Bag alert, bag alert, bag alert, bag alert, bag alert folks.
That's right.
The Brandon IU X Saga is finally over.
We can finally woo soft for a little bit.
We can finally focus on other things, other storylines, other headlines leading into the
start of the regular season.
Yes.
I know, you know, we all know here at the football Juggies podcast.
I know my fellow junkies.
We are all excited for football to finally come back to restore the balance back into
our lives.
We have already put in our two week notices with our family, our loved ones and significant
others.
If you have them to let them know that listen, football is back in our life.
So you know what that means.
Oh, you already know what that means.
That means Sunday football, Saturday football, Monday football.
Football, football, football, football, because why we are football junkies.
We love football.
We eat, sleep and talk about football.
All right.
Now we got to go over with this entire brand and IU X Saga because basically this entire
episode is dedicated to who Brandon IU in the conundrum that came with it.
Okay.
We have to ask the questions.
Where the Steelers to patient on this, how big of a stain is this on Omar Khan's record?
Because I've already seen people on Twitter who are going ballistic and already saying,
Oh, they need to get rid of Omar Khan.
Omar Khan doesn't know what he's doing.
He's a horrible GM and whatnot.
This is the worst thing you could have ever done.
Pump the brakes.
Okay.
Pump the brakes.
Get your emotions out of it.
Touch a little bit of grass, drink a little bit of water.
You'll feel perfectly fine.
Okay.
And well as did brand and IU X use other teams as leverage to increase his number.
And what does this mean for the 49ers moving forward?
All of this and more.
Okay.
On the 31st episodes football junkies podcast, I am your host, your GM, who still currently
not on a team right now, but I still have a few interviews lined up.
I'm looking to tap into the college football realm.
I don't know.
Maybe go to the SEC.
I heard Atlanta got some good fried chicken.
I don't know.
Don't, don't, don't quote me on that.
Okay.
It's going to be under the table type of transaction.
You know what I mean?
As well as back road diamonds, as well as your chief head of the table.
Okay.
Chief meteorologists for the bag.
Okay.
I am all of these things and more, but most importantly, I am your host, Kale.
You already know what I'm doing.
I say on three, one, two, three, let's lock in.
All right, folks, let's just get into the meat and potatoes of everything.
Okay.
So Brandon, now you look has ain't a four year, $120 million deal.
Okay.
And we got to go and pick this thing apart like a surgeon.
So get your knife, get everything else you need to.
Let's go into surgery.
Let's go.
Four years, 120 million.
He gets a $23 million signing bonus.
He is for he, I can't even speak.
He gets 45 million guaranteed at signing 76 million in total guarantees and his average
salary is 30 million a year.
Now, before we get into our opinions about everything, we do have to talk about some
of the notes that came with this, with this whole contract conundrum, right?
Because there's a lot of things that we didn't know about until, you know, until now.
So according to Diana Rossini from the athletic shout out to her, the 49ers were willing to
trade brand and IU to the Steelers if they could receive, of course, an elite receiver
and return, of course, but we all knew that, right?
However, the 49ers were willing to offer the third round pick that they were going to receive
from the Steelers to the Broncos in order to get Cortland Sutton, but the Broncos declined.
And Albert Breer, another well respected insider also piggyback and also said the exact same
thing what I just said, which was the 49ers were going to use that third round pick from
the Steelers to send to Denver for Cortland Sutton.
And you know, of course, like I just said, the Broncos declined it according to Adam
Schefter, this offer has been on the table since August 12.
Okay.
Now, with this deal, he is tied with Tyree Kale for the fifth highest annual average
value contract.
Now when we look at things, right?
When we look at this contract, this contract, believe it or not, is a very easy contract
to get out of.
And I think the way that the 49ers structured it, they did it so they can get out of it relatively
easy without any problems, as well as do any restructures or any of those different types
of things in order to create cap room and whatever the case may be, right?
Because when you look at it, when we really look at things, right, the next two years,
his base salary is only going to be a million dollars, 1.1 for next year, and then 1.2 the
year after that, right?
And then when you look at his cap hits, right, his cap hits for this year, of course, only
going to be 5.7, next year is going to be 11.1, the year after that is going to be 16.2.
So even then, when we really sort of go into a deep dive of this entire conundrum in this
entire situation, in some ways, when you look at the structure of the contract, in some
ways they backloaded it, right?
