Why did the Brandon Aiyuk deal FINALLY get done? 🤔 'He wanted to PLAY!' - Fowler | NFL Live

after the hour after we got off air yesterday after holding in at 49ers camp all summer Brandon auk and the team agreed to a 4-year $120 million contract extension including 76 million guaranteed for the All Pro white out auk will now be paid an average of banging on $30 million per year with this new deal one of six receivers all time to average at least that much annually on a single contract and five of those deals got done this off season Justin Jefferson TOS the list at an average of 35 mil Jeremy Fowler we had a long back and forth and a number that should surprise nobody why was this deal finally able to get done last night yeah Phil two things I'm heard auk wanted to play in games he didn't want to sit out and hold out of that portion of it and then he was comfortable with the contract I'm was told the major win for him was getting 47 million in guaranteed money in the first seven plus months of the deal so before April 1st he is due that cash he considered that a victory something he can hang his hat on and be comfortable with and really part of the issue why this took so long is because iuk was willing to be traded to two teams essentially Pittsburgh Steelers who had the parameters of a deal already worked out with Sam France s Fran just didn't pull the trigger on that and then Washington he wanted to play with Jaden Daniels with the commanders Washington never got heavily involved and so after that it just became weeks of staring at each other but finally it came to a point I think with this weekend coming it was time to check on the business and get it done yeah they did have the extra day featuring on Monday Night Football but Mina this is a team that was a whisker away from winning the Super Bowl what was your reaction to where the two sides finally landed on this deal duh I this was The Logical most obvious resolution in part because what you just said this team is a Super Bowl Contender didn't never really made sense sense to me that they would move on from their number one wide receiver this season uh it also doesn't make sense because of what Brandon IU does for this offense uh on third down on throws over 20 yards on throws outside the numbers on throws that take over 3 seconds he has led this Niners group of skill players in yards per route run and Target share essentially when Brock pie needed Brandon iuk when it whether it's because of situation or because of the level of difficulty to play or is he extending he has been his option he is the reason why this uh 49ers offense not only uh stresses you in the Run game but also compromises you vertically I made no sense to me that they would move on from him this was the most logical resolution and I'm glad that it's finally done mostly just because we no longer have to talk about it our national nightmare finally is over with Brandon auk and this contract he's gonna give opposing defenses fits though for the 49ers because he is a player who excels not just within the Shanahan system but he transcends it we have stats at the ESPN that record receive for tracking metrics across different uh nextg data one of those is open score which tracks how open you get on a route by Route basis whether you've thrown thrown the ball or not Brandon iuk ranked eighth in that metric last year and the other starting receiver on this offense Deo Samuel who we all think is a great player ranked 128th by the same measure this is not just a thing where the offense is getting Brandon auk open he is getting himself open and making plays with the ball in his hands but what this really means to me is it just reinforces how Allin the 49ers are to win a Super Super Bowl this season with with their quarterback Brock pie making less than $1 million per year because next year we all know he's getting a massive raise likely north of $60 million per season and now there's another expensive contract on the books that the Niners can't move on from to accommodate pry so if you're one of the players who is not Brandon iuk you're wondering about your future guys on defense like Dre Greenlaw and taleno honga are going to be free agents next year on offense Debo Samuel himself George KD entering the final year of their deals next year and then of course Trent Williams the starting left tackle whose status for this year let alone next year seems totally uncertain well let's go right there I mean job not done for San Francisco Jeremy Trent Williams three times in a row he's been a first team All Pro what are you hearing about where things stand with that left tackle yeah Phil the 49ers have work to do I'm told Trent Williams is not happy and the threat of him missing games is real a lot of times that's a negotiating Ploy I don't sense it is right now he's made 15 $50 million in his career he's got no guaranteed money left on his deal he's the fourth highest paid left tackle right now despite being the best the last few years and he feels like this could have been addressed a lot earlier and San Francisco sort of balked on it so he's going to make them wait even longer they have had some talks nothing had heated up as of last night and this morning but the 49ers have a couple days here before they officially start week one on Monday they're hopeful to make some progress Jeremy what have you learned about the relationship so far how it's meshed between offensive coordinator Kell Moore and Jaylen Herz in cam well Laura Jaylen Herz needed a new Voice last year head coach Nick serani took a handson approach and there was tension between the two there's just no way around it this year serani has taken a hands-off approach given the keys to Kell Moore to operate this thing and I'm told the relationship so far has been really positive because Kell Moore has sort of an understated demeanor but he'll also be direct with Jaylen tell him if he missed a read he'll let him know but it's never personal and so Kell Moore and quarterback coach Doug nus have been together for a long time three stops Dallas Chargers last year now together with Philly so they know what they need out of quarterback play I'm also told that that regime has seen a little bit of Dak Prescott in Jaylen Herz that he can deliver from the pocket but he's also at his best when he's moving around a little bit Yeah Mina that kind of gives you a little peak of what we may see what are you most interested in when