. What is coming is perhaps the most extreme heat wave that we've ever had in the D.C. area.

I'm going to have Doug Cammer from Channel 4. on the radio show tomorrow morning at 10.30 to explain what is coming and why it's coming. This was the write-up earlier today from the Capitol Weather Gang, although I don't think they're called the Capital Weather Gang anymore, because I don't know that they're affiliated with the Post anymore. But anyway, Capital Weather Gang is how I know them and how I will refer to them until corrected. They wrote the following, quote, As we close in on the Wednesday start of an unusually intense and long-lasting blast of extreme heat extending into the 4th of July weekend, computer models continue to pump out numbers that could threaten all-time high temperature records in the D.C. area and across the Mid-Atlantic by late this week. The peak of the heat looks to be Friday as of now, although each day, Wednesday through at least Saturday,

has the potential to be dangerously hot. All of those days may shoot for near and beyond 100 degrees, and with the humidity, it could feel as hot as 105 to 115. Heat advisories are probable as soon as Wednesday, with the most significant extreme heat warnings currently anticipated after that. One particular model shown below, which is actually a blend of various models, forecasts highs of 101, 104, 106, 104, 98 and 97 degrees Wednesday through Monday.

Both the European and American models, that would be the GFS, are predicting highs of up to 110 degrees. That's temperature, although those models can overestimate. by a few degrees. If you're wondering, the all-time temperature high in D.C. is 106 degrees, set twice in 1918 and also in 1930. The highest temperature ever recorded in D.C. on July 4th, specifically, was 100 degrees. That record looks to be in deep trouble based on today's forecast.

Yeah, I'm interested in this, Neil. I'm not looking forward to this. The difference between something like this and what I really love, which are winter storms, snowstorms in particular, is that I look forward to those. I am not looking forward to this. All right, let's get to You Know Who. Oh, you thought I was done? Man, get so ass up. Yeah, I don't think anybody thought you were done, Brandon.

Nobody paying attention thought you were done. that's for sure. So he wasn't done a few more videos over the weekend, including a very long explanation video. If you weren't following it, and I don't blame you, he was busy and he was on the attack. Forty-niners GM John Lynch and his agent Ryan Williams were the primary targets, although he had Kyle Shanahan in his sights a few times as well. Now, he claims something in one of the videos that actually turned out to be not true. Shocker. He claimed that he fired Ryan Williams, the man he actually said this weekend started all of this S. So he said that he fired Williams back in November. Turns out he actually hadn't fired him officially until late Saturday, as in this

past Saturday. That's when according to the NFLPA website, it was finally done in official manner. Now, the longest rant from Ayyuk this weekend, honestly, it's not worth playing in its entirety. I mean, I can summarize it better than you can probably understand it, in part, because it's unhinged, it's filled with expletives, it's filled with the N-word, and it's not super specific. So it's kind of hard to interpret. I'm going to play the beginning of it for you.

so you get the flavor and the tone. This was the beginning of this video, three plus minutes, that is his attempt to explain, at least in part, how we all got to this point, or how they all got to this point, how he got to this point with the team and with his agent, and he starts by blaming his agent, Ryan Williams. The reason why the agent being fired is such an important detail in this whole story

is because that agent is also the agent of the general manager for that one team. And that agent really started this whole shit because I fired his ass, but he wanted to text my wife like he's smart. You don't ever text my wife. Y'all ass fired. Your ass grass. Get up out of here. Get gone.

So he is also the agent for the general manager at that team. These n'i-all weird. Weirdos. Creepy predators. I would never, ever, ever, ever, f*** these. I would never, ever with these. I don't care how long I got to wait to get to you, my baby.

But if it involves f***ing with them first, I'm waiting. So that gives you kind of a sense of the tone and texture of this three-minute-plus video that he put out on Saturday, which was, I think, intended to be an explanation video. I don't know if it worked or not. I guess that's a matter of perspective. But I'm not going to play the rest of it. Some of the other key components of the video I will mention. But I want to start with this from the part that I just played for you, because I'm not sure everybody knows. knows this. Most NFL general managers have agents. And in fact, many NFL general managers who have agents have agents that also represent players. In fact, one of the top agencies representing NFL general managers is athletes first. That's the agency in which Brandon Ayuk's agent,

Ryan Williams is an employee of. They have players and they have general managers and other front office executives as clients. It's not uncommon for an NFL GM to be represented by the same agency or even the same agent as players in the league. Now, if Brandon Ayyuk is somehow accusing his agent and his general manager of colluding together to take his money or to do whatever. I'm not really sure what he's alleging. He didn't really specifically say what he was alleging.

