00:00That was Nikki Javala from the Blitz just a few minutes ago.
00:03Question we asked was, if Jaden Daniels was not super tight
00:09and best friends with Brandon Ayuk, would Washington be even in on him
00:13with all of the wildness of his social media of late?
00:17That was her answer.
00:18But first, it's Fan Cash Friday time.
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00:35Here, I say good luck to you.
00:37I don't think they would be in the same position
00:41if Jaden Daniels and Brandon Ayuk weren't best friends.
00:45I want to drill down on it.
00:47How do we quantify that?
00:48Because I know exactly what you're saying, and I feel the same way,
00:50but I have a tough time expressing it.
00:53Ayuk wants to be here.
00:54He's wearing a Commander's hat.
00:56He's not wearing anybody else's hat.
00:57That's because of who their quarterback is.
00:58He's talking about his show going on the road,
01:01Buy Your Tickets at Commanders.com.
01:03He is trying to force his way to Washington, D.C., pretty clearly,
01:09and that is because of his relationship with Daniels.
01:12So that's how this all began.
01:13The momentum of him coming here and the fan base being into it
01:18and the amount of social media posts locally and conversations on this radio station,
01:24it's all based on the fact that this is going to end with him here.
01:27I think if Jaden Daniels was not his college quarterback and best friend,
01:32then we're just any other team that may or may not be interested in a receiver.
01:35You're just the Patriots or the Bills or the Bengals.
01:39You're just one of 32, and honestly, I don't even think they would be in on this guy
01:43based on the antics.
01:44With all they talk about as far as the brotherhood and the chemistry
01:47and the culture and character and being one of 53
01:51and not being a distraction and all this other stuff,
01:54it's the antithesis of everything he's been doing on social media of late.
01:57It is.
01:58Now, here's where I think the variable is.
02:01It's the Adam Peters has experience with the player too,
02:04and he's already done this once and he referred to it.
02:07When asked about this, he said he couldn't specifically respond
02:09and talk about Brendan Ayuk who was under contract with somebody else,
02:12but I will say I know the person, and look what we did with second chances.
02:16Look at Javon Kinlaw.
02:17I do think there's a lot more Peters in this maybe that meets the eye
02:21because he's A, the decision maker, but B, he was there too,
02:24and he saw the good.
02:25He was there for the contract dispute, resolution, whatever.
02:29He was in the building for an awful lot of this
02:31and has as much firsthand with Ayuk as anybody from the decision-making side,
02:36not just that I was in the dorm with you ordering pizzas.
02:40This is now like a football decision-making kind of part of it.
02:43So I don't think it would be the same.
02:44I think that's without question.
02:46The quarterback and the player are really good friends.
02:48Duh, that's obvious.
02:49That is a pull.
02:50That is a gravitational pull on somebody having this happen,
02:53but we've already seen Peters do this with a former player in Kinlaw,
02:57paying more than what anyone else would for very mediocre to poor production,
03:02and I do think there would still be some marketplace or some interest
03:05even if he and Jaden Daniels were strangers.
03:07Talking about Ayuk.
03:08Yeah, they have not shied away from 49ers since Peters got here.
03:13You think about even Debo Samuel in the wide receiver room with Brandon Ayuk,
03:16who was here last season, who they had to trade a fifth-round pick to get as well.
03:21So I would say, yeah, would they still be in the conversation?
03:27Would they be one of the favorites, possibly?
03:30They would be linked to him because of the familiarity.
03:32We always do that.
03:33Yeah, there'd be linkage.
03:34Where did the player play?
03:35Who was the coach there?
03:36When A.J. Brown was on the trade block from the Philadelphia Eagles
03:41and Mike Vrabel, his former head coach, was looking for a wide receiver,
03:44the first place everybody said that would make sense was New England
03:47because Vrabel wants a wide out and him and A.J. Brown got along.
03:51We do it with executives as well.
03:53You know, general managers, assistant general managers, what have you.
03:56So, yeah, I think it would come up.
03:58I think Washington would be linked to Ayuk,
04:01but I do not think it would be anything like it is.
04:04I think this is a Jaden Daniels-Brandon Ayuk relationship story.
04:08We'll get back into this in a second, but Harry in Manassas
04:11joins us on the phone right now.
04:12He just won, Dan.
04:13Our Fanatics fan cash order this week is Harry in Manassas.
04:16You are on the fan.
04:17Harry, what's up, dude?
04:18How you doing?
04:23Harry, we got you, buddy.
04:25Oh, yeah.
04:26Good afternoon.
04:26How is everyone?
04:27We're very well.
04:28Congratulations, man.
04:29You got $100 in fan cash.
04:33No, no, no.
04:35We appreciate it, man.
04:36Congrats.
04:37Yep.
04:38Yep.
04:38I enjoy listening to you both on the ride home every day.
04:40Oh, that's awesome, buddy.
04:41Appreciate you, man.
04:41Thanks so much for checking us out.
04:43All right.
04:44So the question is, at 800-636-1067, do you think the commanders would be getting in on
04:54Brandon Ayuk if he was not tight with Jaden Daniels?
04:58My answer is, I still think they'd be interested to some degree.
05:02Because, again, they've had opportunities to sign other players.
05:05Like, I can't believe there hasn't been any linkage with them to Diggs.
