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00:00Oh, you go first. What's your answer? Niners need another receiver?
00:04Uh, do they need another receiver? Yes, they do.
00:07Okay, now what do you mean by that?
00:09Well, what I mean is, you've got, right now, as it sits, you've got Debo Samuel,
00:15not what I would consider a prototypical receiver. He's a football player and he's a good one.
00:21You've got a tight end who's a really good receiver.
00:24So, if you want to rank your receivers right now, George Kittle is number one on your team.
00:29Number two is probably Jawan Jennings.
00:32And, okay, what can he do for an encore?
00:35If he can do what he did this year, next year, that's great.
00:38And then your number three receiver for me is a toss-up between Debo Samuel and Ricky Pearsall.
00:46I don't think that Debo Samuel is really a prototypical receiver.
00:50He's a football player. He's a guy who you want to have the football in his hands,
00:55but he oftentimes doesn't run a lot of routes and do a lot of catching of the football in a traditional way.
01:02I mean, I think it's important for people to hear what Stink just told us about Jawan Jennings,
01:08who we all have these wonderful feelings about right now, and we should.
01:12He overperformed. He did some things that I certainly didn't think he could do at the beginning of the year.
01:17But he was playing Brandon Iyuk's position.
01:22We call wide receivers, well, there's the one and the wide receiver two and the wide receiver three,
01:27and that's very fantasy football-esque in the way that our minds as fans work.
01:32But there are positions. There's the X, and that's right.
01:36That's what Jawan was playing this year, and he's not as good at that as Brandon is.
01:41That's not what Jawan has done in the past.
01:44And in theory, I would bet that if they come back next year and Brandon's not ready,
01:51I would bet that Ricky is going to get that position.
01:54That's my projection, my prediction if you want.
02:00I don't think they need another receiver, at least not as far as allocation of resources.
02:05If you're talking about an early pick or some sort of a free, do they need some more bodies?
02:11Sure. I don't know yet what their plans are for Jacob Cowling and the Chris Conleys of the world,
02:17but if you're asking me if your core receiving core can be
02:23Pearsall, Debo, Jennings, and when Iyuk gets there, call it week five,
02:30I think that's all right. I'm okay with that.
02:35I don't think it's good enough, and it's kind of a mixed answer because on the one hand, it's not good enough,
02:42but on the other hand, you don't do, as we've talked a lot about,
02:46and I don't want to bore you with personnel groupings because I know your eyes glaze over when I hit you with 21 personnel,
02:52but they do run a lot of two running back, one tight end, which is two wide receivers.
02:58They do a lot of 22, which is two tight ends, two running backs, one receiver.
03:03They don't do a lot of three receiver. They almost do no four receivers,
03:08but I look at if your three receivers are Pearsall, Jennings, and Debo,
03:13and I know Brandon will be back by week two, three, four, one, five, seven.
03:19Don't forget Christian might be on the field now, and that changes things as far as throwing the ball.
03:23It does, it does, but I look at this year when you didn't have Christian.
03:27You had Christian for two games, two and a half, roughly.
03:31It felt like they had the Christian that we know for a half of football in Buffalo in the snow,
03:36but I don't know, it was three or four.
03:39You never had Brandon, Christian, George, Debo.
03:42No, you never had Brandon and Christian, period.
03:45Right, and so you had Brandon for about three games, one of which was good.
03:49You had Christian for about three games, a half of which was good.
03:53You had Debo all year, and it was really up and down.
03:57George Kittle was amazing, and Jawan was fantastic, and Ricky Pearsall, my god,
04:01the last two or three weeks was like, all right, Ricky.
04:05I'm high on Ricky Pearsall, big time.
04:07I'm excited about Ricky, but when I look at other teams against whom you're going to compete
04:11and you want to compare just receiving groups and take your top three against their top three,
04:17and Detroit's better, Green Bay's better, Minnesota is better.
04:21I'm not going to argue that, but I don't look at it that way.
04:25Seattle's is better.
04:26But I don't look at it that way.
04:28It's not about like I'm going to take your receivers and you put my receivers
04:31and let's stand them next to each other in the hallway and you tell me which you want.
04:35I look at it more in terms of the entire offense that is playing.
04:39Yeah, and I'm with you.
04:41If you give Brock Purdy a good offensive line, if Christian McCaffrey's out there,
04:46if Kittle's your tight end and your receivers are Pearsall, Jennings, Debo,
04:51and some IUK when he gets there, I think the defenses will have a problem.
04:56That's what I would say.
