SANTA CLARA, Calif. — As he awaits his long-coveted payday, San Francisco 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk has tried a number of strategies to coax the staff into getting a deal accomplished this offseason. All through that point, Aiyuk declined to ask for a commerce. Till Tuesday.

Because the Niners put together to report for coaching camp subsequent week, Aiyuk formally requested a commerce, sources confirmed to ESPN. The edges have been discussing the parameters of a big-money extension since March however have but to search out widespread floor as different star wideouts across the league have cashed in and pushed Aiyuk’s worth increased.

Aiyuk, 26, has one 12 months remaining on his rookie contract, the fifth-year possibility that’s set to pay him $14.124 million for this season. He’s searching for an extension that may roughly double that worth within the type of common annual wage.

The Niners, in the meantime, have lengthy deliberate to re-sign Aiyuk with the intention of protecting him round as a franchise point of interest.

If Aiyuk stays this season, the Niners would return all 11 offensive starters from a bunch that completed first in offensive factors per recreation (28.4), offensive effectivity (76.02) and offensive anticipated factors added (148.06) and second in yards per recreation (398.4) in 2023.

Aiyuk, in fact, performed a important function in that manufacturing, main San Francisco in receiving for the second straight 12 months, posting a profession excessive in receiving yards (1,342) and main the league in yards per goal (12.9) whereas ending second in yards per catch (17.9).

There is no official deadline for the Niners and Aiyuk to strike a deal, however with coaching camp and the common season looming, there are at the least some unofficial benchmarks for one thing to be labored out.

Here is a take a look at what all of it means.

Why is Aiyuk requesting a commerce, and can the 49ers think about it?

Merely put: Aiyuk desires to receives a commission as one of many high receivers within the NFL. This offseason alone has seen star wideouts similar to Minnesota’s Justin Jefferson, Philadelphia’s DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown, Miami’s Jaylen Waddle, and Detroit’s Amon-Ra St. Brown signal profitable contract extensions. St. Brown, Brown and Jefferson all signed offers that common at the least $30 million per season.

Whereas these offers have been getting accomplished, Aiyuk has been impatiently ready for a deal of his personal. Which is why he has used social media to voice his displeasure with the staff, whether or not within the type of emoji on Instagram or TikTok movies of him and Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels during which he says the Niners informed him they do not need him.

Aiyuk has additionally acknowledged that he has used these means as a approach to apply stress to the Niners to get a deal accomplished prior to later. He additionally has stated on the file that he expects to be a Niner in 2024 and even texted coach Kyle Shanahan and basic supervisor John Lynch on draft evening to go with the selection of first-round receiver Ricky Pearsall.

By all of that, the Niners have remained steadfast that they haven’t any want to commerce Aiyuk. Tuesday’s commerce request did nothing to alter their thoughts on that entrance, both. Not solely do the Niners think about Aiyuk a foundational participant, however additionally they have their sights set on making an attempt to interrupt by and win a Tremendous Bowl this 12 months.

Buying and selling Aiyuk in July for 2025 draft picks that would not be capable of assist in that mission would make little sense. It is why the Niners have refused to interact in commerce discussions with groups reaching out about Aiyuk. Maybe a staff providing a difference-making participant in change for Aiyuk would change the Niners’ stance, however such trades are uncommon within the NFL and are much more unlikely right now of 12 months.

May the Niners nonetheless re-sign Aiyuk?

Completely. Unusual as it would sound given the commerce request, that also looks like the most probably consequence. Prior to now 5 years, the Niners have had two gamers request trades solely to re-sign with the staff quickly after.

Wideout Deebo Samuel Sr. requested for a commerce in spring 2022 solely to signal a three-year deal price as much as $73.5 million in late July. Kicker Robbie Gould requested out in April 2019 and likewise re-signed in July.

What’s extra, the 49ers have a good longer observe file of getting offers accomplished with their star gamers late in the summertime. Though on this case ready might need pushed the worth of protecting Aiyuk up, that has merely been how the Niners want to do enterprise.

To wit, listed below are the dates when different star gamers agreed to phrases on their extensions lately:

Bosa’s deal took till proper up earlier than the beginning of the common season. If Aiyuk hasn’t been signed by then, maybe the dialog will change.

What’s subsequent for Aiyuk?

