Brian Ayrault’s commission checks should be pretty fat these days.
In the span of about 24 hours this week, the NFL agent wrapped up record-breaking deals for 49ers edge rusher Nick Bosa and Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow.
First came Bosa’s five-year, $170 million deal with $122.5 million guaranteed on Wednesday. Then came Burrows’ five-year, $275 million pact with $219.1 million guaranteed on Thursday. That’s $445 million with $341.6 million guaranteed if you're keeping score at home.
During his press conference with reporters on Friday, following his first two practices with the Niners, Bosa said he was in contact with Burrow throughout their negotiating processes.
“It was interesting,” Bosa said. “We would shoot texts back and forth and be like, ‘You almost there? You almost there?’ A lot of it was not much update for weeks on end. Finally, he sent me the eyes emoji and I knew it was time for him. I forget what I sent him when I got it. But it was cool.”
Bosa and Burrow are close friends and were teammates during the 2016 and 2017 seasons at Ohio State, before the signal-caller transferred to LSU and became a college football legend by leading the Tigers to a 15-0 record and a CFP national title win over Alabama. While Bosa went No. 2 overall in 2019, Burrow was the No. 1 pick in 2020.
Ayrault has some A-list clients and Bosa made sure to give him a shoutout on Friday, as his six-week holdout resulted in the richest non-quarterback deal ever.
“I kinda deferred to Brian Ayrault. He’s the best there is,” Bosa said. “I trust him to tell me when it’s time. He’s as good as it gets. It was fun to watch him do his job.”