04:57Well, I would say that that, when healthy, is pretty good,
05:01but it still is not as good as what Seattle will roll out.
05:04Oh, I think it's way better than what Seattle will roll out.
05:07Smith and Jigba and having D.K. Metcalf and Lockett.
05:11Yeah, but in a completely different system.
05:13I think Lockett, by the way, is absolutely on the way down.
05:16I think their quarterback is worse.
05:17You think he's lost a step?
05:18Yeah, that's right.
05:19Jackson Smith and Jigba has taken over.
05:21And D.K. Metcalf is still the truth.
05:23Yeah, he's a very good player.
05:25He's a crazy person.
05:26That's fine.
05:27Yeah, he's very up and down.
05:28I look at Arizona's up-and-coming core with a great tight end and Harrison Jr.
05:35Harrison Jr. was mildly disappointing.
05:38Better rookie year than Ricky Pearsall.
05:40I mean, what are we doing?
05:43Are we having a discussion?
05:44Yes, we're having a discussion.
05:46And you look at Green Bay, they're better.
05:48Minnesota's better.
05:49Detroit's better.
05:50So do they need a better wide receiver?
05:53I would say yes.
05:54Now, do I want them to spend $30 million on the guy?
05:56No.
05:57High draft capital on the guy?
05:58No.
05:59Is there a veteran you could bring in a la, I don't know, Anquan Boldin when you brought him in toward the end of his career?
06:06I don't mind that, but it's like whoever you're bringing in, what are you asking them to do?
06:10If you're high on Ricky Pearsall and you say you are, and I am, well, now, like when Brandon gets back, you're four deep.
06:18You don't have a lot.
06:19Like you've said this many times, it's not that many balls to go around in San Francisco.
06:23Right, right.
06:24Don't throw the ball as much as others, and they've got all these mouths to feed.
06:27What would you be asking someone else to come in and do?
06:30At least.
06:31There's not that much to do.
06:32Well, you can at least be a depth piece.
06:34Sure, I don't mind that.
06:37I don't know about Debo Samuel as a true wide receiver, and I look at this year.
06:43Kittle had 78 catches, Juwan had 77, and then big drop down to Debo and Ricky Pearsall.
06:51Another huge drop down to Ricky, and Ayuk was never really able to get going.
06:56I don't know what he's going to be, so I wouldn't mind a little insurance.
07:00I don't mind that.
07:01I don't want to pay three years and 60 million for a guy.
07:05You're talking depth pieces.
07:06Yeah.
07:07I don't mind that.
07:08Yeah, if you want to veteran something here or there or whatever, make it a little deeper
07:12so that when there are injuries or if Brandon struggles, we don't end up with Ronnie Bell on the field.
07:17Exactly.
07:18I'm with you there.
07:19And this year you had Ronnie Bell, and you had Chris Conley.
07:21God love him, but he wasn't a guy who was ever able to really contribute,
07:26and I don't have a lot of faith in Debo as a guy who's going to go out there and be a receiver.
07:33For me, he's become more of a change of pace guy, running back.
07:37I think he can be who he has been in the past.
07:40I'm still pro-Debo, man.
07:42I'm still pro-ish Debo.
07:44I want that guy on this team, and I have full, full belief that if the system all gets back,
07:50like Shlareth was talking about, if this gets healthy, if the offensive line produces better,
07:55I am still very, very pro-Debo.
07:58I still think he's the same guy he's always been, which is your job is to get him the ball in space,
08:03and then he's very, very dangerous.
08:05All of a sudden this year, this became this thing.
08:09Debo's not a traditional receiver.
08:11He's never been one.
08:12He never was.
08:13And you didn't give him the ball as a running back because...
08:16He can still do all the things he used to do.
08:18I mean, can he?
08:19I think so.
08:20I don't think so.
08:22I don't think so.
08:23And, you know, I think that he took, I'm not saying that he lost a step,
08:27but he took a step back in whether or not it was the offense, the scheme, him, all the above.
08:34But you look at him as a running back, and he was one of the least efficient running backs in all the football.
08:39There's one thing that I would say about the wide receiver core.
08:43It's not so much a person or where he would be in the pecking order.
08:47I don't know if this is just anti-Shanahan philosophy.
08:52I would love to see the 49ers be able to stretch the field a little bit further with their speed.
08:58I would love for someone to scare the defense over the top.
09:02You sound like Stiney right now.
09:03Well, they're so good right around the line of scrimmage.
09:06They can be so creative.
09:08And Purdy is so good in the middle of the field.
