The Brandon Aiyuk trade rumors are everywhere, given that the San Francisco 49ers star receiver has made it clear he's looking for a new team amid a contract dispute. The New England Patriots were mentioned as a possibility.
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But that's not the only squabble that's taken place involving Aiyuk.
Another one resulted from the Aiyuk "hold in," and involved veteran Patriots reporter Mike Reiss of ESPN.com and Mike Felger of WBZ-FM, as relayed by SportsBusiness Journal and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk.
Florio broke it all down.
"It happened when Felger suggested Reiss was pushing a 'team-friendly' report on a possible trade of 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk to the Patriots. Said Felger: 'To me, I smell a rat with the reporting on the money. ... He's incredibly well-sourced within the Patriots. So I know where it's coming from, and I know how [the Patriots] operate.'
"That prompted Reiss — one of the genuinely nicest people in the entire industry — to call the show. He said on the air, 'The insinuation that bothers me is that you think, Mike, that this information is coming from the team.'
Felger fired back.
"You can feel that way," Reiss said, via Florio. "But the fact that you think I would go on SportsCenter, on that platform, and say that based on something from the team. ... you're creating a perception with listeners that that's the way this works. That's incredibly dangerous."
Florio wrote that he greatly respects Reiss and his NFL reporting, but questioned him here.
"By calling Felger's show, Reiss made the issue into a thing that made its way into Sports Business Daily. And who knows? Maybe Reiss did it because he got a call from his Patriots source asking him to do it.
"I'm kidding about the last part. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if it actually happened that way."
As for Aiyuk and the Niners ... well, they too are still seemingly at odds.