He's just upset that they have the same agent. But if he is alleging that there is some sort of collusion between the two to hurt or injure, I'm not saying physically injure, but legally injure or financially injure, Brandon Ayyuk, then that's what the NFL players associated. is for. That's where he should go. Now, in another video this weekend, he ripped the NFLPA at some point during the weekend, and I forget which video that was on, but he essentially said that there are some decent people at the NFLPA, but for the most part, the rest of it is trash. But, you know, if an NFL player is truly in a position where they believe that they have been taken advantage of,

been injured or hurt in some sort of way by management, by the NFL, by the league, the NFL PA has a duty to protect that player. Now, keep in mind, one of the things that we knew about Brandon Ayuk before the last two and a half to three weeks is that the 49ers voided 30 plus million dollars in guaranteed money from his contract because he didn't fulfill his obligation to show up once or twice a month to let the 49ers monitor his knee rehab. We've talked a lot about that prior to the last two and a half weeks, that that was an unprecedented amount of money,

guaranteed money taken and voided from a player's contract. And the real odd part of it was that the NFLPA, at least as of now, did not fight it. Brandon Ayuk didn't fight it, at least legally that we know of. of the NFLPA, as far as we know, has not taken up the cause, which makes me believe, or at least as of now, that the 49ers had a legitimate reason to void that guaranteed portion of his contract. But again, the first takeaway from this is NFL general managers have agents, and sometimes those agents represent players. A lot of times they do. Second takeaway is Brandon Ayuk says that his

agent started all of this shit. Well, why not just get a new agent and move on? Thirdly, I have no idea why the agent texted Brandon Ayuk's wife. He doesn't specify why the agent texted his wife. It's obvious he didn't like it. I would imagine that many agents know the wives and families of their clients, players, and perhaps even occasionally communicate with them. Now, if he's implying that it was.

inappropriate contact. We don't know what that means because I can come up with probably, you know, three or four or five reasons an agent would text a wife of a client that are appropriate and probably three, four or five reasons that would be inappropriate. But we don't know. He's just pissed and did not like the fact that he was texting his wife. That seems to have been a bit of a breaking point. We've had multiple breaking points that have been discussed, including him not getting targeted

enough in the Super Bowl against the Chiefs. And then lastly, the part where he accuses John Lynch and Ryan Williams, his agent, of being weirdos and creepy predators.

Okay, tell us why with some specificity? Because the agent's texting your wife, give us more on that, or because John Lynch came to your house. He talks about later in the video, John Lynch came to his house. That was a big deal to him. Some big white dude, John Lynch, coming up to his house, and he had to call his wife, warn her not to come home, take a couple spins around the block, as God forbid, she run into John Lynch. I have no idea why Lynch came to the house. He says at some point in another video that at some point Lynch was apologizing

for something Kyle Shanahan did. He refers to Shanahan as a toddler. But you kind of need more detail. Because again, just like with the texting of the wife, I can come up with a number of reasons why John Lynch would appropriately be driving to Brandon I's house. And I can come up with several reasons why it would be inappropriate for him to drive to his house. Now, many of you think all of is inappropriate as far as John Lynch and the agent and the team go. I just don't agree with you. I think perspective is everything, and your life and your personal and professional experiences

sort of frame that perspective, and we all have different perspectives. I just can't imagine that if Kyle, if John Lynch were coming over to the house for an appropriate reason, that I would be that upset. Maybe it wasn't an appropriate reason. Maybe it was to threaten him. Maybe it was to tell his wife something.

I don't know. He doesn't get specific. But he does say that they're all weirdos and creepy predators. And the last part of what I played for you may be the most interesting and the most important of this particular video. When he says, I would never, ever, ever, ever. with these, and then he uses the N-word, in plural form. I don't care how long I got to wait to get to you, my baby, and he holds up a football with the commander's logo.

So his baby is our team, maybe Jaden Daniels. But if it involves effing with them, and he uses the N-word again, I'm waiting. So there you go. He's telling you he's not going. to face them. You know, he could have been doing something all along. There are actions he could have been taking. But he's telling you, I'm not messing with them. I'm not effing with them. I'll wait. And by wait, meaning I won't play. He's on the reserved left squad list. He has to apply

for reinstatement. He is at some point probably he needs to show up to the 49ers facility. I don't know what the 49ers are planning at this point. This thing has gotten, look, this, this saga has gotten weird and creepy and also really, really immature and, you know, unprofessional and thin skin and a lot of other things at this point. But yeah, I mean, he kind of says there, of course, I'm sure he'll change his mind at some point. And maybe they can help him change mind. Maybe they should approach him, although don't drive over to his house and certainly don't text his wife, but maybe somebody could get in touch with him that's somewhat neutral to say they'd like to have an actual professional conversation with you, or they'd like to get you

to the point where you can be released or traded, but here's what you have to do. I don't know. at the end of this particular video, he says he'll never be stepping into that building, meaning the 49ers building, except for on October 19th, when he comes through with that effing belt. Remember a few, I think it was episode four or five of the Brandon Ayuk video, a Netflix special when he said he was bringing the belt. October 19th is the day that Washington or the night that Washington plays the 49ers on Monday night football. Yeah, I mean, he has to do some things before that becomes a reality. So if you're wondering or even care what I think today, which is, I'm assuming one of the reasons you're listening to this podcast, I'm out.