The Niners report back to coaching camp Tuesday, with the primary on-field exercise set for the following day. Aiyuk may maintain out, as he did throughout the staff’s obligatory minicamp in June. If he does, he could be topic to fines of as much as $50,000 per missed observe throughout camp. However not like the greater than $101,000 in fines he accrued for lacking minicamp, Aiyuk may have any coaching camp fines forgiven as a result of he is nonetheless on his rookie contract. The Niners did that for Bosa when he re-signed final September.

Aiyuk may additionally observe within the footsteps of Samuel and “maintain in” whereas his representatives work to hammer out a deal. That may imply Aiyuk would report for camp and participate in conferences however not actively take part in practices. Samuel principally did conditioning on a aspect area till his deal was accomplished.

If Aiyuk does not get a brand new deal or is traded, he may play out this season earlier than doubtlessly changing into an unrestricted free agent in 2025. However the Niners would nonetheless have a say in that as Aiyuk could be a major candidate for a franchise tag, a state of affairs each side would like to keep away from.

What does this imply for Samuel’s future with the 49ers?

All indicators level to Samuel taking part in out this season on his present contract after which leaving the Niners to resolve on his future within the offseason. That might change if San Francisco struggles within the first a part of the 12 months and will get good commerce provides on the deadline. Wanting that, the Niners know they’re a greater staff in 2024 if each Samuel and Aiyuk are taking part in for them.

Samuel has no extra assured cash in his deal after this season, though there could be a $15.1 million useless cash cost if the Niners reduce or traded him earlier than June 1, 2025. That transfer would additionally save $9.1 million in opposition to the 2025 cap.

Like Aiyuk, Samuel heard loads of commerce rumors involving him round this 12 months’s draft, though he did not appear too involved about that or in regards to the hypothesis about his standing past this season.

“On the finish of the day, the contract was signed,” Samuel stated in June. “I do know what I signed up for, and we simply targeted on this 12 months.”

If the Niners cannot re-sign Aiyuk, the probabilities of Samuel sticking round would improve, though he’d even be in line for an extension subsequent offseason to decrease his 2025 projected cap variety of $24.2 million.

Is there a state of affairs during which each Samuel and Aiyuk stay on the Niners in 2025? Nothing is unimaginable, however it might additionally seemingly require an extension for Samuel that could be tough to drag off as a result of the Niners have so many different key gamers awaiting new offers, together with one that would dramatically alter their wage cap image for years to come back.

No future contract negotiation looms bigger than what is probably going coming subsequent offseason for Brock Purdy. The QB is coming off a 2023 during which he set a franchise file for passing yards (4,280), turned the primary Niners quarterback since Jeff Garcia in 2001 to throw for 30-plus touchdowns and earned his first Professional Bowl nod.

If Purdy can submit one other season just like that and even higher, he is poised to money in on a contract that ought to pay him greater than $45 million per season. It might symbolize one of many largest raises in NFL historical past as Purdy is about to make a base wage of $985,000 in 2024. The 49ers have already begun making ready for a Purdy payday, which can nearly definitely take priority over another offseason enterprise in 2025.

San Francisco 49ers star large receiver Brandon Aiyuk, within the midst of stalled contract talks, has reportedly requested the defending NFC champions to commerce him.

ESPN, the NFL Community and The Related Press all reported that Aiyuk, 26, has formally requested the staff to maneuver him as the 2 sides have didn’t agree on a contract extension past this season.

Aiyuk is about to make $14.1 million within the remaining 12 months of his rookie contract.

He has developed a strong rapport with younger 49ers QB Brock Purdy, and he caught 75 passes for a career-high 1,342 yards final season, serving to San Francisco win its second NFC title in 5 years.

Greater than 81% of Aiyuk’s catches final season resulted in 49ers first downs.

Regardless of the tough phrases between either side proper now, the drama may nonetheless finish in a vogue much like the lengthy talks in summer season 2022 between the Niners and one other star WR, Deebo Samuel.

Samuel and the staff gave the impression to be at loggerheads earlier than he signed a three-year, $71.5 million pact that included $58.1 million assured.

Aiyuk may very well be upset that different key elements of San Francisco’s arsenal have inked current offers and his has not get come to fruition.

Final month, the 49ers signed working again and touchdown-scoring machine Christian McCaffrey to a wholesome two-year extension that can maintain him in Santa Clara by way of the top of the 2027 marketing campaign.

And restricted free agent Jauan Jennings — San Francisco’s dependable fourth or fifth receiving choice — signed a two-year deal in Could that would earn him as much as $15.4 million, with $10.5 million assured.