05:09And maybe they're just waiting for something else to happen or who knows what.
05:12But I do think there'd be some interest, because, again, that Peter's past player proclivity
05:18that he's already kind of shown where he's not scared to do that.
05:20But I don't think it'd be this extreme.
05:22I don't think it'd be this strong.
05:23I don't think they would tolerate all of whatever this is for whatever it ends in August, maybe
05:29first week or last week of August, et cetera, if he and Daniels weren't as tight.
05:33So I think there is an absolute factor.
05:35What percentage is Daniels?
05:37What percentage is Peter's?
05:38Impossible for me to say, honestly.
05:40But I do think there'd be some interest here.
05:42I also really wish we could know, and we never will, or get some clarification on how
05:48much Daniels is even pushing behind the scenes.
05:50I don't think it's adamant or constant or even regular contact about this.
05:56My guess is early, early, early in the process.
05:59Like, you know, when Ayuk was initially at odds with San Francisco, maybe as far back as
06:0424 when he wanted his new contract or whatever.
06:06I bet you Peters had plenty of conversations with Jaden Daniels about Brandon Ayuk and their
06:14relationship.
06:15And he knew, without ever having to really talk to him again, of course he would want
06:19to play with him.
06:19But I think at some point, probably in the offseason, early on, not long after, they
06:25moved on from Cliff Kingsbury and they hired David Blau.
06:28And they got on the same page with Jaden Daniels and maybe went over some of their thoughts
06:32about what they wanted him to work on, what they hoped to surround him with.
06:36I'm sure the name came up and they gauged the interest and they got his thoughts.
06:40I'd be shocked if that didn't happen.
06:42And I would guarantee you that he'd say, yeah, that's my guy.
06:45He's a great player.
06:45Let's do it.
06:47Do you really think, though, he's like in AP's office still advocating or going, hey,
06:51what's the latest?
06:52When are we going to get him?
06:53I think it's been a very minimal sweepstakes on the Daniels front, to be honest.
07:00But I just think it's known how he feels and that he wants him.
07:03Well, yeah, I think it's a cursory check-in or a question or something here and there.
07:07Hey, what can you tell us about the guy that maybe we don't know?
07:09But again, remember all the kerfuffle?
07:12Go back to New Year's Eve of 2023.
07:16San Francisco's in town for a 4-13 Washington Shebingus.
07:19A lot more Ron Rivera and Eric Biennemi than you'd like, by the way.
07:22Where they beat Washington in the 27-10.
07:26I think Peters was there, wasn't he?
07:28Wasn't he there and everybody kept showing him, is this the guy's the potential might be the GM, etc.?
07:32Yeah, I met him that day in the press box.
07:34He was in the house and walking around and he had already basically come up as a name and was
07:39interviewing.
07:40I don't know if he had interviewed or the idea was that he was going to be interviewing for the
07:44Jets.
07:44He was certainly one of the candidates, right?
07:46So even as recently as then, he's watching.
07:48That was Ayuk's 1,300-yard, seven-touchdown season.
07:51He believed in the breakout.
07:53They were patient with him and let him work his way up through the system and developed.
07:56And he came into stardom then.
07:58And now he's with Washington.
08:00It's not crazy to me that a guy that was there for the ascension left before it got horrendous.
08:07Yeah, but he still has so many relationships in that building.
08:09It takes one phone call.
08:10He keeps in really close touch with a lot of the people in that front office.
08:14You don't think he talks to John Lynch all the time, one of his mentors?
08:17I'm sure he does.
08:17He's not tight with Kyle Shanahan.
08:19I mean, it takes one text to be like, what's going on with Brandon?
08:22And then they go, oh, buddy.
08:23Oh, you buckle up.
08:24I mean, look at George Kittle.
08:25Kittle went from one of his best friends.
08:28TJ Huchmanzada, I mention all the time, was one of his route running coaches.
08:31Can't do a podcast without crushing the guy right now.
08:34Like, yeah, he was there when it was good and he left before it was bad.
08:37But it's not like you can't find out the details pretty easily.
08:40He's got a computer.
08:41He's got all the information.
08:42But I guess my point is I have never felt like, and I don't know whose impression this is, but
08:46I'm arguing against a ghost here.
08:48I've never thought Daniels starts his day with a cup of coffee and a knock on Adam's door going, we
08:53signed Brandon yet?
08:54We signed Brandon yet?
08:55And he's doing the same thing.
08:56He's not like my kid begging for a gaming PC.
08:59You know what I mean?
09:00It's a different animal, I think.
09:01I think it was a cursory conversation, a couple check-ins here and there, some funny texts that maybe have
09:06gone back and forth.
09:07But I don't think this is a Daniels lobbying for the guy every second of every day.
09:10I'm going to hit the phones on this with you next, 800-636-1067, 800-636-1067.
09:17Question at hand is, how much of the commanders being the frontrunner, not from Ayuk's perspective, which is probably all
09:23of it, but from the team's perspective,
09:25the fact that it seems like they are one of the few teams that has not come out and said
09:30they're not interested in or that it seems to be the team that's going to make the move here,
09:33how much of that is because of Daniels' interest, as opposed to if he wasn't their quarterback and he didn't
09:38have a bond with Ayuk,
09:40would they still be going after this wide receiver, despite everything going on this offseason?
09:45That's next on The Fan.
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