Like I am out on Brandon Ayyuk. I am fully aware and still believe that our team needs another talented playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. And he is gifted. It's why I was so interested in the possibility of Brandon Ayuk for many months up until the last two and a half weeks, even with the voided, guaranteed money, even with the 100 miles per hour videotaped and put on social media, which led to an arrest warrant. I was still in that camp of, look, you know, a little bit crazy, a little bit immature. These aren't necessarily

disqualifiers for players in the NFL. And he's really good. I was always a fan of Brandon Ayyuk during his first four seasons in San Francisco. I thought he deserved to get paid. I thought he was a legitimate top 10 receiver and descending. And I think he'd be perfect. The 2023 version of Brandon Ayyuk would be perfect for this offense, perfect for Jaden Daniels, and would have a huge impact on them offensively. But, you know, who knows what he'll actually look like physically two years after a serious injury.

And, you know, through his actions and really, inaction, he's made it obvious that he's really not interested in making himself available. He's not serious about making himself available. He's serious about going scorched earth on his current employer, but instead of facing that employer, he's spent the last three weeks ripping them on social media. Instead of filing for reinstatement, which he has to do because he's on the reserved left squad list, he's spent three weeks ripping every professional relationship he has. You know, his skin is thin. He's very, very sensitive to all of this. And I'm not taking the

49ers off the hook. I don't have enough information to take them off the hook. I think it's probably a case of his side, her side, the truth is somewhere in between. But at this point, the only person that we're hearing from is him. And he sounds a bit unhinged. And he sounds overly sensitive. And he sounds unsurious with respect to this idea that he has that he wants to play in Washington. Because he's done nothing to affect that outcome. Now, as far as what the team is thinking right now,

I don't think there's any question that there has been interest in Brandon Iyuk up until, let's say, two and a half, three weeks ago. What do they think now? I think that they're having major second thoughts about it. I mean, look, if his goal was to get to Washington, he's put them, his ideal team, his wishless team, Washington, he's put them into a more difficult position to sign him. because it will be a very controversial polarizing at best signing. That's not something that general managers and organizations, especially with Washington coming off all those years and now having some stability,

you know, he's going to have to stick his neck out. He's going to have to go out on a limb if he makes that move. He wouldn't have had to do it nearly as much prior to the last couple of weeks. So if he's, you know, if he was hoping and serious about getting to Washington, he hasn't made it more likely. He's made it less likely. I'm not going to say impossible because I actually can envision if he were to sign here, him being an angel for a period of time. You know, it's my guy, Jaden, it's my guy, Adam Peters, and even having a big impact on the field. I mean, part of that is still intriguing to me. But he's revealed. a lot about his true colors. One, you know, adverse, you know, conversation or situation, and you are toast as an organization. He is going after you scorched earth. And it's only a matter of time with people like him. I mean, this is what my experience would tell me. It's only a matter of time,

even if the first year, first two years go well, that it's going to end the same way it's ended in San Francisco. So I'm not interested. I don't think the team could possibly be as interested as they may have been a month ago. I'd turn towards Diggs right now. I would. T.J. Hushman Zata, you know, was Brandon Ayuk's mentor, his personal coach, former NFL wide receiver.

If you recall, back in March, he was critical of Brandon Ayuk's situation at that point. That was long before the videos. Well, this was T.J. Hushman Zata over the weekend talking about Brandon Ayuk and warning Adam Peters and Washington. He might not step foot in the NFL stadium again if he don't shut the fuck up. Like, what is he doing? like Adam Peters

where the kid this is my Adam Peters you sign Brandon I you the commanders should fire you the day you sign

him do it like what are you thinking what makes y'all any different than the San Francisco 49ers you don't think

he's going to do to you what he's doing to them like I don't understand this if I'm Jane Daniels

BA is my boy if it doesn't work out is he still going to be my boy So do I even want to see if it will work out? Because I may ruin a relationship over sports. And so I don't know like what's going on.

I don't know why he's doing these things. But as players, as a former player and as players that are watching this, that are current players, bro, the NFL is rolling with or without you. Get your ass on the bus and enjoy the ride or get your ass off. T.J. Hushman Zad is not alone. You know, if you go through the list, George Kittle, Dante Wittner, some of the reporters out in San Francisco, like the guy that I had on a few weeks ago, Matt Mayoko, he actually said over the weekend on social media, he thinks it's very possible that Brandon Ayukes played his last down in the NFL. He doesn't think anyone will want to sign him. The people that have been closer to this, you know, Bay Area people or T.J. Hushmanzada, who was, you know, his boy. It was his guy. He was his coach, his mentor, his guru.

