The PERFECT Brandon Aiyuk trade for the Patriots | Pats Interference

[@cmchatton1680]

Interesting trade, Andrew! John McHatton

[@NEOS-Scott]

Patriots need a premium top flight talented LT in the 2025 NFL draft. They need to lose this season to line up a Top 1-5 pick and not trade that pick for near-term fools gold. Aiyuk is an amazing WR, but he's not more valuable than a 21-23 year old LT that you will have to protect Drake Maye for the next decade, sorry. Find the next Aiyuk with the high second round pick you get in 2025, or better yet, trade that pick and a future 2nd to move into the back half of the 2025 1st round to get the next Aiyuk without having to pay them $90 million guaranteed and at least 3-4 years younger. Chasing Aiyuk doesn't move the timeframe up for this team contending... it lowers the teams ceiling in 2025/26 and beyond.

[@andrewleavitt6548]

I like the creativity regarding the swapping of 1st round picks and I agree it's objectively fair value; I just don't think the Niners are motivated to move Aiyuk unless he makes it truly miserable for them and actually threatens to destroy their team from within. Based on what I've heard (though obviously not sourced the same way you are), they're much more inclined to move Deebo. If they can use their leverage over Aiyuk wanting to get paid and accrue the year of service time to ensure he plays this year, they can get out of Deebo's contract next year. Between that concept and the fact that some of their other older, expensive players are reaching a point in the aging curve with production declining and age increasing where they're approaching cap casualty range, if they can kick the can down the road for another year (and they have every incentive to, given that they're a SB contender) they'll be able to free up the money to sign Aiyuk to that top of the market deal and keep him around long term, meaning he'd never truly be "available".

[@Chris-fl5lw]

Not giving up that 1st rounder sorry. I'll give them the 2025 2nd round pick and maybe include a 2026 4th...but that is it we are more than a WR away from competing and BA will be close to 30 when we are competitive

[@marcusmiller1761]

I would rather them trade for a LT. See what you have in Polk and Baker

[@timothypatch5080]

No way I’m getting rid of this years 1st even in a swap for theirs, Patriots get what? At best the 28th pick and the 49ers get basically a top 5 pick Id give up this years 2nd and next years 1st at the most but I’d rather only do two seconds or don’t do the trade and next year you draft a premium LT or pass rusher whichever you determine you need more after this year and then sign the best available WR

[@daneaton8567]

If anything you said about Aiyuk early in this podcast is informed info about how the team feels… I have grave concerns about this regime. If the holdup of trading for Aiyuk is the concern about how current players feel about bringing in your highest paid player off the street, that’s absurd. This roster was the 3rd worst team in the league last year and in desperate need of a #1 WR. If any players would be upset about getting Aiyuk, get them off the roster because they don’t care about the team.

[@deanchase7904]

I'm from Boston a die hard pats n 49er fan this trade helps both of my teams hell yeah make this trade jundon n second rd pick for aiyuk hell yeah lol

[@rayr4320]

Quite a collection of press passes in back ground. The patriots should not trade for Aiyuk. In 2024 patriots are dealing from a position of weakness. Most of the contracts they inked this offseason were not team friendly. Dugger, Rhamondre stevenson, Hunter Henry were all over pays. Then you have Judon and Godchaux all looking to rework their contracts. If you trade for Aiyuk you will be soon be facing a financial backlash. The team needs to sort out what they have at the receiver position before they make a huge investment.

[@andrewleavitt6548]

If you respect the opinion of Miguel Benzan regarding Pats contract issues - and I do! - he disagrees about Dugger and Rhamondre being overpays. All three of those contracts are, if not reasonable, at least not UNreasonable for the near term, given the amount of cap space they still hold for this year and next. They all fall in a window where the Pats have the lowest possible spending on the most expensive position, so this "financial reckoning" wouldn't occur until needing to consider an extension for Maye. There's not a single other player under contract currently that will still be under contract with guaranteed money when Maye gets expensive, not to mention the fact that the cap will continue to increase year over year, so this supposed reckoning just isn't going to happen.

[@rayr4320]

@@andrewleavitt6548 Time will tell. Teams that become perennial losers often have to pay more to attract or retain players. It is essential for NE to return to a winning team to avoid cap difficulties. One of things Bill did extremely well was manage salary cap. The rhamondre contract however is a clear indication that BB is no longer in charge.

[@andrewleavitt6548]

@@rayr4320 For sure! agree with everything you said there. I just think the part that gets glossed over by the reductionist "we just resigned all of our players from a medicore team" crowd is that at the positions where we resigned those players - whether an overpay or not - they were widely considered among the best, if not the very best players available at those positions. I tend to be of the mindset that information is more perfect on your own players than other teams' players, so that contributes to the belief that guys that get to FA get there for a reason that their team knows about. They wouldn't have achieved anything by just getting fresh guys at those positions and letting high caliber players walk just for the sake of turnover. I agree with your premise that costs to retain players tend to increase with less successful teams, and they might have paid a healthy price to sign the guys they re-signed. I just think the way their cap has been dutifully managed, with the amount of salary cap they continue to have, they retain plenty of flexibility around these "big" contracts, even if they "don't pan out". The ultimate level of success of this rebuild will rely on the development of the players recently drafted - chief among them Drake Maye - and contributions from the guys they recently signed would only serve to make it less painful in the short term.

[@mrsnoopyaaaaa]

This is not gonna happen. San Francisco is gonna make complaint this year and then next year they’re gonna cut Debo Samuel and sign him to $30 million a year. This is just a waste of video it’s not gonna happen.

[@andrewleavitt6548]

Yeah, I agree with you; I think they just don't want to pay that many skill players that kind of money, but once they can get out of Deebo's deal, they'd much rather pay Aiyuk that kind of money over the longer term than Deebo. Then they have Pearsall on a rookie contract and keep it moving once it comes time to think about paying Purdy.

[@mrsnoopyaaaaa]

@@andrewleavitt6548 thanks somebody that agrees with me all Callahan wants to do is post useless videos that’s never gonna happen

[@andrewleavitt6548]

@@mrsnoopyaaaaa I wouldn't go hard on any of these reporters; they're borderline not doing their job if they're not talking about the piece of news pops up that fans want to happen. I recognize the move is unlikely, but it's part of what generates the interest that "feeds the beast" - the speculation about what COULD be done. I'm just as prone as anybody else to consume the speculative content about some move that's unlikely, cause "hope and possibility" is part of the experience of what makes being a fan fun; I just stop short of railing on people whose job it is to explore these possibilities (i.e. executives, GMs, coaches, etc.) when these things DON'T happen, cause more often than not, they're working with information we're not. WAY too often, situations like "not trading for Kevin Durant or Kawhi Leonard" or like this Red Sox season happen - everybody was up in arms about the lack of big, win now moves, or the philosophical choices to let the kids play and develop, and it turns out: their strategy was reasoned and seems to have paid off in a way that knee jerk reactions and massive FA signings wouldn't have.

[@mrsnoopyaaaaa]

@@andrewleavitt6548 Fair

[@DougMacDonald-w1f]

your internet connection sucks