The 49ers have misplaced two of the final 5 Tremendous Bowls to the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs, who rallied twice from fourth-quarter deficits.

Each groups are among the many betting favorites to return to the Tremendous Bowl in February.

New York
CNN
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Elon Musk says he’s transferring his firms out of California.

In two posts on X Tuesday, the billionaire mentioned he’ll transfer SpaceX’s HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas, an organization city being constructed within the southern a part of the state. Social media platform X will transfer from San Francisco to Austin, Texas, he then mentioned.

Musk mentioned that the SAFETY Act, a regulation California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed that will prohibit college districts from requiring academics to tell mother and father if a baby needs to be recognized by a distinct gender, was “the ultimate straw.”

“Due to this regulation and the numerous others that preceded it, attacking each households and corporations, SpaceX will now transfer its HQ from Hawthorne, California, to Starbase, Texas,” Musk posted on X.

Certainly one of Musk’s kids petitioned a California courtroom in 2022 to acknowledge her new title and gender, saying she not wished to be associated to her well-known and rich father “in any approach, form or kind.” Musk has been criticized for a few of his statements on X relating to gender identification points.

Musk mentioned in a follow-up put up that he was uninterested in what he described as violent crime surrounding the constructing the place X is positioned in San Francisco.

Musk has had an inclination towards the Lone Star State for just a few years now. In February, SpaceX filed to maneuver its enterprise incorporation location from Delaware to Texas, after a Delaware state choose struck down Musk’s 2018 Tesla pay bundle, siding with a shareholder who had challenged it as extreme.

In 2021, Musk mentioned he would transfer Tesla HQ from the Bay Space to Austin, Texas. And Musk mentioned in December 2020 that he moved to Texas.

CNN has reached out to X, SpaceX and Newsom’s workplace for remark.

CNN’s Chris Isidore contributed to this report.

Former NBA participant Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, the daddy of Corridor of Famer Kobe Bryant, has died. He was 69.

An official explanation for Bryant’s dying was not introduced as of Tuesday morning. La Salle College, the place Bryant performed and coached, stated in an announcement that Bryant “was a beloved member of the Explorer household and will likely be dearly missed.”

Longtime Philadelphia-area basketball coach Fran Dunphy, who presently is the pinnacle coach at La Salle, informed the Philadelphia Inquirer that Bryant just lately suffered an enormous stroke.

Joe Bryant seldom appeared in public after Kobe Bryant’s dying in a helicopter crash over 4 years in the past. The previous Los Angeles Lakers famous person informed ESPN in 2010 that Joe was “a terrific basketball thoughts” and credited his father with instructing him “from an early age find out how to view the sport, find out how to put together for the sport and find out how to execute.”

Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and 7 others died in a helicopter crash in January 2020 in Calabasas, California, because the group was making its approach to a basketball match. Joe and Pam Bryant, who had been married for almost a half-century, had a generally frosty relationship with Kobe, however they had been within the entrance row for the memorial service in Los Angeles a couple of month after Kobe and Gianna died.

“Sending our condolences upon listening to the information of my father in regulation’s passing,” Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, posted Tuesday on her Instagram story. “We hoped issues would’ve been totally different. Though the occasions we spent collectively had been few, he was at all times candy and good to be round. Kobe beloved him very a lot.”

Joe Bryant performed and coached professionally each in america and internationally after starring at La Salle, the place he averaged 20.8 factors per sport in two seasons with the Explorers. He was a first-round draft choice of the Golden State Warriors in 1975 earlier than being acquired later that yr by the Philadelphia 76ers.

“Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant was a neighborhood basketball icon, whose legacy on the court docket transcended his journey throughout Bartram Excessive College, La Salle College, and his first 4 NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79,” the Sixers stated in an announcement. “Our condolences exit to the Bryant household.”

Doug Younger, a former highschool teammate of Kobe, lauded Joe as the final word “position mannequin.”

“Joe was our JV coach at Decrease Merion and I couldn’t have requested for a extra constructive mentor, trainer, and position mannequin,” Younger informed ESPN. “It is tough to overstate how a lot he influenced me and my teammates. He made basketball enjoyable and made us all wish to be higher – he believed in us. I am going to always remember his infectious smile, his bear hugs and the unbelievable bond he shared with Kobe. Rising up in Decrease Merion, there was no household we beloved and admired greater than the Bryants – and that began with Joe.”

