San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Jordan Matthews went on KNBR last week and hilariously described how he was able to pry No. 81 away from third-year wideout Trent Taylor. Matthews said he was shocked by Taylor's first asking price.
"I know for a fact, this kid, he's the first 5-9 receiver ever to wear No. 81," Matthews said. "He wants to go to 15. He looks way better in 15. But I guarantee you, this little swindler is going to make me still pay for it."
And pay he did.
Matthews eventually pried No. 81 away from Taylor, who switched to No. 15. How much did he pay? Matthews (maybe) jokingly said that if you see Taylor's girlfriend with a nice wedding ring on, know that his money probably paid for it.
"I better be third down the line at the wedding," he added.
It turns out that maybe Matthews didn't have to pay anything at all. Maybe, just maybe, Taylor did indeed swindle him out of his hard-earned cash. The third-year receiver shared his side of the story on Wednesday during an interview on KNBR.
"I knew Jordan wanted 81," Taylor told Mark Willard, "so I texted him about it, and I started with a really high price. He definitely just laughed at me about it. But you've got to start high, right? That's just what you've got to do."
That sounds like a well thought out plan. Then Taylor shared a little more information.
"I didn't really care too much about the number, so I was just going to keep lowering it until he accepted," he continued. "So we found a fair number between both of us, and it worked out."
Taylor didn't even care much about the number? What would have happened had Matthews not accepted the final asking price? Would Taylor have just kept lowering the price? Could Matthews have gotten the jersey number he desired at a bargain? Could he have gotten it for free?
Those are a lot of questions, I know. Here's one more for Taylor: Was there any intention of even keeping No. 81 headed into the 2019 season?
"I don't know, honestly," Taylor responded. "If he ended up not offering me any money, I don't know if I still would have switched or if I would have kept it. I guess we'll never know now."
That's unfortunate for Matthews. He better have earned a spot in the wedding party after overpaying for something that Taylor maybe didn't even want in the first place. Matthews calling Taylor a "little swindler" may not have been an exaggeration.
Regardless of how he arrived at the end result, Matthews now has the jersey number he wanted, and Taylor has a number he likes more. Maybe the biggest winner out of his whole negotiation? Taylor's girlfriend, who may have a nice ring in her future.
"I do like 15 better, yeah," Taylor admitted. "It worked out really well. I was never really a big fan of 81, and five was my college number, so 15 was just kind of naturally attractive to me. And it became available, so I took it."
So if he didn't care for No. 81 in the first place, how did he end up with it? Taylor says that was the jersey at his locker when he showed up on Day 1 as a rookie, so he just went with it.
Sorry, Jordan.
You can listen to the entire conversation with Taylor below.