0:00

Brandon Ayoub became the latest athlete in search

0:02

of a new contract to take what has

0:04

become the expected move as part of the

0:07

process. Ayoub's situation continues

0:09

to be the major storyline for

0:11

the 49ers this offseason, and as

0:13

much as both sides would like

0:15

for something to be resolved, Jennifer

0:17

Lee Chan and I will discuss

0:19

how it's also quite possible that

0:21

nothing happens this offseason. But

0:23

there will be plenty happening around the NFL

0:25

beginning on April 25th when the NFL draft

0:29

is set to begin. It'll be

0:31

seven rounds over three days, and there are a

0:33

lot of different ways the 49ers can

0:36

go with their top selections. Two

0:38

key members of the 49ers organization

0:40

made a road trip to the

0:42

Pacific Northwest to scout the prospects

0:44

from the National Runner-Ups. Could

0:47

they have their eyes on a couple of

0:49

offensive linemen who played college football in Seattle?

0:51

Jennifer and I will discuss all of that

0:53

and we'll get some help from our listeners

0:56

with some questions. On this

0:58

episode of 49ers Talk, coming at you

1:00

right now! Welcome to

1:02

another edition of 49ers

1:04

Talk on nbcsportsbayarea.com. Introducing

1:07

your host, Matt Maioco.

1:10

All right, this is 49ers Talk brought to

1:12

you by Big O' Tires. And Jennifer, it

1:15

finally happened. It finally happened.

1:17

Really? Yes. It

1:21

finally happened. Brandon, I took the

1:23

next step in contract negotiations by

1:26

unfollowing the 49ers. What

1:28

in the world took him so long?

1:31

Doesn't he understand how the contract

1:33

negotiations game is supposed to play

1:35

out? Yes, he's

1:37

got to do it immediately. Immediately upon

1:39

the end of the season. Yeah. And

1:42

also, like, well, who knows? Maybe the

1:44

trade request will come at

1:46

some point soon. But

1:49

that was the latest step. And I

1:51

guess it's, you know, the tired old

1:53

story of an athlete

1:55

who's looking for a new contract

1:57

with his team. takes

2:00

a step away from his

2:02

old team theoretically by

2:05

unfollowing them on social media.

2:07

And if I were like one of those, we

2:11

know all the social media people for the 49ers,

2:13

I hope they don't take offense to that.

2:15

I hope they don't think that it's something that

2:17

they did wrong that prompted

2:19

Brandon and I to unfollow the 49ers. No,

2:24

I think it's, you know, like we mentioned

2:26

on the last podcast, it's the first time,

2:29

at the end of the rookie contract,

2:31

players for the first time kind of

2:33

own their destiny. They have, they're able

2:35

to kind of put their spin on

2:37

things. They have their say, they're creating

2:39

their own journey at this point. So

2:42

they're going to do whatever they can

2:44

to show that, you know, they have

2:46

the power because for the first three,

2:48

four seasons of their career, the

2:50

team has the power ultimately. So now they have

2:52

a little bit of say so, everybody's

2:55

watching what they're doing. So they

2:57

have a bigger platform. And one

3:00

of the steps that they do is, you

3:02

know, you've seen it across the board for

3:04

several players that have wanted to have

3:07

bigger contracts going forward. They unfollow

3:09

the team. Sometimes it's, you know,

3:12

making everything that

3:14

they have that had them in that

3:16

type, in that uniform that all comes

3:18

off. You know, it's,

3:21

it's their chance. It's their first chance

3:23

to really kind of set the

3:25

tone for the, for the negotiations.

3:28

The four day on Instagram have

3:30

had 3.8 million followers. And

3:34

so now according to my math,

3:36

they have 3,799,999 followers because of

3:38

Brandon Ayuk. So very,

3:51

very earth shattering news here

3:53

on 49ers. Okay. So I

4:00

mean, we didn't see it with guys like George Kill

4:02

or Fred Warner and Nick Bose. So they all just

4:04

kind of stayed underneath the radar. But

4:07

right now, the receivers are different wide receiver.