it comes to what this actual scheme will look like with Kell Moore now at the helm first and foremost you want to see if Jaylen Herz performs better against the Blitz Jeremy bringing up Dak Prescott is interesting because he's excellent against the blitz with more we'll see if that translates with Herz because that was probably his biggest issue last year as a quarterback another thing though I want to see is um something that happened last year when defenses didn't fear Jaylen herz's legs as much because he wasn't as explosive on the ground they played more to High coverage and against those looks the Eagles went from third and success rate six in EP play in 2022 second half of last year they were 12th and 13th it felt like they didn't have have answers against that looks those looks Pard me the same way they did the year before a lot of that had to do with jayen Herz as a runner if that's the case this year for Kell Moore I think the challenge is can you use Sequon Barkley in some capacity as a pass catcher Dallas Goddard is another player I'd like to see working that short intermediate middle of the field uh because I think defense are going to play them that way until Herz shows that he can punish them with his legs and I want to see if more has answers Yeah you mentioned the Blitz and it really feels was like that's just not a performance thing for Jaylen Herz that was a structural issue with this offense under Nick serion the past couple Seasons obviously they did a lot of things well on offense but they didn't have the side adjustments the hot reads built into the offense that a lot of teams have for blitzes it was really just hey Jaylen if there's a guy on you get the ball to one of your big receivers and figure it out and it was a problem for this offense and teams latched on to it in the second half of last year his interception rate more than or about doubled over the last two years jayen Herz was blitzed versus when he was not blitzed and so I think for Kell Moore this is about giving Jaylen Herz answers in the passing game giving him solutions to work with especially in a post Jason Kelce protection Universe now that he has the ability to make those decisions have answers after the snap and make his life easier against the blitz don't make Jaylen Herz turn into a magician take too many extra hits and hopefully keep him healthy all the way through a deep playoff run in Philadelphia I was talking to Nick Sabin about Jaylen Herz just the other day certainly coach at a very high level and coached him at times when he wasn't at his best and he said what he expects to see out of jayen this year is a huge bounceback just because of the psyche of this player he is his own worst critic and he will want to be so much better than he was last season yeah he's going to practice this week and we'll just keep taking it from there are you confident he'll play week one yes I I think I probably put my foot in my mouth speaking too quickly and it's just again this is a day-to-day situation we'll just keep seeing it as that he's been at every meeting so you know he he knows everything he's been in the system now for three years that he's played it in the fourth year now and so again he he knows everything he's he's very on top of it you can't waste a day complaining about a situation just got to make the most of it and keep it moving and and that's what our guys have done and we're all on the same page we're all on board with this thing and so just excited to get the game week you know what in Taylor's defense it's been tough to figure out but either way he's eager to get Jamar Chase back on the field because he has had one of the best Stars through his career that we've ever seen Chase is averaging 82.6 receiving yards per game in his career the fifth most by a player in his first three seasons in NFL history the only wide outs above him Justin Jefferson Odell Beckham Jr Randy Moss and Anquan Balton quite the company to be in Bill we are now nine days away from the opener against the Patriots How concerned are you at this point about the situation getting resolved does seem a little curious that it's gotten to this point right like certainly both sides should be incentivized to get this deal done but maybe if you're the Bengals you think about the past and think if he misses a week or two we can survive because we have another star receiver in t Higgins and remember go back to 2022 they had they were without Jamar Chase for four games because of a hip injury they did go three and one and over the last three years Joe Burrow's numbers with and without Jamar Chase on the field to me at least shockingly similar really not much of a drop off at all which you would expect would you're missing one of the best receivers in all of football and that was only a four game sample and obviously the Bengals are better with Jamar Chase than they are without him but comes down to missing a game in week one to kind of test what Jamar Chase's limits are here I think the Bengals might feel like they can survive because they have another star receiver to work with I felt a heck of a lot better about this situation before I saw that super cut of Zack Taylor you could see the confidence like leaking out of him as the week went on talking about whether or not Chase would be there and I get why Chase wouldn't obviously his value to the team is uh tremendous because while bill is correct and noting Higgins has been excellent he's played well when Chase hasn't been in there it's also been obvious that the Bengals are moving on from Higgins and they're choosing Chase but they can't choose Chase if Chase isn't there um the other thing I would say about this is while they have played well without Higgins uh they have also had Tyler Boyd in that most of those games if I remember correctly and if you take chase out of the equation Higgins slides up to your number one suddenly you're looking at a really young group of pass catchers behind him Chase has been by Far Over Joe bro's career the leader and Target share on third down against the blitz uh and he's been such a security blanket for him and also a source of explosive plays in those situations it would be really tricky to not have him at the start of the Season against the Patriots defense by the way that for all of the doubts people have about New England this year is still solid on that side of the ball [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]