The 49ers Have Asked Kyle Juszczyk to Take a Pay Cut
The San Francisco 49ers reportedly have asked veteran fullback Kyle Juszczyk to take a pay cut.
Transcript
00:00 The 49ers reportedly have asked Kyle Juszczyk to take a pay cut, and the two sides haven't
00:05 yet come to an agreement.
00:07 It's possible that Kyle Juszczyk will look at the 49ers' new offer, their "pay cut,"
00:13 as an insult, and decide that he can make more money on the open market, and decide
00:17 that he'll want to be a "free agent."
00:19 That's what Eric Armstead decided when the 49ers approached him with a pay cut recently.
00:23 He said, "No thank you, I can make more money on the open market, release me."
00:28 And the 49ers did.
00:29 And really, that move doesn't help the 49ers.
00:33 Because if they cut him now, they create only $2.5 million in cap space.
00:39 If they cut him after June 1st, they create $18 million in cap space after June 1st, when
00:46 all the free agents will be gone, plus there'll be more dead cap in 2025, which isn't good.
00:52 So when this news came out, I really took the 49ers' side.
00:56 I was like, "Really, Eric Armstead?
00:59 You're going to leave the Niners in a lurch now?
01:01 I mean, they took care of you.
01:05 They gave you, they chose you over DeForest Buckner.
01:09 Then they gave you $66 million the last four years for essentially 14.5 sacks in good run
01:18 defense when you were on the field.
01:20 Take the pay cut.
01:21 You're not worth $28 million, which is what your cap hit's going to be this year.
01:27 Take the pay cut.
01:28 If you think the 49ers, your team that you're a captain of, has a legit chance to win the
01:36 Super Bowl, take the pay cut.
01:38 They took care of you.
01:39 Same goes for you, Kyle Juszczyk.
01:41 This team, the 49ers, have made your dreams come true.
01:45 You were just a humble fullback playing at Harvard.
01:49 Now they gave you $35 million to go in motion and be a decoy.
01:58 They don't give you the ball, and you're supposed to make $7.5 million this year?
02:03 That's your cap hit?
02:04 Take the pay cut.
02:06 It's only fair.
02:07 You've invested so much time into this team, into the Super Bowl run.
02:10 Help it out.
02:11 You making $7.5 million doesn't help the Niners win a Super Bowl.
02:15 Eric, you making $28 million doesn't help the Niners win a Super Bowl.
02:20 Take the pay cut.
02:21 That was my first reaction.
02:24 But then when I thought about it, I asked myself the question, why did the 49ers approach
02:30 these two players in particular about the pay cut?
02:34 Why Armstead and Juszczyk?
02:36 What do they have in common?
02:39 Well, I was asking myself, if Armstead would ask for a release, is that sort of like a
02:45 vote of no confidence in this team?
02:46 Like, hey, I've been here for 10 years.
02:48 We've gone to the NFC Championship so many times.
02:51 We're not going to get it done.
02:53 Is Juszczyk having those thoughts too?
02:55 I don't know.
02:56 Who were the two players after this Super Bowl loss, immediately afterward, who mentioned
03:05 to the media that they didn't know the overtime playoff rules?
03:12 Armstead and Juszczyk.
03:13 Yeah, it was those two guys that said, you know, we just didn't know those rules, which
03:19 implies Kyle Shanahan didn't prepare us.
03:24 So if anyone threw the head coach under the bus after the Super Bowl, it was Armstead
03:30 and Juszczyk.
03:32 Maybe they're looking at Kyle Shanahan like, man, you blew one of the best teams ever.
03:38 You blew one of the best seasons ever.
03:39 We should have been Super Bowl champions.
03:41 It's your fault.
03:42 I'm done.
03:43 Or this is Kyle Shanahan saying, hey, I didn't forget what you guys said about me after the
03:49 Super Bowl loss.
03:50 And I know you're basically blaming me for that.
03:53 And well, I picked two names out of a hat at random for a pay cut and it happened to
03:59 be you two.
04:01 So there's no correlation between you two blaming me for not preparing you for the overtime
04:06 rules and me slashing your salary.
04:10 It has nothing to do with each other.
04:12 It makes me wonder, right?
04:14 I mean, like, why not Debo?
04:15 Debo Samuel's making way too much money.
04:17 Ask him for a pay cut.
04:19 But he's best friends with Kyle Shanahan.
04:21 He would never question Kyle Shanahan after he didn't even talk after the Super Bowl.
04:26 But Armstead did and Juszczyk did.
04:29 And now they got to take a pay cut, presumably because they didn't know the rules.
04:33 Hey, you want to make all that money, you should know the rules.
04:37 Is this re-vindication?
04:38 Re-vindication.
04:39 It's a combination of revenge and vindication.
04:43 It's a new word I made.
04:44 Is this re-vindication on the part of Kyle Shanahan?
04:47 Stay tuned.
04:48 More at 11.
04:48 [MUSIC PLAYING]
04:51 (upbeat music)