4:09

They have their own have their own way

4:11

of doing things. And so,

4:13

you know, that we opened up

4:15

questions on social media. And

4:18

of course, a lot of the questions still

4:20

remain about Brandon. I you can rightfully

4:22

so. I mean, he's he's the one guy

4:24

that, you know, there

4:27

is some level of

4:29

uncertainty about how this thing is going

4:31

to look. John Lynn said

4:33

a couple of weeks ago that

4:36

there have been no trade talks. We

4:38

don't know if teams are calling just

4:40

to ask the 49ers

4:42

about, you know, what their thoughts are,

4:45

what kind of cost it would take

4:47

for the 49ers to move on from

4:49

Brandon. I you know, the thing that

4:51

makes this kind of sticky for and

4:53

probably less tempting for any other team

4:56

is that Brandon, I you can

4:58

seeking a big time contract and

5:01

where he where that number falls, who knows,

5:03

you would think it'd be right around that

5:05

20 million dollar mark or someplace in the

5:08

in the low 20s. But

5:10

also the team that gives Brandon,

5:12

I you that kind of contract

5:15

also would have to supply the

5:17

49ers with enough compensation to

5:19

make it worth the 49ers while

5:22

to move on from Brandon. I

5:24

you can of the many scenarios

5:26

how this could play out the

5:29

one scenario that, you

5:31

know, if status quo remains, which

5:34

I think is a I think that's a

5:37

redundancy, right? If status quo remains,

5:39

let's just say that if everything

5:42

stays the way it is, Brandon,

5:44

I you will play the 2024

5:46

season for the 49ers

5:48

making fourteen point one million dollars and

5:51

then he'll be scheduled for unrestricted free

5:53

agency or the for parents could say

5:55

franchise tag the following

5:57

season. So that's where things are. Obviously,

6:00

that's where a lot of

6:02

interest is among 49er fans because

6:04

Brandon Ayuk has just progressively gotten

6:06

better every season he's been in

6:08

the league and there's no reason

6:10

to think that he can't take

6:12

another step forward this season. Right,

6:16

and there's very few wide receivers

6:18

that can come in and automatically

6:20

become that talented,

6:23

have that connection with a quarterback, have the

6:26

showing that Brandon Ayuk has had in his

6:28

last two seasons. I mean, like he's really

6:30

grown after his first and second

6:32

season with the 49ers. His

6:34

third and fourth have been really outstanding

6:36

and that's kind of maturation and growth

6:39

of a wide receiver in a very

6:42

detailed offense, which is Kyle Shanahan's.

6:45

And Kyle Shanahan asks a lot of his wide

6:47

receivers. So you know,

6:49

a lot of times, I mean, you look

6:51

at what Ronnie Bell did last season, it's

6:53

tough for wide receivers to come into Kyle

6:56

Shanahan's offense their first season and really be

6:58

a standout player. It just doesn't happen that

7:00

often. And for Brandon Ayuk, his

7:02

first season, it happened because it was the

7:05

COVID year. Deebo Samuel was injured.

7:07

They didn't have very many other receivers to

7:09

go to. So he became that number one

7:11

wide receiver right away. Tougher season

7:13

in his second year and then progressively got

7:15

better in his third and fourth. Yeah.

7:18

And so, I mean, the 49ers are in a position

7:20

where there isn't much depth. They

7:23

don't have much depth at the wide receiver position.

7:26

So here's a question from Juan Carlos

7:28

Hernandez asking about the

7:30

likelihood of the 49ers allowing Ayuk

7:34

to play this season on his

7:36

current contract and then maybe entertaining

7:38

the idea of trading Deebo Samuel.

7:41

You know, I mean, all that's

7:43

a possibility, but the other

7:46

part of what he asks is this. Would

7:48

it be a good idea to entertain the

7:50

idea of drafting a wide receiver higher with

7:53

the thought that they

7:55

would develop that player behind Ayuk

7:57

and Samuel before a trade is

8:00

considered and to me that makes more sense

8:02

where you know right now

8:04

they have Devo Samuel

8:06

and Brandon I you two guys

8:08

who fit the 49ers very well

8:10

they have a number three receiver

8:13

who is coming off a great Super Bowl

8:16

and you know in an alternate universe could

8:18

have been the MVP of the Super Bowl

8:21

and Juan Jennings however he is

8:23

just signed through this season and he hasn't

8:26

yet signed his restricted free agent tender but

8:28

I'm sure he will do that soon as

8:31

the 49ers open their

8:33

offseason program on Monday but they

8:35

really don't have anybody reliable that

8:37

they can count on besides those

8:40

three and let's face it

8:42

there's a tremendous drop-off from one and

8:44

two to number three as it

8:46

is now so could they draft

8:49

a wide receiver in the first

8:51

round absolutely they could and there

8:53

are several possibilities of guys the

8:55

one name that we've talked about Malachi

8:58

Corley from Western Kentucky you know kind

9:00

of this very much a

9:02

Devo Samuel kind of guy and so

9:05

it has to be a certain type of

9:07

wide receivers some wide receivers don't fit the

9:10

49ers at all because they

9:12

asked them to be physical they asked them

9:14

to mix it up in the run game

9:16

to be a blocker to run routes across

9:19

the middle so there's a level of

9:21

toughness that the 49ers require out of

9:24

their wide receivers that maybe some teams

9:26

don't necessarily put that priority on but

9:28

no it definitely is a possibility that

9:31

the 49ers draft a wide receiver

9:34

higher than what you would automatically

9:36

rank their needs being heading into

9:38

this draft yeah

9:41

I mean anything's possible when you look at

9:43

how the foreigners have done the things in

9:45

the past they haven't drafted an offensive lineman

9:47

since Mike McGlinchie in the first round so

9:49

it's it's been you know they

9:52

look for the biggest the guys

9:54

who are going to make the biggest impact on the

9:56

game so whether that's the offensive line or whether it's

9:58

a wide receiver or a defensive end they

10:00

want to get a guy who's going to change the

10:02

game, especially with those first round picks. And they haven't,

10:04

they haven't had a first round pick in a while.

10:06

So this is their first time in a while where

10:08

they've had a first round pick. I'm sure they want

10:10

to get it on an impact player. Okay.

10:13

You mentioned offensive line. Yeah. You

10:15

mentioned offensive line. Here's a question

10:17

from Heinrich. He says,

10:19

do you believe the 49ers share

10:21

the fan sentiment of addressing, upgrading

10:23

the offensive line with better talent

10:25

than they have the trends

10:27

in big games with their failures

10:30

can be dissected to show that

10:32

this is the primary Achilles heel?

10:34

Well, I, I disagree with that.

10:36

I don't think the offensive line

10:38

has been an Achilles heel. Can

10:40

they be better on

10:42

the offensive line? Of course. But

10:45

man, I looked down the stretch last season

10:47

and I would say the

10:49

defensive line was weaker than

10:51

the offensive line. And

10:53

I think everybody points to the Super

10:56

Bowl of, you know, the one play.

10:58

I mean, that was just a blown

11:00

assignment by a guy who was a

11:02

backup offensive guard who should have known

11:04

better. Spencer Burford, you know, he had

11:06

started a lot of games, but he

11:08

just flat out blew an assignment. So

11:10

can the 49ers look to

11:12

upgrade their offensive line? Absolutely.