09:10And Kittle is good in there.
09:12And Juwan is good in there.
09:13And Christian McCaffrey, my God, is just like a weapon of all weapons right there.
09:18And they do so many things there.
09:21I feel like the defenses now, we all know that they're like, we're going man.
09:26And they're just pressing up against the line of scrimmage.
09:30I want someone to come out and scare them where they're like, wait a minute.
09:33We got to make sure that that guy doesn't fly over the top.
09:36And they didn't have that this year.
09:38And even the guys who can sort of do that.
09:40IU can sort of do that.
09:42And then he was gone.
09:43And then you ended up with Juwan Jennings and Debo Samuel.
09:46And you're like, what?
09:48And I think Ricky can do that a little bit.
09:50And the guy who can do it is Garendo.
09:53And they did that out of the backfield a few times where they run the wheel route.
09:56And you get a guy with 4-3-40 speed into space.
09:59That's not exactly what you're talking about.
10:01Right, I'm talking about a receiver.
10:03Right, just off the line.
10:05And boom, you're gone.
10:06And we're going to go seven steps.
10:07And we're going to chuck it.
10:08I think what they wanted Danny Gray to be.
10:10Right.
10:11And wasn't.
10:12Yeah.
10:13And I don't think that this year the offense didn't have the O-line protection to do that.
10:19Right.
10:20And I don't think that Kyle Shanahan is normally built to want to do that a lot.
10:24But I'm with you.
10:25Like, a time or two, let's go ahead and cut it loose, as Lo Neal would say.
10:30Yeah.
10:31And they didn't do that this year at all.
10:32And maybe it's not their strength.
10:33I get it, right?
10:34Like, I mean, Brock Purdy is not.
10:36He's not got the biggest gun in the league, obviously.
10:39Yeah.
10:40It's never been Kyle Shanahan's thing.
10:42It's never.
10:43That offense is never.
10:45Whether it's been Jimmy, Brock, whatever.
10:47It's never.
10:48This has never been like, let's just chuck it, bro.
10:50Like, we're not.
10:51Right.
10:52The Niners are not the Raiders.
10:53That's not what they want to do.
10:54And so that's fine.
10:55I would just.
10:56I mean it more.
10:57Not like decoy is the wrong word, but I'd love to see the defense be scared about what
11:02could happen over their head.
11:03A threat.
11:04It's like you as a parent where it's like, you know, the idea of.
11:07No threat.
11:08No, wow.
11:09I mean, in a vacuum, all of us as parents, like.
11:12Kids are looking at me like, what are you going to do?
11:14Dude, that's.
11:15I mean, that's like me with a two year old.
11:16It's like, if you don't clean up your toys and my wife looks at me and goes, she's too.
11:22And I say, she knows exactly what I'm saying.
11:25That's my favorite.
11:26When parents are like, well, when the kids get old enough to where they can look at you
11:30and they're going to be like, totally calling your bluff.
11:33Yeah.
11:34Like you walk into Disneyland and that kid is misbehaving and you're just like, if you
11:38don't shape up, we're out of here.
11:40And the kid looks at you and goes, I know how much you spent to get in here.
11:44You ain't going anywhere.
11:45Thousand bucks, dad.
11:46It's the whole idea.
11:47I'm out.
11:48I'm out.
11:49The if then proposition, what you want from Kyle is to be able to look at the defense
11:54and say, if you don't respect our deep threat, then.
11:58We're going to pop one over your head.
11:59We may leave Disneyland.
12:00That's right.
12:01We're going home.
12:02We're going home.
12:03And right now the defense is like, we know what you paid, Shanahan.
12:05You're not going anywhere.
12:06We know you're in love with time of possession.
12:08We know you love three yards and a cloud of must and all the rest of it.
12:12So I'm with you in a vacuum, but I just don't think that Kyle is, I can honestly say he's
12:18not built for that.
12:19Oh, nice shot.
12:20Yeah.
12:21Um, well let's hear from some people on this, by the way, uh, those of you who are, uh,
12:25I can honestly say I'm sort of built for this.
12:27Excited.
12:28As excited about T O's appearance as we are.
12:30He's coming.
12:31I think we just got a phone call low behind schedule.
12:34No surprise.
12:35That's the way life works.
12:36And he'll be here maybe a little bit closer to four 30 than four.
12:39Okay.
12:40But T O in studio, um, is on the way.
12:44Never fear.
12:45T O will be here.
12:46Let's go to Austin in the city.
12:48Hi, Austin.
12:49Thanks for the call.