Not much support for Brandon Ayuk. Another reason to certainly wonder about this. I mean, Adam Peters should be fired, T.J. Hooshminsada says if he signs Brandon Ayyuk. And the, you know, the point that he makes about Jaden, that's another reason that I'm. I'm out. I don't want this quarterback in his third year coming off a difficult injury plagued year to also have to feel like, hey, I'm my necks on the line for Brandon Iyuk being here. You know, this is now my responsibility to make him work. Look, it's part of the quarterback's responsibility to make everybody work, but you don't want that weighted too much. And I think there'd be a lot of, I think Jaden's a grown-up. I think he is an absolute stud as a leader and he's mature. I just don't know that you want to throw that at him. Look, everybody assumes

Jaden wants him. I wouldn't assume that necessarily. You know, you can outwardly say he's my guy, but behind closed doors with Adam Peters and Dan Quinn say, no way are you bringing him into this building. I'm telling you I'm not vouching for him. That's in play as well. I think everything's in play. All right, let me get to this Wizard's news about Anthony Davis after these words from a few of our sponsors. Tell me about Anthony Davis and what you're expecting from him with this organization, hopefully, in the upcoming season. Yeah, I would say we've had great conversations all summer, just like all of our players with Anthony.

He's aligned and he's starting to his backwork. out to make sure he's ready to go for the season, just like all of our other players this jump season. So we anticipate Anthony to be a big part of what we're doing moving forward. Wizards GM Will Dawkins, who was on with me on Friday's show, and he answered the question about Anthony Davis. Of course, I did not have at my disposal some of the news that broke today about Anthony Davis. By the way, if you want to go listen to that conversation with Will Dawkins, Friday show, June 26th, the 22-minute 28-second mark is where that interview begins. I appreciate that he came on with me and enjoyed it. He talked a lot about A.J. DeBanza,

how they arrived at DeBanza, how DeBanza fits. And then we got to the Anthony Davis question. And I personally have thought, going back to when they traded for Anthony Davis, that the preference was, for Anthony Davis, as far as the team's preference, was for Anthony Davis to play for the Wizards next year, that the combination if he and Trey Young would really help the young nucleus that they have. You know, Will Dawkins, when he came on with me maybe two, two and a half months ago after those trades, said it's time that we start to create the environment whereby we're playing competitive basketball. That's a better environment for our young players to develop in and to accelerate that process.

They had that opportunity to trade for Tray Young, and they had the opportunity to trade for Anthony Davis. Now, once they made the Davis deal, I actually liked the Tray Young deal more, because I didn't love it when they made it, but I could see the two of them meshing and playing pretty well together. Maybe I'm crazy. Of course, I'm nuts to consider that Anthony Davis playing enough games to matter

is like a given, no, it's not. He gets hurt a lot and it's more wishful thinking trying to get the Wizards to have a season in which Anthony Davis is a 65 game or more performer. And I just would have looked forward to seeing that combination of him, Trey Young, and then a lot of their young players, including now A.J. DeBonsa. I think that team, if it stayed healthy, played together for 65-70-plus games could qualify for the postseason next year in the Eastern Conference. I do. And I'm not talking about the play-in. I'm talking about a five-or-sixth seat.

I think they could win 43-44 games. But that is contingent upon Anthony Davis. He would be their best player. He's got their biggest short-term upside. But now, according to Shams Charania at ESPN, Kevin O'Connor, at Yahoo Sports. the Golden State Warriors are very interested in trading for Anthony Davis. That would be part and parcel to them signing LeBron James as an unrestricted free agent. They think if they can get Davis on their roster that LeBron will want to sign and be reunited with Anthony Davis.

Remember, they won the title during the COVID bubble. season in the summer of 2020. So here we are. Lots of reports. The Warriors looking to trade for Anthony Davis. Number one is, I only make this deal if I'm the Wizards by absolutely extracting the top end amount from Golden State. They're the ones desperate to make this deal. The Wizards, I don't think, are. Now, do the Wizards want to pay Anthony Davis, the contract extension in August that they can pay him? I don't know.

And I think Anthony Davis wants to get paid. Maybe if the Wizards step up and pay him, he'll stay. I don't know if that's the right call either. Just like, I don't know if it was the right call to pay Tray Young, although I have to say that paying Tray Young keeps Tray Young. And you traded for Tray Young to help out the young players. You traded for Anthony Davis to help out the young players. so at least get a year out of these two players. I mean, the Wizards can certainly hold on to Davis, play them,

and then try to trade them at the deadline where maybe the value for Anthony Davis might be higher. But it's the Warriors that would be initiating this. When they traded for Anthony Davis, the deal was considered to be a really good deal for the Wizards. They traded Chris Middleton, Marvin Bagley, A.J. Johnson, a first-round pick that was okay. Cs in this past draft, a 20-30 first rounder and three second rounders for Davis, DeAngelo, Russell,

Jaden Hardy, and Dante X.M. It was considered to be a really good deal for the Wizards. Anthony Davis was hurt. You know, his value was down. The only way you make this trade, the only way you make this trade if you're Washington is if you get a lot more back from Golden State than what you had to give up to Dallas to get Anthony Davis here in the first place. What would that be? Well, the problem with that is a player on Golden State's roster right now that would have to be moved as part of this deal is Jimmy Butler. Now, I loved Jimmy Butler. I think Jimmy Butler is one of the best clutch postseason performers of the last 10, 15 years.

but Jimmy Butler's 36 and he's four months removed from ACL surgery and he's got an expiring contract. Now, how would they make that move? How would they make that work? Well, you bring him back and you move him for something else if you're the Wizards. You'd have to get a lot of picks back, but I just don't know if the players you're going to get back ultimately are going to match what you gave up or exceed. what you gave up for Anthony Davis in the first place. And that's the only way I would do this deal. They're the desperate team.

