Jerod Mayo had a lot of nothing to say about Brandon Aiyuk-Patriots rumors

Most of Monday was all about the 49ers allegedly agreeing to allow Brandon Aiyuk and his agent to speak with teams around the league about a possible trade as they continue to drag their feet in extension talks. Rumors began to suggest a deal had been agreed to between the 49ers and the Steelers, and it was only a matter of time before the trade was announced.

Unfortunately for Pittsburgh fans, that announcement never came. Instead, a late-night breaking news story was published by NBC Sports Bay Area revealing there were two deals on the table for Aiyuk, neither of which was with the Steelers.

Matt Maiocco shared that the Browns and the Patriots had made their best offers for the coveted wide receiver, involving multiple draft picks and a receiver to send in return. It was big news for New England since they have heavily pursued Aiyuk all offseason, and it was quite a contrasting update from what had been reported just last month about the Niners' lack of interest in getting a trade done.

Because this story was at the front of everyone's brain as the Patriots began training camp on Tuesday morning, it was inevitable that Jerod Mayo would address the situation right away. That's exactly what he did, but he certainly took a page from his predecessor's playbook regarding handling such a significant rumor.

Jerod Mayo addresses the Brandon Aiyuk trade rumors...sort of

Speaking to reporters at the start of training camp, Mayo immediately mentioned the trade rumors that had been stirring since Monday night. Before even being asked about it, the head coach took the Bill Belichick route by proclaiming he knew what they wanted to know about, but he would not "talk about players on other teams."

With that being said, however, he also made sure to stress that Eliot Wolf is actively trying to make the team better, which seemed to indicate there might be a bit of truth to the rumors of the Patriots being active in the Aiyuk sweepstakes.

While it was a great way for a head coach in his position to handle the situation at hand, it would have been nice to have gotten a bit more of a clue of whether or not the Patriots' efforts to acquire Aiyuk are valid. It makes sense why he wouldn't confirm or deny it, but given the seriousness of the matter and how significant it would be to add a player of Aiyuk's caliber, it would have been nice to know how to approach the expected ongoing updates.

Unfortunately, that probably won't ever be the case and we won't know the true intentions of the Patriots until Aiyuk's fate is made definitive.

Whether he agrees to a trade to the Browns or the Patriots, or maybe it's all a farce by the 49ers to get him to stay with the team, we'll just have to anxiously wait and see.

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