11:14

They can, but I

11:17

don't know that it's just the given that

11:19

everybody thinks it is that

11:21

they draft an offensive lineman at

11:23

31 and that

11:25

guy is automatically a starter

11:27

anywhere. You know, whether it's,

11:29

it's a right tackle could an

11:32

offensive lineman selected could an offensive

11:34

lineman compete with ultimate give it

11:36

to right tackle? Sure. What

11:39

about right guard? John Feliciano or

11:41

Spencer Burford? Sure. Or

11:43

do they take the Aaron Banks

11:45

approach? And I mentioned

11:48

Aaron Banks for this reason.

11:50

Remember what was it?

11:52

2021 when Aaron Banks was a rookie, how many

11:54

snaps did he play the entire season? Five,

11:57

five on offense and everybody was like, Oh my God.

12:00

thought he was going to be a bust. He's a bust,

12:02

right? And then the next year is

12:04

when he moved into that starting lineup

12:06

after Lakin Tomlinson left. So could it

12:08

be a situation like that? It could

12:10

be. So that's, you

12:12

know, that's something to consider too. I

12:14

mean, I just don't think it's an

12:16

absolute given that whoever

12:19

they choose at 31 is

12:22

going to be a day one starter.

12:24

Maybe the the

12:26

one spot would be Nickelback.

12:28

You know, if they take somebody at

12:30

31, I think maybe they wait until

12:33

the second round to take that. I'm not sure, but

12:37

the foreigners have to be looking at offensive

12:39

line late in the first round, but

12:42

it just doesn't necessarily mean that,

12:45

you know, they're, they're thinking

12:47

that that guy is going to be a

12:49

vast improvement year one. It might turn out that

12:51

way. I mean, they're looking to take, if they

12:53

took an offensive lineman day one or day two,

12:56

they'd be thinking this guy is a

12:58

long-term starter. It doesn't

13:00

mean a starter from day one though.

13:04

Right. And you look at what they did

13:06

during free agency, they signed their players back.

13:09

So the offensive line that played last year

13:11

and they were pretty solid. They were

13:14

there consistently together outside of John Feliciano getting

13:16

hurt in the Superbowl. They played together and,

13:18

you know, the more an offensive line plays

13:20

together, the more consistency they have, the better

13:22

they are together. So to keep that group

13:24

together, they have them all signed for the

13:26

2024 season. That

13:28

tells me and should tell everybody else

13:31

that that's not the top priority in

13:33

their draft. They want to improve

13:36

all aspects, but because they made it

13:38

a priority for them to sign those

13:41

2024 players back into those positions, it

13:44

makes me think that they've got it

13:46

at set, that they're comfortable and fine with

13:49

who they had. And, you know, that one

13:51

place, Spencer Burford's one place, it was one

13:53

play out of the entire game. I mean,

13:55

outside of that, you know, maybe a hurry

13:58

here and there, but really, that was the

14:00

one play where it kind of threw everything off. And then

14:02

of course it was a very pivotal

14:05

moment for the team because it could have been

14:07

a score and you know we can go down

14:09

that rabbit hole for a long time. But if

14:12

you look at how the offensive line is set and what

14:14

they did during free agency, I know we've talked about it

14:16

on the pod that really

14:18

what a team does during free agency kind of

14:20

tells you a lot about what they think about

14:22

what they have and then what they're going to

14:24

look for in the draft. Yeah and

14:26

I would say you know I would just

14:28

repeat that the the 14 air's offensive line

14:31

it wasn't the best in the league. It

14:33

certainly wasn't the worst. It was closer to

14:36

being at the top than it was to

14:38

the bottom. I mean all you have to

14:40

do is just look at what that offense

14:42

did and to say that that Brock Purdy,

14:44

Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel,

14:46

Brandon Ayuk, George Kittle

14:48

to say that they just did it all on

14:51

their own without any help from the offensive

14:53

line is is ridiculous. And I think that

14:55

offensive line did get better throughout the season.

14:58

I think the right side of the offensive

15:00

line was not good in the

15:02

early weeks. I think it got better. I

15:05

think it got significantly better

15:08

when John Feliciano entered the lineup.

15:10

And so I'm just not I'm

15:12

saying that it's it's

15:15

quite possible that the 49ers draft somebody

15:17

and they have a day one starter.

15:20

But it's also quite possible that they

15:23

still draft somebody and they don't have

15:25

a day one starter and that the

15:28

offensive line kind of stays in place.

15:30

But going back to Aaron Banks, Aaron

15:32

Banks is in the final year of

15:35

his contract. John Feliciano is in the

15:37

final year of his contract. And so

15:39

those are two guards that they might

15:42

have to replace next season because you

15:45

know will the 49ers pay

15:48

whatever that market rate is to resign

15:51

Aaron Banks? I

15:53

don't know. You know that that's I think Aaron

15:55

Banks on the open market is probably going to

15:58

get a lot of money because offensive

16:00

linemen starting offensive linemen, especially

16:02

young guys, they, they,

16:04

they make a lot of money on the

16:07

open market. I mean, even look at Lincoln

16:09

Tomlinson a couple of years ago. Exactly.

16:11

That's what I was just going to say. Like Tomlinson got paid a ton

16:13

of money. And then you mentioned

16:15

Mike McGlinchie, you know, Mike McGlinchie, you

16:18

know, not a great player, but

16:21

he cashed in because he was

16:23

a starter on the open market

16:25

and just offensive linemen are in

16:27

such, such demand.

16:29

And there's so few really

16:32

good ones out there that anybody

16:34

who hits the market, they're going to

16:36

get paid. So I think if the

16:38

49ers use a day

16:40

one or day two draft pick on an

16:43

offensive lineman, it will

16:45

be probably more for

16:47

an eye to the future than

16:49

an immediate upgrade. Right. Right.