You can wait. He's under contract this year. You can hope he plays and plays well and then maybe get a boatload for him at the deadline during the season. You don't have to make this deal. All right. I think that's it on that. The other NBA news, John Morant got traded by Memphis to Portland.

I've always kind of had this thought that if John Morant ever got it together personally, he'd be a top 10 kind of a player, but he's always had issues off the court primarily and injuries on the court as well. How about Kauai Leonard to Toronto potentially? That's some of the reporting out there. Rejoining the team he won a title with in 2019. Apparently Toronto is the only team he's willing to sign an extension with. if he does get traded.

Lots of activity in the NBA today. A lot of setup for what will happen tomorrow when free agency begins. All right. Let's get to Jay Gruden after these words from a few of our sponsors. Window nations, buy four, get four free, and don't pay anything for two years off or ends tomorrow night, the end of the month. If you've been thinking about new windows,

call them at 86690 Nation or head to windonation.com. Mention my name. Tell them that you heard about them from this particular show. And from me, they'll take really good care of you for four Windows purchase, the next four are free with no money down, no monthly payments and no interest for two full years. You've got access to plenty of options product-wise. They're the best when it comes to customer service. rated number one among all window installation companies in America by Forbes magazine,

and they've got a great offer. 86690 Nation, windownation.com. All right. Joining me right now, the former head coach of the Washington Redskins, Jay Gruden. We're going to get Jay's thoughts on Brandon I, but I did see that you had tweeted about the soccer. Are you into the World Cup? Yeah, I've been watching it. pretty entertaining, man. I just don't like all the fake injuries, but other than that,

obviously, there's a lot to play for, and the competition is great, so it's been fun to watch. So, are you, do you like the game, or do you just like the pageantry and the importance of it? I like, I like the pageantry and the importance. This is probably about the only time I'll watch soccer. Like, I won't watch MLF or anything else. This is probably the only time I'll tune in and watch it, but it's been great. Yeah, I'm, I, every four years, years, it's like, I'm not a soccer guy. I don't really like soccer, but I kind of like the World Cup. And this year, I mean, who knows? We'll see if the U.S. is good enough. But yeah, the flopping bothers me. And then the clock, the imprecise way the game's timed. It's very

random. You know, you know, the plus minutes. It's just, to me, it doesn't make sense. You'd like to know if you're the team behind how much time you actually. have to score to try to catch up. That would be nice. Yeah, I've noticed that the plus six, plus seven, sometimes it goes over seven. Sometimes it goes like nine or ten. I'm like, what the hell. Right.

So, yeah, it is confusing to me. I don't know what they add on for injuries. I don't know. I guess every time there's an injury, they add time on. I don't know. Yeah, but nobody knows except for the referee, and then it seems just kind of random because oddly enough, if the team that's losing has like, you know, they've got the ball and they're getting close to scoring,

they just let him finish rather than have it sort of time out. Anyway, enough about soccer. I called you for one specific reason. The last time we talked, I think we were both on the same page, and I'm wondering if you've changed, but Brandon Ayyuk,

if he was going to become available, I was all in for Washington being all in on him. I know you were, as well, you know, assuming that he was healthy and medically cleared and all of that. And you could get him on a real kind of prove it kind of a deal. Where are you now? Yeah, he's kind of, he's not helping himself in any way, shape, or form.

First, you've got to get off the do not report list or this list that is. You've got to get off of that to become eligible. You've got to go to camp. It's still the right to the 49ers and the NFL right now, so there's nothing we can do or Washington can do. But yeah, he just needs to just quiet down. He needs to get himself reinstated. He needs to do the things right way, report to the 49ers,

and then hopefully they release them, and he becomes available. I mean, that's the only option that he has. So he's got to clean up his actor. He won't be playing football anywhere. Yeah, he had, I mean, he could have been taking action to, you know, end this thing, potentially,

and he's taken none of that action. What do you think the conversation? with him talking so much about playing in Washington, what do you think the conversation is out in Ashburn with Adam Peters and company? I think they would rather him be quiet because now the 49ers have a loaded, you know, they have something that the Washington obviously wants in the bad way.

