Brandon Aiyuk’s use of Commanders practice pics on social media was the topic du jour for Chris Russell, who doesn’t know for sure but thinks Jayden Daniels might have had something to do with Aiyuk getting that photo.
“The level of noise that he has made so far, up until this weekend, a lot of it amounted to a completely immature, spoiled rotten, unprofessional level,” Rooster said. “This, no, there weren’t any huge trade secrets given out, but this is private practice film; we’re not talking about games, that film is available to everyone, but practices are closed, and I’m sure other NFL team personnel would have to go through some sort of disclosure process if they did want to watch. So, yet again, Aiyuk has again handled himself in as childish and as immature of a manner as you possibly can, and the question is, how did he get that? Some people don't think it's a big deal, but I think it's a very big deal, and I think it's more indicative of the kind of immaturity and the kind of absolute reckless disregard for common sense that Brandon Aiyuk continues to shine down on the NFL world.”
So yeah, Chris thinks Daniels may have, unwittingly or not, helped Aiyuk get that, and it’s certainly enough to make both of them candidates to be DDOTD (although Chris says Aiyuk has already proven he’s an all-timer there) – and he wishes Aiyuk would do ANYTHING else with his time.
“Even with playing in the Super Bowl, he’s been pretty much off, free of responsibility for four-plus months – too much freaking time,” Rooster said. “Go do something – read a book, mow the lawn, do something other than be stupid. Social media doesn't count, podcasting doesn't count, and negotiating through social media doesn't count either. Go conduct a science experiment or volunteer at a charitable organization if you're that bored, and stop with this nonsense.”
But that said, producer Matt Essig had an interesting alternate idea for how Aiyuk got that footage:
“What if this situation, because Jayden Daniels did want to reach out to his friend and check to see how he should be going through all the progressions, he went to Adam Peters and was like, ‘hey, I know that you are actively looking at Brandon Aiyuk as potentially bringing him onto the team, can I send him some of the film from practice to see what he's thinking, and see if he's on the same wavelength offensively as our team is, and then for you guys, because you are currently struggling with his constant social media, we can see if he can be tested with information that's supposed to be kept silent, and if he will,’” Matty said. “If so, this is a situation where he royally failed the test. I obviously have no proof, this is speculative just like saying Jayden Daniels giving him the footage in the first place is hypothetical and speculative, but if there's a one and a two right next to each other, that's an easy connection – and for me, that would make sense as to why this was a standard formation.”
“Interesting,” Chris replied, but the thing about your scenario that would disappoint me very much is if Jayden Daniels was the one that went to Adam Peters and asked if it was okay, and Adam Peters said yes.
That would disappoint me very much, because it’s a bad, bad look. If someone of team authority approved that, it’s a bad decision on their end.”