16:53

And on Saturday, University of Washington posted

16:56

on social media that both John Lynch

16:58

and Chris first, or we're at the

17:00

University of Washington pro day. They

17:03

do have Roger Rosengarten and Troy Fatano

17:05

who are offensive linemen. So they were

17:07

there checking out the UW pro day.

17:10

So, you know, you can read into

17:12

those tea leaves, however you want, but

17:14

they are definitely doing their research on

17:17

offensive linemen. Yeah. I think

17:19

that Chris first is making a road trip.

17:22

And I love the picture that you got

17:24

the sense that John Lynch and

17:26

Chris first or didn't want to stand out

17:28

because they're wearing University of Washington garb. And

17:32

for John Lynch, the

17:34

Stanford man to put on a

17:36

University of Washington sweatshirt and hoodie

17:39

kind of makes me think like

17:41

he wanted to kind of slide

17:43

under the radar. So hey, shout

17:45

out to the University of Washington

17:47

Husky social media for doing that

17:49

and giving us the heads up

17:51

that John Lynch and Chris first

17:53

were there. Do you

17:55

think that means now that John Lynch

17:57

will unfollow the University of Washington social

17:59

media? media accounts. Only

18:02

if he's wanting to get a whole lot of money from them and

18:05

I don't think that's gonna happen. Well maybe he wants

18:07

to get a whole lot of players from them. Yeah,

18:09

yeah maybe. I just don't see that

18:11

happening but you know maybe for putting

18:14

him up there with the University of

18:16

Washington and sweatshirt on maybe just for

18:18

that. Yeah that's good stuff. Okay so I

18:22

guess we're kind of spinning our wheels here

18:25

with with Brandon Ayuk. Yeah. Because

18:27

I mean

18:30

something's the next inflection point

18:32

will be day one of the draft.

18:35

You know the next one could be

18:37

if Brandon and I request a trade

18:40

but then we'll kind of see but

18:42

you know just the the way the

18:44

four yearns have operated here the past

18:46

five years is it's followed

18:48

the same routine and

18:50

the one guy that they

18:53

ended up trading was DeForest

18:55

Buckner. That was done really early

18:58

in the offseason. That was done

19:00

in mid-march and so their

19:03

plan of attack has been to just

19:06

kind of go through

19:08

the process here let

19:10

things kind of you know I don't

19:13

know it let it ferment I guess

19:16

and then basically the

19:18

last possible time that something can

19:21

happen then get something happen. This

19:24

is a good question here because I

19:26

think this is relevant this comes from

19:28

Damien Clayton. He says after

19:30

confessions by both Bosa and

19:33

clear evidence with Debo how

19:35

they were not ready week

19:37

one does that give

19:39

the 49ers more incentive to get

19:41

Ayuk signed before the dog days

19:43

or I think he says

19:45

the dog dies I don't know what that

19:48

means exactly. Probably the dog days of training.

19:50

That's what I think but I think

19:53

that's relevant right I mean we talk about

19:56

we talk all the time

19:58

about this is the way the prayers do business,

20:01

but don't you need

20:03

to learn from your mistakes? It's

20:06

kind of come around to bite them in the

20:08

butt before. I mean, especially with Bosa not being

20:10

ready. I mean, he admitted it and he didn't

20:13

play that great in the first couple of weeks

20:15

of the season because he had held

20:17

out for so long. And I, you know, uh, we

20:20

both understand that players holding out until

20:22

they get their contract because you don't,

20:24

you know, they don't want to end

20:26

up with an injury and training camp

20:28

that precludes the contract signing. So all

20:31

of it makes sense, but it does

20:33

hamper the development or I guess the

20:35

preparation of the player going into

20:37

the season. So yeah, Bosa said he didn't

20:39

really feel like himself until about mid season.

20:41

Part of it was not being

20:44

ready, not getting, you know, not getting playing

20:46

time practice time with his, with his fellow

20:48

defensive lineman, but also it was

20:51

the pressure of that huge money contract

20:53

being on his shoulders. He felt like

20:55

he needed to perform better because he

20:57

wanted to show he deserved the money.