So I don't know if San Francisco is going to try to get some picks out of this deal or cut them, and I don't know what's good. I really have no idea. Obviously, it's a perfect match with. Jayden and Brandon and Adam Peters drafted him when he was there at San Francisco. So this is the ideal place for him to play if he can get through the hoops, which these hoops are pretty

hard to get through right now the way it looks. Given what he has said, though, over the last couple of weeks, about the 49ers, now about John Lynch, a creepy predator, he referred to him as. All of these things that have gotten really strange, I mean, he's gone. earth, I mean nuclear scorched earth on John Lynch, on Kyle Shanahan, and now on his former agent who he finally figured out how to fire over the weekend officially, how much of this

public flogging of his general manager, of his head coach, the provoking by him, how much of that would bother you in terms of taking on somebody capable of what he has done and said over the last two and a half three weeks. Well, first of all, I'd have to kind of look at my roster. What happened in OTAs and mandatory minicampus, exactly what we have for receiver. Am I happy with the group that I have? If I am, I'm not going to mess with Brandon I use.

I'm not. But if we're not getting any separation other than Terry McCormor, we need somebody else out there, that I'm going to try to pursue this guy because he is a proven second team pro bowl type player. You know, he's a really good athlete. I mean, he's big, he's fast, and he's what we need opposite Terry. you know, in two tight-end sets or, you know, two running back sets, he'd be perfect. But with all that being said, I don't think anybody knows them as good as Jaden or Adam Peters.

So obviously if they took a chance on them, they feel like they can control them a little bit. You know, and I think moving forward, if there's a quarterback in the NFL, they can, you know, control him a little bit of personality and all that good stuff. It would probably be Jaden. But if he's not getting the ball, is he going to resort to these old habits and go on videos and say, hey, his team doesn't know what they're doing this, David Blum. wow guy isn't the moron. You don't mean? You don't want that on your team either. But if it's a one-year type deal, a prove-a-deal like you mentioned, then you can always cut them.

You know, not that they are analogous by any stretch, because I don't know that there is an analogy or a previous sort of situation similar to the one with Brandon Ayyuk. But you guys did bring in Deshaun Jackson, and there was a lot of smoke around Deshaun Jackson, who had been released by the Eagles. And, you know, there were some issues in Philadelphia. There were some issues with some of the people that he was affiliated with outside of the team at that point. I remember, you know, being on radio every day. And it was, you know, a bit of a controversial signing. Not everybody was on board with bringing him on. What do you remember about signing to Sean Jackson back in, what, 2014, I think?

I remember we signed them. That's all I remember. I don't remember we're having any conversations. This was another one like Alex Smith got traded and you didn't even know about it. I said, great, I'll take him. This guy's fast as hell and he's a big player. And Sean was never actually a problem. You know, we had a couple instances here and there, but for the most part, he was a great guy in a locker room and he was on time to meetings

and he was, you know, he tried to pretend like he was some kind of tough guy, but he was probably one of the smartest guys we had on a team. He just tried to put his hood up over his head and try to sit the media. He wasn't paying attention. He never made a mistake. You know, so he was fun to have around. You know, the only thing about the Sean that you don't like is if he's not running 4-340, 4-2-5-40, he was not very good.

If he's running 4-5, if he was tired, I said, get your ass out of the game, man, because you can't get any separation and you're not a blocker. You're just in a way. You're just a player out there, you know, but if he's running 4-25 or 4-3, his son, this is going to go get it. When he came out and Ryan Grant went in, we knew you were running the football, pretty much. Or play action.

We could have done a little play action. Yeah, and a little bootleg or something like that. But, yeah, I mean, that's important because, you know, Pierre's not going to want to switch sides and become a lead blocker. I block a safety. And some of these safeties are pretty damn physical. And, you know, I told you that story. We motioned to Sean Jackson and ended up bunch of the instant block the savings.

Hey, it's not a game plan, is it? I'll put Ryan in for that. But it's important. have guys like trying to have versatile. That's why I kind of like Brandon and I, he's a big guy. He can block, you know, for the running game because they're going to have to run the ball a little bit. So it'd be an important finding, I think. But, yeah, you've got to have versatile type receivers and different type of receivers on your roster.

That's why I'm concerned about Washington. I have too many slot guys with Lane and McCaffrey. The new guy they just drafted Williams. They've seen another outside physical type presence, in my opinion. You know, you've mentioned to me before that Deshaun was really a pleasure to coach, and you've said many times that he was really, really bright and was phenomenal, you know, except for in the run game. But that is interesting to me.

I mean, you're the head coach. You're an offensive head coach. You are considered to be one of the best guys when it comes to sort of a pass offense. and they didn't even ask you about whether or not you thought Deshaun would be. They just went and got him. Bruce did. Because that happens a lot. I mean, it happened a lot with other free agents.