So that basically his base salary doesn't crest into 20 million until 2027 and 2028.
Those are the last two, those are, I think, if I'm not mistaken, like the last two years
of his deal.
That's when he gets a boatload of his money.
And so basically, you know, this was definitely a pretty good move for the 49ers because again,
they're still in a situation where they want to probably still be competitive, but still
have that leverage and flexibility to be able to do restructures and all those different
types of things.
And even then, I wouldn't even be surprised once this upcoming season is over, they do
a restructure for his deal in order to get somebody else, right?
So either way, it's a somewhat of a 1-1 situation for both sides.
The holdout is over, the 49ers get their, you know, one of their best receivers back,
everybody's happy, shake hands, you know, give a hug, whatever, right?
Now that that's talked about, I think when you talk about the stealer side of this,
right?
Because, and granted, I will be one of the, I'll be transparent and be honest here.
You know, I was definitely in my feelings for like a good two days.
I was, I was livid because of the simple fact that there were multiple people that were
saying, you know, always get ready to happen, it's getting ready to happen, blah, blah,
blah, it's almost there, it's almost there.
And at first, like, you know, you can ask anybody, I didn't want Brandon on you, simply
because you're, you're taking away resources that you would need for next year's draft
to supplement for this person, not to mention you're going to have to pay him 30 million
a year, not to mention you're also going to have, you don't even have a quarterback who's
under contract for next year as well, right?
So it just didn't make any sense, right?
And you know, at first, you know, I was totally against it, but then sooner or later as things
started drawing out even more, and I was like, okay, maybe there is a chance that we probably
do get Brandon on you.
And you know, clearly I was wrong and you know, all of us were wrong.
And so I think it's safe to say that the Steelers were a little bit too patient.
I think it is safe to say to criticize them for that.
They put all of their eggs in one basket and not even realize that there was a hole in
the basket the entire time.
And as time progressed, that hole in the basket started to get bigger and wider and bigger
and wider.
And this is what happens.
Now they're in a situation where essentially all they have on their receiving core is George
Pickin, Scotty Miller, Calvin Austin, and Van Jefferson, not to mention they also picked
up Ben, I forgot how to pronounce his last name.
He was with the Rams when they won the Super Bowl.
They traded him to the Texans.
They just picked him up and added him to the practice squad yesterday as well as Quezhuacas.
That's basically the receiving core.
And you know, granted, you know, there was definitely some options that you had available
that you could have gotten, you know, when it came down to cut down day and, you know,
the waivers.
You're probably going to put in a waiver claim for, you know, any of those different types
of receivers, terrorist marshal in company.
But you know, you were so set on trying to get Brandon I.U. with that, you know, in some
ways it burned you a little bit because now you're in a situation where you're going to
have to wait until essentially next year when free agency starts to go after receiver because
and let me be very clear on what exactly I'm getting ready to say here to any person that
has edits of Devonte Adams and Pittsburgh, Stevens Jersey, please stop.
Please stop right now because what you guys do not realize is going after someone like
like a Devonte Adams is it is is it's ludicrous.
It really is because when you look at it right now, his base salary this year is 16.8 million,
right?
And he's carrying a $25.3 million cap hit.
Next year, his base salary will the next two years, his base salary is 35.6 million.
His cap hit is 44.1 million, right?
Why in the world would you want to go after someone like a Devonte Adams?
When you know you're when you know you're going to have to give up the first round pick
and you're probably going to have to give up high drafts just to try to just to try to
justify that trade.
And even then, even if you was to do a restructure, it still won't help because he's still carrying
large large cap hits and a large base salary.
It just wouldn't help the Raider structure that dealing away to where you know, if anything
crazy happens, if he wants to walk away from football and retire and whatnot, guess what?
They can spread out the Devcat hit and it won't affect them as much compared to taking
it all at one time.
And that's just a horrible move altogether.
Now, when we look at things, though, when you look at free agency next year for receivers,
you have a few you have a few names.
Stefan Diggs, T Higgins, Kenan Allen, Amar Cooper, Chris Gollman, Brandon Cooks, Dante
Johnson, that's not going to happen.