12:50Hey, no worries.
12:51Thank you too.
12:52Hey, I want to say this.
12:54We do need a rival receiver.
12:56Shanahan really messed up in the draft.
12:58We'll need a draft all the way down and get Trey Larson passed up on Jamar Chase.
13:02That helps you beat two over the top and take so much pressure off.
13:06And then I did Devo for the slants.
13:08We can't beat, we can't gain separation with the receivers we have.
13:11So I don't want to go on the next season, not gaining separation.
13:14And then only last separation we have with standards.
13:17And he came in with an ACL and awful ACL injury.
13:20And how many of the super bowl quarterbacks we're going to waste?
13:24Well, yes, I believe we do need a wide receiver that can beat you deep.
13:29Austin.
13:30Can I ask you this though?
13:31The separation thing, which we've never worried about in the past until this year.
13:36And all of a sudden this year, you're not, you're not wrong.
13:39Like, you're not wrong.
13:40They struggle with that this year.
13:41Even in the past with Cal Shanahan, even in the past, barely gaining separation.
13:45I mean.
13:46Until we got standards.
13:48That made Jimmy G throw the ball down the field and throw the intercept.
13:52He was throwing a ball down the field.
13:53Right.
13:54But that's going.
13:55And all these super bowl quarterbacks.
13:56But that's going way back.
13:57Like my point would be that as certainly as long as Christian McCaffrey has been on this team,
14:04if we just go back that far, if we do that, which has been a couple of years now,
14:09I don't think the Niners have struggled with separation.
14:13Because the defense, their eyes, and I think that's what Slareth is getting at.
14:19Like their defense, Cal Shanahan's really good at getting the defense's eyes to dart all over the place.
14:25Pre-snap motion, lots of different weapons, things happening behind the line of scrimmage.
14:30And when you start taking the personnel out that's really good at that,
14:34the defense this year didn't have darting eyes as much,
14:38therefore making it harder man-on-man coverage for people to get open.
14:42And they were largely people who don't do that.
14:45Debo and Juwan.
14:47So I'm not disagreeing with you.
14:49I just think the infusion of some new personnel back, whether it's McCaffrey, Ayuk,
14:53and now an experienced Pearsall, I think that separation stat may change.
15:00It may or may not, but next year, coming next year, if we don't gain separation,
15:04if I'm a defensive team, I run the man all game.
15:07I'm running it all game.
15:09We have not shown that we can beat anyone deep.
15:12Besides Brendan Jennings and Brendan Ayuk.
15:16And Brendan Jennings is a low-budget, what's his name, Michael McCaffrey.
15:23Other than that...
15:25You mean Juwan Jennings, I know you mean Juwan Jennings.
15:28Brendan Jennings used to be a nice left-handed shooter for like Milwaukee Bucks or whatever.
15:32Anyway, yeah, awesome, thank you.
15:34Mr. Jennings, Keith Jennings, former Warrior.
15:36Yes, yes.
15:37As we run through all our Jennings.
15:39We're all going to do this when we say it may work, it may not.
15:43Well, right.
15:45The Niners under Kyle Shanahan have never been a beat-you-over-the-top team.
15:51I'm with you that I'd love to see that threat.
15:54But even if that threat is there, let's be real.
15:56It's not like that's going to be their bread and butter.
15:58It will never be Kyle Shanahan's bread and butter.
16:00No, it's always going to be with the fullback half the time.
16:03And using the tight end and two tight ends.
16:06And running a lot of play action.
16:08And the underneath and between the numbers and all the rest of it.
16:11I did find it interesting, Mark.
16:13And you kind of came back at me on our show Thread today.
16:15You're like, or Lucas was like, put this into context.
16:19What does that mean?
16:20I was looking at the numbers of the most 20-yard receptions by team.
16:26And the Niners had the most.
16:27So, we all want them to throw the ball deep.
16:30But the Niners led football in most pass plays that resulted in 20 yards or more.
16:36They were number one?
16:38Number one.
16:39And they were number two in percentage of completions.
16:42Only Green Bay had a higher percentage.
16:44I think that's why when you hear George Kittle go,
16:46Dude, we move the ball up and down the field all year.
16:48And you guys suck.
16:49Number one.
16:50You guys suck, but he's not wrong.
16:52And that's where we were talking before about net yards.
16:54They were top five again for the sixth straight year in net yards.
16:59Yards gained versus yards allowed.
17:01They, again, were in the top five.
17:04And yet you were 6-11.
17:06So, it's a lot of things more than just throw it down the field.