20:59

And then kind of mid season, he

21:01

got over that whole mental aspect of

21:03

it. And funny because, you know, you

21:06

think of Nick Bosa as being completely

21:08

mentally grounded and physically grounded and confident

21:10

in his play, but you

21:12

know, insecurity creeps

21:14

up on everybody, even on Nick Bosa. And

21:16

it really affected him through the first half

21:18

of the season. He said about midway through,

21:21

he started feeling like himself again. So that's

21:23

a lot of games to not have

21:25

100% Nick Bosa on the field for

21:27

the 49ers. So you'd think that they would learn their

21:29

lesson from it. Okay. Here

21:32

too, like basically competing, conflicting,

21:34

completely opposite questions. Jeremy wants to

21:37

know, do you think the 49ers

21:39

move up in the draft for

21:41

an offensive tackle, a defensive lineman,

21:43

a wide receiver? And

21:45

then Reginald asks, do you think it's

21:48

more viable to trade back into the

21:50

second round? So I mean,

21:53

it, it all depends on how they have

21:55

their, their draft board stacked. You know, if,

21:57

if they feel a 31. that

22:01

You know the guy that they're there's

22:03

like maybe three or four people that

22:05

they really like then yeah They would

22:07

trade back, but if in the

22:09

early 20s say for years

22:12

feel like man There's two guys we

22:14

really want and we're afraid

22:16

that You know they won't be

22:18

around at 31. Maybe we move up to 25

22:23

or wherever they might I think I

22:26

think the 49ers moved they

22:28

moved up to get Brandon I uked In

22:30

that draft and I think it was right after

22:32

Justin Jefferson Was was

22:35

drafted by the Vikings? 49ers

22:37

jumped up and they got I uke and at

22:39

the time Kyle Shanahan said

22:42

the Brandon I uke was you know

22:44

his favorite receiver from that draft And

22:46

so if Kyle Shanahan sees a

22:48

guy that he really likes and

22:50

feels that way about a wide receiver or

22:53

if Chris first er Fresh

22:55

out of the Pacific Northwest scouting

22:57

trip I know

23:00

why they it's in Seattle. They didn't want

23:02

to go around wearing 49er stuff in in

23:04

Seattle It was the first time that first

23:06

time that John Lynch has been in Seattle That

23:09

he's been applauded on the on the

23:11

street because he's wearing University of Washington

23:13

stuff So anyway named the position cornerback

23:16

Whatever case may be and quarterback

23:18

is one of those positions too

23:20

right where they don't necessarily need

23:22

an outside corner this year But

23:25

with Charvarius Ward and Yomidor Lenore

23:28

both on the final years of their contract

23:31

I don't know that both guys are gonna be

23:33

back next year in fact I would think that the

23:36

odds are pretty slim that they're

23:38

able to resign both Ward and

23:40

Lenore So again if they

23:42

take a cornerback high

23:44

quality cornerback They have a

23:46

little bit of time to make

23:49

sure that that guy's ready before Theoretically

23:51

being thrust into a starting

23:54

role in 2025 while he

23:56

can also play nickel or

23:58

you know have some role on the defense

24:00

this season. Yeah,

24:03

it's all about setting themselves up for the

24:05

future, setting the team up for their future,

24:07

but also solidifying the

24:09

positions that they need to have covered

24:11

for 2024, where

24:15

so many of the same players are

24:17

going to be around. You've got your

24:19

key high-end players that are still going

24:21

to be playing, and

24:23

they're at peaks in their

24:26

career. And then trying

24:28

to develop guys that will take their

24:30

place eventually when guys eventually

24:32

have to retire. So it's all about thinking about

24:34

the future and also the present at

24:37

the same time. It's kind

24:39

of this weird balance because Jed York told us

24:41

at the owners' meetings, if there were no salary

24:43

cap, all these players would be paid. And

24:46

they could keep more of their players

24:50

as long as they wanted to. But

24:52

just because of the salary cap, it does make

24:54

all this kind of jockeying and moving around a

24:57

little bit more prevalent. And you look at

24:59

what the Niners do, though, they really try

25:02

to let their players have time to make

25:04

decisions like they did with Eric Armstead. And

25:06

you've seen it with, like you said, the

25:09

DeForest Buckner trade, or that

25:11

those things happen earlier. I think they

25:13

try to be conscious of, I

25:15

mean, obviously, it's all about the team. But I think

25:17

they do try to be respectful of players as much

25:19

as they can in regard to

25:22

those moves to give players time to,

25:24

like for Eric Armstead, find a new

25:27

place where he's going to play, where he has

25:29

more of a chance because it's earlier in the process

25:31

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let's go places. All

26:38

right, so I guess basically what we've been saying, Jennifer,

26:40

is the four years can go a lot of different

26:43

ways in this draft. And

26:45

especially high up, right? I mean, right? It's

26:47

surprise you. Pat asks,

26:50

do you think the four years will draft an offense alignment at 31?

26:53

Or would you, would they, will

26:55

they go with their usual defensive line

26:57

pick? I don't think there's a

27:00

person on the planet who would be surprised

27:02

if the 49ers take the

27:04

top edge rusher or really

27:06

good defensive tackle, right? I mean,

27:08

that's a position where you simply

27:11

cannot go wrong drafting a

27:13

quality player. And I would say, you

27:15

know, for all the questions about the

27:18

49ers offensive line, I would say last

27:20

year, more of the problem

27:22

was the defensive line. And, you

27:24

know, I, the 49ers

27:26

did not get much at all out of

27:28

Chae Shung. You know, they didn't get much

27:31

at all out of Randy Gregory to mid-season

27:34

pickups. You know, they

27:36

had some injuries. I think Jevon Kinlop started to

27:38

play a little bit better. But,

27:41

you know, much the same

27:43

way as what they've had

27:46

in the past, after

27:48

edge rusher Nick Bosa,

27:50

there was a huge drop off. You

27:52

know, Cleveland Furl was a okay

27:55

kind of piece, but not,

27:57

I don't know if he was a starter type

27:59

of player. You know,

28:01

he played rundowns. Okay. But

28:03

we're here simply did not get much

28:05

at all from the edge opposite of

28:08

Nick Bosa after week one. Remember, man, it

28:10

seems like five years ago, the Drake Jackson

28:12

had three sacks week one against the Steelers

28:15

did not have another sack the rest of

28:17

the year. He had some, some injury issues

28:19

and ended up on IR. But

28:22

you know, the 49ers did add some guys

28:25

with Leonard Floyd and he tore gross

28:27

Matos. But man, if

28:29

they can get a high quality defensive

28:31

end, Edger Usher in this, and

28:33

there aren't very many out

28:36

there. So, you know,

28:38

could they find someone there perhaps, but I mean,

28:40

that wouldn't surprise you at all, wouldn't it? If

28:42

they, if they went to deal out again. No,

28:45

I mean, the joke in the draft room is

28:47

that when they pick another defensive line, everybody

28:50

is like, Chris, cause Eric gets another guy. I

28:52

mean, like, but it is what they've done in

28:55

the past. They go after defensive line because

28:58

bolstering the defense takes pressure off the

29:00

offense. I mean, they've got a lot of

29:02

offensive weapons, but really if the defense does their job,

29:05

there's less pressure on the

29:07

offense to put up points.