Deandre Hopkins, Mike Williams, Robert Wood, Darrius Slayton, KJ Osborne, DeMarcus Robinson,
Nelson Aguilar, DJ Chark, OBJ, Mack Hollins, Tyler Boy, Zach Pascal, Marquez Veldez, Scanlan,
Zay Jones, and Elijah Moore and more.
Right.
So, I mean, you do have you do have some some options when it comes to free agent receivers,
if that's the route that you want to take, or you could probably try and draft one and
you know, and just go with that, honestly, compared to trying to go after someone like
a brand and IEU and pay him the money that he wants.
Because originally, let's not forget things, folks.
Originally, on the table, the 49ers had, I think it was either 26 or 20 million a year.
Right.
Was it 26?
It was either 26 or 28.
One of those two numbers.
Don't don't don't call me on it, though.
But that was originally the first offer that was that went public.
And of course, he said no.
And that's when things started to go downhill and you started to see him come out public
and basically say, you know, I want to be traded.
And then you saw the little bit of a media run that he went on, you know, hanging out
with Jane Daniel and then, you know, going on various podcasts like the pivot podcast
shout out to them, Ryan Clark, Shannon Crowder and Fred Taylor and them shout out to them.
And then you, you know, you have all the back and forth and he's there, but he's really
not there and all the various things that happen.
And for him to finally sign the deal that's basically been sitting on the table since
August 12th, let you know that, you know, he probably he probably realized that like,
listen, one or two things are going to happen.
You don't want to sign this deal and stay with this team and possibly win a Super Bowl
or I'm going to go to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
That was basically it.
There was no other options because remember, he didn't want to go to Cleveland and he didn't
want to go to New England.
So that was just basically it.
And so here we are, right?
But to say that Omar Khan, you know, is just this horrible GM and he needs to be fired
and all those different types of things.
Let me tell you something here, folks.
Omar Khan has done a pretty good job so far when it comes to restructuring this team because
let's be real here.
This team definitely needed a little bit of a, it had to go through somewhat of a soft
rebuild.
It did.
He's basically rebuilt the offensive line.
Cool.
Really hasn't done anything with the quarterback position, but that's not really his fault.
That's because other people got into their feelings, had a, had a hissy fit and in doing
so wanted to exit stage left.
Okay.
Cool.
So, I mean, this happens.
Every single GM that we know that you see that you love and whatnot, they've all flopped
on a move.
Where that be drafting the wrong player, where that means not paying the right player and
paying another player that shouldn't be paid or trading away the wrong person or, you know,
not pulling the trigger on us on a particular trade and whatnot.
Every GM has done it, but that doesn't make them a bad GM.
And the only reason why I'm saying this is because both had to think things over because
let's be real here.
We were the, we were literally the last team that was quote unquote still in on, on trying
to get brand new it because we're basically said Pittsburgh is out of it.
And that's saying, you know, Pittsburgh, you know, comes back and then they're in it and
then the Browns and the Patriots, they back out and then the Steelers are just left there.
And you know, if you're the Steelers and you know, you already sort of knew that the 49ers
were looking for looking for an elite receiver in return and all you were willing to give
it was draft picks, you already knew that you already had a disadvantage.
You already knew that because the 49ers, they've, they've made, you know, their, their demands
clear, which was we want a receiver and return.
And they said George Pickens and y'all said, hell no.
So there's that there, there's nothing that you can really do about it.
It's not, it happens.
And so, you know, they're, they're, this is what I'll say as much as we want to be emotional
about this move, as much as we want to be upset about this move, look at it as a blessing
in disguise.
That's what you just have to look at it for what it is.
It's a blessing in disguise because now you can still dictate on how you want your story
to go and how you want to build your roster because remember folks, Pat Fryer move still
has to get paid.
Cameron Hayward still has to get paid pretty soon.
TJ Y is, is going to be looking for another deal as well.
You still have to figure out what you're going to do with Najee Harris as well as what you're
going to do with the quarterback position next year because let's not forget here, folks,
what's going on over in Dallas because if, if Jerry lets that presscott, you know, hit
free agency, that's going to be one of the biggest free agents that we've had in a really
long time.
And they're going to be teams, multiple teams are going to be inquiring about that press
guy.
And I would not be surprised if the Pittsburgh Steelers do it as well because they know that
if they get someone like a Dak press guy, not only do you have stability, but you have
someone who is, he's not going to make a risky move.