The 6-foot-9 Bryant performed elements of eight seasons within the NBA with the Sixers, Clippers and Rockets, averaging 8.7 factors and 4.0 rebounds in 606 profession video games. He was a member of the 1976-77 Sixers staff that misplaced to the Path Blazers within the NBA Finals.

After enjoying almost a decade abroad in France and Italy, Bryant began teaching in 1992. He was the pinnacle coach for the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks for elements of three seasons and likewise coached in numerous roles at each the skilled and faculty ranges within the U.S., Japan and Thailand.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of Joe ‘Jellybean’ Bryant and be a part of the basketball group in mourning a real Philly hoops legend,” stated Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem, Kobe Bryant’s former agent. “Our friendship opened the door for me to signify Kobe as he entered the NBA, a reminiscence I am going to at all times cherish. Joe was a loyal husband, father and grandfather, whose heat touched everybody he met.”

ESPN’s Dave McMenamin and the Related Press contributed to this report.

Longtime professional basketball participant Joe “Jellybean” Bryant, whose lengthy European profession had a profound affect on his Corridor of Fame son, Kobe, has died, officers stated Tuesday.

He was 69.

“We’re saddened to announce the passing of La Salle basketball nice Joe Bryant,” said a statement by La Salle College, the place he performed from 1973 to 1975 and was on the teaching workers from 1993 to 1996. “He was a beloved member of the Explorer household and will probably be dearly missed.”

Joe Bryant performed in eight NBA seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers, the San Diego Clippers and the Houston Rockets from 1975 to 1983.

The Sixers known as Bryant a Philly basketball “icon, whose legacy on the court docket transcended his journey throughout Bartram Excessive College, La Salle College, and his first 4 NBA seasons with the 76ers from 1975-79.”

“Our condolences exit to the Bryant household,” the team added.

After Bryant left the NBA, he spent the subsequent eight seasons taking part in for skilled groups in France and Italy.

Kobe Bryant, born in 1978, spent a lot of his childhood in Italy, the place he discovered a number of languages and grew keen on Italian tradition.

Kobe Bryant — whose center identify is Bean, in honor of his father’s nickname — went on to turn into the fourth-leading scorer in NBA historical past and is extensively thought of one of many recreation’s biggest gamers.

Kobe Bryant, 41, died in a helicopter crash close to Los Angeles on Jan. 26, 2020. His daughter Gianna and 7 different individuals additionally died.

At his posthumous Corridor of Fame enshrinement, his spouse, Vanessa Bryant, shouted out her in-laws.

“I invited my mother- and father-in-law to tonight’s enshrinement to thank them for bringing one of the superb human beings into this world,” she stated. “Pam and Joe, thanks for elevating Kobe to be distinctive.”

She shared her condolences Tuesday on Instagram and stated “we hoped issues would’ve been completely different.”

“Though the occasions we spent collectively have been few, he was all the time candy and good to be round,” she stated. “Kobe beloved him very a lot. Our prayers exit to household.”

A whale that was discovered lifeless on a seaside in New Zealand earlier this month has been recognized by scientists as a spade-toothed whale – a species so uncommon it has by no means been seen alive.

The five-metre lengthy, beaked creature’s identification was decided from its color patterns and the form of its cranium, beak and tooth.

Its stays have been positioned in chilly storage while DNA testing takes place, with consultants saying it could take a number of weeks earlier than a last identification is confirmed.

As a result of so few specimens have been discovered and there have been no dwell sightings, little or no is understood in regards to the spade-toothed whale.

Researchers say the carcass discovery may assist them purchase essential new details about the species.

Native officers had been notified that the whale had been washed ashore on 4 July on the mouth of the Taiari river, in Otago province on New Zealand’s South Island.

Division of Conservation (DOC) official Gabe Davies mentioned in a press release that spade-toothed whales had been one of many least recognized massive mammalian species, with solely six samples ever documented worldwide.

“From a scientific and conservation viewpoint, that is enormous,” he added.

The division mentioned that as a result of the specimen had solely lately died it may turn out to be the primary whale of the species to be dissected.

New Zealand’s Māori folks regard whales as a sacred treasure, and DOC mentioned native Maori communities would participate in deciding the whale’s destiny.

The species was first described in 1874 after a decrease jaw and two tooth had been collected from New Zealand’s Chatham Islands. Skeletal stays of two different specimens discovered off islands in New Zealand and Chile enabled scientists to substantiate a brand new species.

Two newer findings of stranded whales off New Zealand’s North Island in 2010 and 2017 added to the small assortment.