29:09

I mean, obviously they always want to, but

29:11

if the defense is shutting out the opposing

29:13

team, that often doesn't have to do as

29:15

much. So that's really kind of the base

29:17

of the way the team is built. It

29:19

starts from the defensive line always. So that

29:21

wouldn't surprise me at all. They take a

29:23

defensive lineman at 31. Okay.

29:26

Here's the position. I don't think they'll tell you

29:28

31, but I would fully expect them to take

29:30

this position a little bit later. And

29:33

this question comes from Dan Stankowski.

29:37

What happened to George Kittle during the

29:39

Superbowl? He had to go to the

29:41

locker room and overtime and the backups

29:43

came in and I think it was

29:45

brain, uh, was it Braden Willis who

29:47

had a false start penalty and

29:49

for, and really didn't get much production

29:51

at all outside the blocking from their

29:54

backup tight ends. But as this

29:57

off season has progressed. And

30:00

it sounds like both Charverius Ward and

30:03

George Kittle are going to be fine.

30:05

Both of them had core muscle surgery.

30:08

The old days is called a sports hernia. Uh,

30:11

now it's core muscle. And so, uh,

30:14

George Kittle was battling that in the Super Bowl.

30:16

That's why he had to leave the game. And

30:19

Charverius Ward was battling it, uh,

30:22

groin injury, core muscle injury, uh,

30:24

late in the season. So they both had that surgery

30:27

and they both should be fine. Uh,

30:29

Charverius Ward just posted on social media

30:31

that he was on a safari down

30:33

in, uh, in Africa. So it

30:36

looks like he's recovering. Okay. He went to

30:38

Dubai is what I've, you know, you kind

30:40

of watch the players and what they

30:42

were there going on the off season. So yeah, he

30:44

was in Dubai and then in Africa. So I

30:47

think he's recovering. Okay. Yeah. He's in

30:49

the Serengeti. Um, speaking

30:51

of being in the Serengeti.

30:54

Uh, wow. Good segue. Well,

30:56

wait till you hear this one. Maybe

30:59

the 49ers continue to be the

31:02

hunter as it comes

31:04

to their six Lombardi trophy, not the hunt. And,

31:07

uh, my guy, Todd shirtless

31:10

wants to know how can the

31:12

49ers finally win a six Super

31:14

Bowl that's all the fans want

31:17

to know and see. So

31:19

the 49ers hunting for that Super Bowl.

31:22

Um, do

31:25

you, I mean, I would just say

31:27

they just need to do what they've

31:29

been doing, put themselves in position

31:31

and, you know,

31:33

they got to make the

31:36

decisions that work out, they need to make

31:38

the plays that work out. They need to

31:41

avoid injuries. Uh, it's

31:43

so many reasons why they ended up

31:45

losing that game to the chiefs as

31:48

there were so many reasons why they ended up

31:50

losing the game to the chiefs back in,

31:53

uh, in Miami. So,

31:56

I mean, I don't think there's any secret formula.

31:59

Uh, they put it in the Serengeti. But they put themselves

32:01

in position, honestly, to win

32:05

four of the last five Super Bowls. And

32:08

twice those seasons have ended

32:10

in the NFC Championship game. Twice

32:13

they've ended at the Super Bowl. But I

32:17

mean, they have

32:19

what it takes to win the Super Bowl. They

32:22

just haven't done it. Yeah.

32:24

And they have made

32:26

strides in, I guess,

32:29

revamping their training and health and

32:32

medical staff because you look at

32:34

it for the last five years,

32:36

they've stayed pretty healthy. I mean,

32:39

there's always injuries in football. But

32:42

you look at what happened, the 2020 season

32:44

was just, I mean, they were riddled with injuries.

32:46

That was when I think almost everybody had an

32:48

ACL after the first two weeks in New

32:50

York, on that awful turf. Outside

32:54

of that year, I mean, I remember

32:56

listing all the players that season who

32:58

had season and injuries. It was

33:00

ridiculous. They've been knock on wood,

33:03

pretty lucky the last couple seasons. Other

33:06

than I would say that injuries

33:10

may have cost them the last three Super

33:12

Bowls. When you think about

33:14

it, you know what I'm saying?