He's just trying to get the job done.
That's it.
And you know, it's, it's a really rocky situation, you know, for, for the Steelers.
We're not in a position to win a Super Bowl and I really don't know if we're in a position
to possibly, you know, make a deep playoff run.
I just don't see it the way the, the, when we compare our roster to the chiefs roster
or the Ravens roster or, you know, any of the other AFC teams that have really good
rosters, ours really isn't that strong yet.
But it can, you know, it's still a process and it's still growing because let's be real
here folks, whether we, whether we want to amend it or not, as long as we stay the course
as long as these draft picks hit will be fine, will be fine.
Well, what have our moment?
What have our window and whatnot?
As long as these draft picks hit, as long as these free agency moves hit, we will be
fine.
Another question that we definitely do need to ask and, you know, just, just to put this
out there, this, this episode is going to be relatively short.
It's not going to be long and drawn out.
Just wanted, just wanted to end the week with my thoughts on the entire, you know, brand
IU situation by the same time I had to give myself a little bit of time just so I can
process it and to try to eliminate my feelings out of this.
Because if it was me personally, I would have just created a whole episode and just go on
an entire randler, but that, that wouldn't have solved anything.
It wouldn't have, but here we are.
Now I think another question that definitely needs to be asked is, did Brandon IU would
use other teams to increase his leverage?
And I would say yes, I would say so.
And this is why when we look at it, like I just said a few minutes ago, the original
offer that they had for brand IU was between 26 and 28 a year, right?
And remember, brand IU said he wanted his contract to be modeled after a Mon Mont Saint
Browns a steal, right?
Which was 30 plus million a year.
That's what he said he wanted.
And so for the longest time, they were not trying to come, come into an agreement with
exactly what he wanted.
And you know, in doing so, what happened is, you know, they, it was somewhat of a standstill
and then, you know, they, they were able to come together, have a heart to heart and,
you know, we like conversations and all those various different, you know, twist and turns
that came with this conundrum.
And you know, here we are.
And he was finally able to get what 30 plus million a year.
So in all and all, it worked.
It worked.
The masterclass of brand IU worked.
He used the leverage of other teams, whether that be, you know, positive or negative, you
know, spams, you know, Steelers nation and basically made it seem like he wanted to be
there, you know, anytime any person mentioned his name on social media, he will look at
the story and, you know, like certain, certain different things and whatnot and people overreact
and oh my God, he's gonna be a stealer.
Blah, blah, blah, blah.
It's like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
That's not what it is.
It's just not so let's just all relax.
That's who saw and here we are.
So all in all, great, great decision, honestly, because you drove your number up to the number
that, that what you wanted.
And then once you realized that this was probably going to be the best offer that there was
going to give you, you just took it and that's great.
And so, you know, all in all, it was, it was a success, right?
But I do think, I do think another question that really, that really does need to be asked
is what does this mean for the future of the 49ers?
Because again, they have paid all of their players top dollar money, right?
They've, they've, they've showed out a lot of money for, for their star players.
They've resented the market for Nick Bosa.
They, you know, gave Debo Samuel a big deal, you know, at, at that time.
Now they're getting ready to probably reset the market for Trent Williams.
They reset the market for Christian McCaffrey.
Not to mention they're going to have to pay Brock Purdy as well.
So it's, it, at some point, you know, the, the rubber meets the road.
And I think they realized that this year is a, is a, you know, is a really tough year.
It is.
This is a make it or break it year.
This isn't a year where they can be like, Oh, okay, maybe we'll try next year.
No, your superstars are, the, the, the cap hit for your superstars are starting to, are
starting to really starting to, I can't speak, are really starting to take effect.
You have multiple players on this team right now who have a 20 or 25 or even 30 plus million
dollar cap hit on this team.
And you know, sure they, they, they've been trying to reshuffle the deck for the last
few years.
And of course they, they've made it to the Super Bowl.
I think what?
This 2019 and then last year, if I'm not mistaken, okay, cool.
You lost both of them.
Some of that is due to coaching, but I'll leave that alone.
But you know, at some point it's going to have to come to an end.
It just is.
I'm sorry.
And you know, when, when we look at spot racks as, you know, market value for broad
purdy is four years, 208 million, 52.1 million a year.
