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Brandon Aiyuk’s standoff with the 49ers gets messier, Von Miller tries to catch Dallas’ eye, and Jacoby Brissett stays ready amid his Cardinals dispute. Plus, Baker Mayfield-to-Pittsburgh chatter, Summer League standouts, and France advancing at the
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Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar.
Today on the show: Brandon Aiyuk's Instagram hostage drama, Von Miller's Cowboys cosplay, Jacoby Brissett's weird Cardinals standoff, and Dybantsa versus Peterson in Vegas. Let's get into it.
Brandon Aiyuk is still doing the loudest possible version of nothing.
Aiyuk remains under contract with the forty-niners. He's still on the reserve slash left squad list. And instead of petitioning for reinstatement, reporting, and forcing San Francisco to make an actual decision, he's posting Instagram videos aimed at Jayden Daniels.
The latest one was basically: Daniels told him to call instead of doing Internet stuff, then didn't answer.
Buddy. What are we doing?
At this point, it's embarrassing. If Aiyuk wants Washington, fine. He played with Daniels at Arizona State. The Commanders have a young quarterback. That offense is fun. I get the fantasy version of it.
But the NFL doesn't run on Instagram flirting. The forty-niners have no reason to release him just because he's subtweeting his way through July. Until he reports, San Francisco can sit there with the contract and say, cool, enjoy your content career.
And Washington? There still hasn't been any public confirmation they even want him. Fans want him. Aggregator accounts want him. Aiyuk very clearly wants something.
That is not a transaction.
The take here is simple: Aiyuk is losing leverage every time he posts. If you're serious, show up and make the forty-niners uncomfortable. If you don't show up, you're just giving them the easiest answer in football: do nothing.
Around the league, Von Miller apparently wants the Cowboys to notice him like a guy posting gym selfies after a breakup.
Miller put up an image of himself in a Dallas Cowboys uniform. He's still a free agent. Dallas reporting says the Cowboys haven't had interest to this point. And yeah, that tracks. The name is huge. The version of Von Miller available right now is not the Denver destroyer. He's a thirty-seven-year-old pass rusher asking a team to fall in love with the memory. If Dallas adds him later for cheap, fine. If this is supposed to be the missing piece, come on.
Jacoby Brissett is still in his contract dispute with the Cardinals, but he worked out with teammates in South Florida before camp. That's the adult version of a standoff. He's not vanishing. He's not torching the building. He's saying, I want my deal fixed, but I'm still a quarterback and I still have to be ready. Arizona has Kyler Murray as the starter, so Brissett's leverage is limited. Still, as backup plans go, he's one of the cleaner ones in the league.
There was also another Baker Mayfield future breadcrumb. If Tampa makes him play out the final year of his deal without using the franchise tag, he could hit the market. Pro Football Talk floated Pittsburgh as a team to watch. I love that as chaos. Steelers fans have spent years trying to manifest quarterback stability, and the universe keeps handing them escape rooms. Baker in Pittsburgh would be loud, weird, emotional, and probably good enough to win nine or ten games while making everyone miserable twice a month.
In Vegas Summer League, AJ Dybantsa gave Washington exactly the fake-July optimism every bad NBA team craves. Wizards beat the Jazz ninety-two to eighty-eight. Dybantsa had twenty-seven points and seven rebounds. Darryn Peterson, the number two pick, had twenty-four for Utah. It's Summer League, so please don't tattoo the standings on your arm. But number one versus number two was fun, and Washington fans deserve one night where the future doesn't look like a tax audit.
A few more Vegas notes: the Timberwolves beat the Pelicans one oh five to ninety-two behind Zyon Pullin's twenty-four points and twelve assists. Kobe Bufkin had thirty for New Orleans. The Hawks smacked the Spurs ninety-three to sixty-six, with Asa Newell scoring fifteen. And Liam McNeeley dropped twenty-eight as Charlotte beat Orlando eighty-six to seventy-four. Summer League overreactions are mostly illegal, but McNeeley getting buckets is at least worth a raised eyebrow.
And in the World Cup quarterfinals, France beat Morocco two to nothing in Foxborough. Kylian Mbappé had a first-half penalty saved, then still scored the opener because of course he did. Morocco's run ends in the quarters, which stinks, but France moving on feels like the machine restarting. They can look messy for thirty minutes and still beat you by two. Annoying team. Great team. Very rude combination.
The Hangover Take: the Steelers should already be preparing their Baker Mayfield pitch.
Not because Baker is elite. He's not. That's fine. Most teams don't have elite. Most teams are wandering through quarterback purgatory holding a flashlight with dead batteries.
Baker gives you competence with attitude. Pittsburgh is built for that. That fan base doesn't need a silent lab technician at quarterback. They need a guy who can take a punch, talk back, and hit George Pickens on third and eight while Mike Tomlin looks mildly annoyed on the sideline.
If Tampa lets this get to free agency, the Steelers should be first in line. No weird waiting game. No pretending the next recycled veteran is the answer. Go get the guy who has already survived Cleveland, Carolina, Los Angeles, and Tampa.
Baker in Pittsburgh would be annoying as hell for the AFC North.
Which is exactly why it makes sense.
That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.