33:16

Like late, late in the season, the

33:19

injuries to the shoulder and to the

33:21

thumb of Jimmy Garoppolo in that was

33:23

2021 season. And

33:27

then, and then the 2022 season, it

33:29

was Brock Purdy with

33:31

the torn elbow leg. And then

33:33

last year, I mean, I really

33:36

think that those injuries to Dre Greenlaw

33:39

and John Feliciano. Speaking

33:41

of that 2021 NFC Championship

33:44

game, which happened in January

33:46

of 2022. One

33:50

thing that I don't know if we ever really talked about

33:52

it, but after the fact, Kyle

33:55

Shanahan talked about how they

33:58

were prepared to have Phillip

34:01

Rivers come out of retirement

34:03

and suit up in the Super Bowl

34:06

if somehow the 49ers had gotten past

34:09

the Philadelphia Eagles. That

34:11

opened up something and it got

34:13

me thinking this week Tom Brady

34:16

was on a podcast and said

34:18

if there was an opportunity for

34:21

him for whichever team late in

34:23

the season playoff run whatever if

34:25

they needed a quarterback

34:29

he at age 47 would would consider

34:32

that option and it got

34:34

me thinking like in

34:37

let's let's realize here

34:40

that it's probably never happened in professional

34:42

football it but it almost happened with

34:44

the 49ers where they had Phillip

34:47

Rivers they had him like dialed

34:49

up and ready to go apparently but

34:51

in the same situation when

34:54

it I mean again it would have to be

34:56

Brock Purdy getting injured would it

34:58

have to be Josh

35:01

Dobbs and Brandon

35:04

Allen getting injured or just or

35:06

just Purdy late

35:09

season we're

35:11

got home field advantage Tom

35:14

will you can you be here we got a game on

35:16

Sunday I don't know if you've been watching but there's a

35:18

game on Sunday can you be here I mean

35:21

I mean of

35:24

any retired quarterback the

35:26

potential for Tom Brady be able to

35:29

do that is the highest of any

35:31

other retired quarterback he's so

35:33

incredibly smart in regards to his

35:35

football IQ he I mean and

35:39

that you know at

35:41

40 and up I think that is

35:43

so like that's got to be at the

35:45

height right he's pushing 50 he's

35:48

closer to 50 than he is 40 yes

35:51

but I mean like for a guy at that age

35:55

they have to be completely

35:57

dialed in mentally because that

35:59

gives us conception advantage because they don't have

36:01

the physical advantage. So the mental advantage

36:04

has to be so high and

36:06

he is incredibly smart at football.

36:09

Okay, so Fred asked, he

36:14

talks about the way the four years are

36:16

building their 90 man roster this year and

36:18

he says it seems significantly different than what

36:20

they've done in the past. I can't put

36:22

my finger on it, but what do you

36:24

think? I don't know

36:27

if it's significantly different but I will

36:29

say this, they've made some acquisitions

36:32

here even late in the

36:34

free agent signing period less

36:37

than two weeks before the draft. I mean they've

36:39

added a couple of cornerbacks

36:42

and we talked about how

36:44

the Charverius Ward and D'Ometre

36:46

Lenoir are fine as starters.

36:49

But what they seem to have done

36:52

is they've gotten more depth at

36:54

cornerback with veteran guys and guys

36:56

who have a lot of experience.