Now, let me add some context.
That's probably not even factoring if he wins any major awards or let alone when Super Bowl
MVP or let alone a Super Bowl.
If Brock Purdy wins a Super Bowl this year and does it in a dynamic fashion, you are
talking about someone that is going to demand 60 million a year, 60 million a year and when
and if, if and when that happens, the 49ers are going to have to do so many restructures
going to have to move money and structure his deal in such a way to where he gets his
money.
They're going to have to because why he was the one that was able to do it.
They tried with Jeremie Garoppolo failed.
They tried it with Trey Lance, even though me personally, I feel like they didn't give
Trey Lance an adequate chance.
And you know, that just, that was just horrible.
Then they got Brock Purdy.
There was definitely a lot of upside.
It was definitely back and forth game, but then once that second half happened, that
Chiefs defense was just, they were locked in.
They knew exactly what they wanted to do.
They knew what they wanted to accomplish and they got it done and you know, they won.
They won.
So I say all that to say this, you know, when you have Trent Williams, who's still on a
hold out who he's still looking to reset the market because that's basically what it is.
And you have this, someone's going to have to go.
And I do think one of the first people that is probably going to be traded is probably
to be Debo.
I do.
And the reason why I say that is because when you look at the structure of his deal,
it's a very easy deal to get out of.
His base salary this year is only 20.9 million a year.
That's it.
It's only 20.9 million a year.
His cap hit is only 28.6 million a year.
And then next year, his base salary is only 16.6 and his cap is only 24.2.
That is a very easy contract to restructure and do whatever.
Even then, you could probably give him more guaranteed money or you could just give him
another really small one to two year extension just so you could spread, you know, the dead
cap and the large cap hits and large base salary out.
So, you know, some those players that are on somewhat expiring deals or who are at the
like the end part of their deals, they're the ones that are probably going to be moved
or traded or, you know, whatever the case may be, I wouldn't be surprised if some of
those players start to get floated around during the trade that I would not be surprised.
And so, you know, this is somewhat of a of a last dance.
If you would say no pun intended for the 49ers, because they have to win this year.
They have to win all the moves that they have made up and up until this point was to do
what?
Win a Super Bowl.
And so far, they have not been successful.
And every single time they get close, something always happens.
And great.
We can't say that, you know, the roster is not good and they don't have any superstars.
They do.
You have the great one of the greatest left tackles of all time on this team.
You have one of the greatest running backs of all time on this team.
You have a Swiss Army knife and debo Samuel on this team.
You have one of the best fullbacks of all time on this team.
You have one of the best pass rushers in the league right now on this team.
You have the Creme de la Creme and some of the most major and most important spots on
this team.
And at some point, you got to win one.
You got to win one.
You got to win one to justify all the moves that they made from moving off of Eric Armstead
to training the forest, but there to bring in Grave Digger to, you know, paying Nick
Bolster the money that they paid him to trading for Trent Williams and trading for Kristen
McCaffrey and drafting Debo and drafting Brandon IEWIC and drafting George Kittle and
this person and that person, all those different types of things.
They have to win one.
If they win one, it justifies it just a little bit.
Okay.
Because the time for, you know, going on a streak and winning two and three and four
and all those different types of things, it's passed.
Okay.
If they win one, cool.
If they don't win one, this, this looks bad on both Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch.
It really does.
So I'm going to end that here.
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And as always, I hope I gave you guys the fix that you guys need.
I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys have a great weekend.
Stay safe.
Don't drink and drive to all the people out there that celebrating Labor Day, you know,
put a hamburger to the side for me or, you know, put a bottle of water to the side for
me or something.
I don't know, do something.
Just have fun.
Be safe, please.
And as always, I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys.
I told you guys I was going to keep it short.
I told you guys, I told you, I've been giving you guys bangers 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 45
minutes, almost close to an hour.
This is going to be relatively short because again, we have college football and pretty
soon we got to we got to start talking about college football and whatnot.
And then next thing you know, football, that's right.
NFL football.
Yes.
NFL football is back.
Peace has been restored to the football junkies podcast.
Now let me stop rambling and let me just end this now.
I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys.
I keep on saying it, but you guys don't know how much you guys mean to me.
I love you guys.
I appreciate you guys.
Have a great weekend.
Bye for now.