They asked, and I said no, and they still find them. And sometimes I say yes, and we wouldn't find them. You know, you can't have everybody you want to head coach. Right. You say no on somebody who'd appreciate that they would respect the opinion and not find a son of a gun. But, yeah, oh, well, I was paid to do a job and coach a team and had fun doing it while. Man, it makes it easier when you've got a player like Deshawn Jackson who can threaten the defense vertically like he was able to do. It's something that Brandon Ayuk was very good at doing

the last time he was healthy and played. I mean, it just talk about just, you know, from a defensive standpoint, the difference between, you know, having to prepare for a team without somebody who can really take the top off versus a team that can. I mean, it must. must have been just a lot easier to have a fresh Deshawn Jackson on the field rather than not having him on the field? Yeah, for sure. The argument is when he's on the field, you say, well, you don't have to bring in Ryan Grant to run the ball because when he's on the field, you're going to get a lot of too high safety. Look, they're going to protect the field with another safety over the top. So that's the positive of the running game. We get a lot of two shells

of, you know, quarter quarter half, halving to him. It would open up Pierre and open up Jordan Reed in the middle and all that stuff. So he's a definitely a benefit to have, but when you're in a four-minute drill and you're trying to run the ball and teams know you're going to load up the box, and then you've got to have somebody a little more physical to block the point of attack. He averaged 21 yards a catch in his first year here. 21 yards a catch. I just looked that up, and then he averaged, in 2015, he averaged 17.6 yards per catch and 17.9 yards per catch in 2016. That had to be for a high-volume receiver. to be close to tops in the league.

I think his career, I think it might be Randy Moss on him as the most 50-yard-plus games, big play-type games in his career. I think he might be one or two. So he's just a big play waiting to happen. And most of them weren't hardly any of them were like five-yard catches and runs after the catch. These were all bombs. Bombs.

The balls are traveling. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, how many times you see Deshawn catch a little flint, for 50. I mean, maybe once or twice, but maybe on a screen pass that the blocking was perfect, but he was an over-the-top, break the defense down and roll type guy. Yeah.

And then when he went back to Philadelphia, you remember he, I mean, playing Philly, he played well for you, and then when he went back to Philly, I think he burned us a couple of times in 2019, 2020, if I recall. Yeah. Yeah, he burned us on a third and 12, and we played the stupidest coverage ever. seen in football history. And I was very upset about that one. I'm still upset about that one.

Was that Joe Barry? I don't know. It was Mnowski. And I had this long coverage with him. Minnowski. That was Mnowski. That was Mnowski. Mike Leibacher was responsible for the beat metal and were basically,

you know, the other safeties are covered in a half of the field. I'm like, I don't know. That Mike Lampacker running through the post to cover to Sean on third and 12. I asked him not to play that coverage, but it didn't work out. All right.

I want to take a quick break. I've got more with Jay, including him elaborating a little bit more on the wide receiver group that they have currently. We'll do that and more after these words from a few of our sponsors. This segment of the show is brought you by My Booky. If you're betting the World Cup or you want to bet on the World Cup, you should be doing it at My Booky. My listeners get access to a betback bonus.

of up to $500. What does that mean? It means that when you go to MyBooky and you use my promo code, Kevin D.C., your first World Cup wager, up to $500. If it hits, you win. If it doesn't hit, you get your bet back. You get your money back. It's a no-lose proposition.

Take that opportunity at My Booky with your first World Cup wager. you have to use my promo code, Kevin D.C. If there's something written in the promo code section, erase it and type in Kevin D.C. Looking at the U.S. odds for their game Wednesday night against Bosnia and Herzegovina, they are minus 275 favorites to advance to the round of 16. Plenty of prop bets on all of these games as well. my bookie.com or my bookie.ag promo code, Kevin, D.C. Well, back to Washington's current group of receivers,

and you've already indicated a bit of a concern, but just elaborate a little bit on that. What if they have to go into this next season, or they're willing to go into this next season with what they have? Terry McLorne, Diami Brown, you know, Trelon Burks, the rookie from Clemson, McCaffrey, Van Jefferson, they added. What if they have to go in with a group that, by the way, isn't that much different than the group in 2024? I would suggest one difference, and that is Terry's two years older and coming off a season

in which he wasn't healthy for most of it. But what if they are who they are now heading into the opener against Philadelphia on September 13th from a wide receiver's standpoint. I'm very concerned about it. I'm concerned about the tight end room, to be honest with you. I'm not overly impressed with this kid from Tennessee. And then the running backs, where's the juice coming from the running backs? You know, Ford and, you know, these guys are shot white. These guys are good backs.

But where's the juice coming from? Where's the big hitters going to come from other than J? And possibly Terry, if he's 100% healthy. You know, it's hard. I'm telling everybody it's hard to go 12 plays. 80 yards on every drive. You've got to have some splash plays. I don't know where the splash plays are going to come from other than Jayden on a scramble

or a zone reader. You don't carry on a post over the top. I don't know if I've asked you about Diggs yet, but let's just assume for a moment that Brandon Iyuk's approach the last couple of weeks isn't really working for Adam Peters. What do you think about them

signing Stefan Diggs? Yeah, it'd be interesting. I mean, another veteran receiver to come in here. Like I said before, these guys have a pretty good idea. Blow and I think Coach Quinn, probably after OTAs on how they did and what type of need they have. They may feel pretty good about the receivers. They may really like Antonio Williams. I do not know.