37:00

A guy like, okay, Rock Yossen, who

37:02

has been in the league five years, has

37:04

started a lot of games. In fact, he

37:06

started 39 games in five

37:09

seasons, started off as a

37:11

full-time starter with Indy, played there for

37:13

three years and went to Vegas and

37:15

Baltimore. So he comes in and

37:17

we talked about Isaiah Yatum

37:20

from the Saints who

37:22

played some pretty good football last year. So

37:25

it's kind of like they're bringing in

37:27

more not older

37:29

veteran guys like nine, 10-year vets,

37:31

nothing like that. They're bringing in

37:33

guys who are still

37:35

young enough and

37:38

now I think the pressure really

37:40

turns to Ambry Thomas and Samuel

37:42

Womack. I think Thomas

37:44

has not shown that he's a reliable

37:47

player, so I don't

37:49

think, I think he'll really be tested

37:52

to win a roster spot this

37:54

year. I do think the team

37:56

likes Jarell Lutter a lot, but

37:58

will he have an opportunity? To

38:00

really solidify that role. It just seems like

38:02

they really put an emphasis on Getting

38:06

all the backup guys in the

38:09

camp competition even before they add

38:11

the young guys in the

38:13

draft All right, and they

38:15

have gone they have gone younger Logan Ryan

38:17

announced his retirement And so he

38:19

was a little bit older to Shawn Gibson

38:21

a little bit older as well So, I

38:23

mean if you're gonna say that absolutely they

38:25

went younger in picking up free

38:27

agents in the defensive backfield If

38:30

that's one thing yes, and yeah They

38:35

brought in like like some of

38:37

the cornerbacks or players like for depth

38:39

that they brought in in the past

38:42

Maybe we're older like really on the

38:44

downside And

38:46

I don't think that's the case. There's only

38:48

two free agents 49ers

38:50

free agents who are still unsigned

38:52

to Shawn Gibson and Ross

38:55

D'Oelli You

38:58

know we talked about where the four years could go in

39:00

the draft what about a safety what

39:02

about like a guy Like

39:05

a playmaking guy, you know Jevon

39:08

Bullard from Georgia Mikey Sandristale

39:11

from Michigan guys

39:13

who could play Nickelback, but

39:15

also have playmaking ability At

39:18

safety because another guy who's

39:20

entering the final year of his contract is telling

39:22

know who flinga and if

39:25

he has a good year if we're there don't sign him

39:27

to a To an extension before

39:30

the start of season if he has a

39:32

good year. He's probably gone, right? So

39:34

I would

39:36

think that you look at a guy like

39:38

Kyle Hamilton with the Ravens and

39:41

how he was just a just a game-changing Type

39:43

of player all over the place does a lot

39:45

of different things can line him up in the

39:48

slot He can blitz he can you know play

39:50

coverage on the back end Always

39:52

getting his hands on the football. I

39:54

would think that I Would

39:56

think that when we look at or how

39:58

the 49ers can look at how? their defense

40:00

can take the next step with Nick

40:02

Sorensen and with

40:05

Brandon safely helping it might be to have kind

40:07

of one of these jack-of-all-trades safeties that can do

40:09

a lot of different things this gives them a

40:11

lot more flexibility right yeah

40:13

it could I mean and I think

40:16

any player in that you know the

40:18

defensive backs area from safety to defensive

40:20

backs nickel all that I mean I

40:22

think you know there's always so much

40:24

attrition during the year guys get hurt

40:28

Talano Huifanga is going to be coming back from

40:30

an ACL injury and granted it happened at a

40:32

point in the season where he should be back

40:34

and Kyle Shanahan said at the owners meetings that

40:37

he should be ready to go at training camp but

40:39

you just never know like it you know I think

40:42

kind of adding depth to those positions would be

40:44

good because then there's not pressure on a

40:47

guy coming back from injury to step

40:49

up immediately Drake Greenlaw injured

40:51

you know very late in the season in

40:53

the Super Bowl so you know that's

40:56

maybe a position where you know they do

40:58

have some depth there but maybe it's someone

41:00

they take in the mid round you know

41:03

before the you know first or second day

41:05

fourth round because they know

41:07

Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw are going to be there

41:09

you know once he gets healthy but

41:11

it's not a bad position to add depth in the draft

41:13

as well no I want to think

41:15

so a couple of fans from the

41:18

UK want to know what 49ers chances

41:20

of playing overseas this season an international

41:22

game I don't think it's

41:25

good last I checked

41:27

with somebody high up with

41:29

the 49ers they hadn't heard anything from the league

41:33

49ers do have they won't be

41:35

hosting a game and

41:37

this is a year they have

41:39

nine home games so

41:41

it would almost be an kind of

41:44

an unfair advantage for them to go and and

41:47

have nine home games six

41:50

or what would be nine home game

41:52

seven road games and then

41:55

one neutral site and the one neutral

41:57

site it seems like because of the

41:59

fan base They're always kind of

42:02

the home field advantage or at least

42:04

the home crowd advantage. So

42:06

Mexico City was almost entirely 49ers

42:08

fans. So anywhere

42:10

the foreigners go foreigners faithful

42:13

get in there and they

42:15

make their presence known. Yeah.

42:18

And so I don't think there's going to be any, well,

42:20

I know for a fact there will be no Mexico games

42:22

this year. Right. And

42:24

Aztec stadium is undergoing a renovation for the

42:27

2026 world cup. So

42:29

I'm assuming there won't be any games

42:32

in 2025 either in Mexico. Could

42:36

be wrong on that. But I would think that

42:38

that will probably be, or at

42:41

least that's the odds are that

42:43

the foreigners next international game will

42:45

probably be Mexico City or Mexico.

42:49

So the league sends out all those memos

42:52

about the different countries and what teams

42:54

are kind of represented

42:56

in those countries. And the foreigners are

42:58

the top team in Mexico. So I

43:00

would, it makes sense that the foreigners

43:02

would be the net the opening or

43:04

I guess the reopening team of Mexico City.

43:08

Uh, Paul asks, uh, Paul Hope

43:10

asks, what do you and JLC

43:12

make of the UK faithful? I

43:16

mean, come on, we love them. Yeah. I

43:18

mean, I mean, all international fans

43:20

are fantastic, but we've met a ton of

43:23

UK fans. We've met a ton of Germany

43:25

fans. Um, just, it's, it's

43:27

very cool that when you go to

43:29

a, you know, a stadium,

43:31

we go to away games and we meet

43:34

people from all over the country, all over

43:36

the world that make their journeys to wherever

43:38

the foreigners are playing. And it's always fun

43:40

to meet people when we're running around covering

43:42

the team. So everybody's

43:44

always been fantastic. Hey, Jennifer, on

43:46

May 16th, you and I

43:49

will be very accessible at

43:51

the Dwight Clark legacy thing. And

43:53

I'm sure there's going to be our front

43:56

row is going to consist of at least

43:58

six guys from Arkansas. the

44:00

trip California theater in San

44:02

Jose for the Dwight Clark legacy series for

44:05

all the information you need go

44:08

to Dwight Clark award.com Steve

44:11

Young Jeff Garcia Alex Smith and Brock

44:13

Purdy con the headliners There will be

44:15

a Dwight Clark award given out to

44:17

a current team member for being In

44:19

the spirit of Dwight Clark and all-around

44:22

great guy and great teammates, but I've

44:24

also heard Maine Nashville

44:27

people from all over and

44:29

if anyone comes internationally

44:32

get in touch with us and I guarantee you

44:34

Jennifer and I will go out of our way

44:36

to say hi and We'll

44:40

do that with anybody coming from anywhere,

44:42

but especially if you're making the effort to come from out

44:45

of state that's That's

44:48

dedication right there. But that also kind

44:50

of goes along with what you're

44:52

saying. I mean we've Everywhere

44:55

we go. There are great

44:57

supporters of the 49ers and Thankfully

45:01

great supporters of this podcast Yeah

45:04

I mean we've met so many fun people

45:06

and we see a lot of the same

45:08

people over and over again because everybody is

45:10

so Faithful, so thank you. Oh, I see what you

45:12

did there. Uh-huh I'm

45:14

learning from the best here But

45:17

you know, thank you for listening

45:19

and subscribing and reviewing we appreciate

45:21

it Yes, and so we'll continue

45:23

to talk about the draft Hopefully

45:26

our various word arrives back

45:28

in the United States from his Safari Here's

45:32

my thing with these safaris because I've talked

45:34

to people who are out there in those

45:36

Jeeps. Yeah, and like There's

45:39

lions like, you know, ten feet

45:41

away from them Did

45:45

he really okay and so I've always heard and

45:47

I think our friend Nick Waggoner He did a

45:50

safari like two or three years ago and

45:52

I don't know if he was the one who told me but

45:55

I've been told that if you're safe if you're

45:57

in the Jeep because Lions

46:00

see the Jeep as like one

46:02

big animal or whatever and so

46:04

they're not going to they don't

46:06

see the individual people Inside the

46:08

Jeep my thing is I just

46:11

don't want to be there when the first lion

46:13

figures it out Right

46:18

I don't know I want to do it so okay well

46:21

Then I might be looking for a new partner here on

46:23

40 matters back. All right, this has been

46:25

for the Irish talk Thanks for tuning in and we'll

46:27

be back at you real soon If

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you travel, you know when it comes to love. See you

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