Former Washington head coach Jay Gruden didn’t sound like someone interested in softening his take on Brandon Aiyuk.
Gruden, who coached Washington from 2014 to 2019, joined Team 980 on Tuesday with Kevin Sheehan on the "Kevin Sheehan Show," and the Commanders’ interest in the San Francisco 49ers receiver came up quickly. Gruden made it clear he sees the fit, but only if Aiyuk gets his situation in order first.
"He (Brandon Aiyuk) needs to quiet down; he needs to get himself reinstated. He needs to do things the right way.
Report to the 49ers and hopefully they release him, and he becomes available. I mean, that is the only option that he has."
He added, "He's (Aiyuk) got to clean up his act or he won't be playing football anywhere."
For Gruden, Washington’s angle is obvious. He pointed to the connection between Aiyuk, quarterback Jayden Daniels and general manager Adam Peters, who drafted Aiyuk while in San Francisco.
"I think they (Commanders) would rather him be quiet because now the 49ers obviously have someone the Commanders want in a bad way...Obviously it's a perfect match with Jayden and Brandon, and Adam Peters drafted him when he was in San Francisco. This is the ideal place for him to play, if he can get through the hoops."
Still, Gruden said the Commanders shouldn’t force the issue if they like what they already have at receiver.
"If I am happy with the group we have at receiver, then I am not going to mess with Brandon Aiyuk. But if we are not getting any separation other than Terry McLaurin, we need somebody else out there. Then I'm going to try to pursue this guy because he is a second-team Pro Bowl type player."
He described Aiyuk as a strong fit on the outside and suggested Washington’s current receiver mix makes that kind of addition appealing.
"He's (Aiyuk) a really good athlete. He's big, he's fast, and he's what we need opposite Terry.
But all that being said, I don't think anybody knows him as good as Jayden (Daniels) or Adam (Peters). So obviously, if they take a chance on him, they feel they can control him a little bit."
Gruden also said Daniels might be the quarterback best equipped to handle Aiyuk’s personality, while warning about what could happen if the ball doesn’t come his way.
"Moving forward, if there's a quarterback in the NFL that can control him, his personality and all that stuff, it would probably be Jayden. But if he's (Aiyuk) not getting the ball, is he going to resort to these old habits and go on videos saying, 'Hey, this team doesn't know what they are doing.
This David Blough guy is a moron.' You don't want that on your team either."
And in Gruden’s view, Washington’s receiver room still needs a specific type of body on the outside.
"You've got to have versatile receivers and different types of receivers on your roster. That's why I am concerned about Washington.
They have too many slot guys with Lane, McCaffrey, and the new guy Williams they just drafted. They need another outside physical presence, in my opinion."
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