Diombi Brown coming in will help out a little bit. Berks will help out a little bit. So maybe they right now, if they get Brayne on Aute, that's just a bonus. And if not, they feel good about the guy that they have. You know, I just looking at the roster, I would like a little bit more. So I just hope, you know, Jaden, when he was at Arizona State and he had IUC for a little bit, you know, I felt like he was, looked for IUC or whatever, and if it wasn't there, he looked to run right away.

And then he went to LSU, he had two really good receivers, and he stayed in the pocket more and let play is developed and launched it. I just hope he doesn't return to the Arizona State Day is where he feels in the back of his mind, hell, nobody's going to get open, so I'm going to scramble all day, which brings up the injury risk to me, and that's my biggest concern moving to the field. Can we get separation on time where Jaden can you let it go and not have to scramble for first downs all day? Do you like Diggs at 33 years old?

I just think that, you know, McCaffrey, Lane, and the rookie are all kind of same type of guy. Is Diggs a big enough target outside to be in a two-receiver set to be the Z or whatever it might be? I don't know if he's that way anymore, but I think that if they feel like Diggs would upgrade the roster and, yes, I would go get him because David Bile will do some more play actions and try to get, you know, other receivers involved a little bit more, hopefully, and maybe he will be. I don't know. I just, to bring another type of type of receiver in here, I just don't know.

Brianne makes the perfect ideal fit to me, you know, if he's mentally stable and physically ready to go and can get off the roster of the 49th. Right. All right. A couple of other quick things. What did you make of the Miles Garrett trade from a few weeks ago to the Rams? You know, obviously it's obviously a game-changing type player. but Jared versus a hell of a player.

I mean, this guy's all first team all rookie team. He's got a lot of years left ahead of them. And Miles, you know, I don't know how many more he's going to play. I was surprised they gave him up. I think they had to for the trade to happen. But I really think Cleveland, you know, if you got an aging better and who wants out, they got a hell of a deal. They got some draft picks.

They got a hell of a young defensive end that is not as good as Miles, Garrett, don't get me wrong, but he is an up-and-coming pass-rrrrrrisher, and he's one of the top probably 10-12 pass-rrrrrrrush at the NFL right now. So at least they got something for them. They got something really good for them. Unlike when we lose Kirk Cove's, we get a third round, you get a conditional pick.

You know what I mean? That's what happens. When you lose a veteran-type player like that, a good player, well, hell, we better get something for them. And they did. I think Cleveland did a good job of getting something comparable to a guy of that, you know, nature. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

You know, as far as Jay, the Rams and their roster goes, it would be pretty hard to find one as complete as their roster is. right now after adding Garrett. I mean, they are loaded heading into this season. Yeah, they don't really have any weaknesses. A couple offensive linemen I might be concerned about, you know, the third receiver.

Is Devante Adams still got the juice? I think he does. I think they're going to be fine there. The running back room is solid as hell. Maybe backup quarterback is tight-sum. I'm going to be ready if something happens to staff. Every team's rostering is your starting quarterback, you're screwed. But defensively, yeah, they're young, they're talented, they're fast.

physical, to have an offense of that magnitude and a defense to counter with what they do. If Rams get a lead and force to throw the ball and give them, they're tough. And then who knows, Eruddle comes out of retirement? Oh, God, what the hell? Yeah. I don't know if you saw this from today. Chris Johnson, running back from Tennessee Titans days, one of the fastest we've ever seen, revealed this morning he's been diagnosed with ALS, which is,

really, really sad. He's only 40 years old. But I was just curious. I don't remember. I'm sure we played Tennessee when you were the coach at some point, but maybe not with him. It wouldn't have been with him on the roster, I don't think necessarily. What do you remember? We had Derek Henry. Yeah, exactly. We got Derek Henry in 2018. What are your memories of Chris Johnson as a back? I think he's one of the best of all times, really. I think he's an explosive. Coming out of the backfield is unmatched. I mean, this guy is, I mean, he's faster anybody to touch the ball out of the backfield, I think. So, yeah, he's a dynamic player.

And just that's what I'm talking about these big plays. I mean, these 80-yard runs are hard to come by. You give it to Chris Johnson. He finds one little old. You're not catching the son of the gun. So you've got to have players like that somewhere somehow. He's one of the best big play running backs ever play the game. Yeah, he really is.

You would have probably, well, we may have played him when he was in a, in Arizona. Maybe. I don't know. But it was probably more likely when you were in Cincinnati. All right. Really appreciate you doing this. Just wanted to get your updated thoughts on Brandon Ayuk. Really appreciate it.

As always, Jay. You got it. Jay Gruden, everybody.