• 2 days ago
Transcript
00:00River Island's guest line is where we find our good friend Matt Barrows of The Athletic.
00:04Hey Matt, what's going on today?
00:06I'm great.
00:07Are you guys solving all of the 49ers off-season conundrums?
00:12We are about to.
00:13Yep.
00:14Yep.
00:15With your help.
00:16With your help.
00:17Yep.
00:18Yep.
00:19That's what you're doing here.
00:20I'm, yeah, I'm willing to, let's put our heads together.
00:22Between the three of us, we ought to be able to solve it.
00:26All right.
00:27Well, here's where I want to go first.
00:28Do you think this team, we know they need work on the lines, on both lines, but do you
00:33think that the draft is where they attack the defensive line?
00:38Or do you think a Max Crosby, a Miles Garrett, or a Joey Bosa will play football in the red
00:43and gold next year?
00:45I think that the strength of this draft is at the defensive line, especially defensive
00:51tackle.
00:52Does that mean that that's the only area with which they'll use to bulk up the lines, the
01:01defensive line?
01:02I don't think so, but I think that they know that.
01:06And the other part of that equation is that the team is going to have a lot of big salaries
01:13very soon.
01:15And so they really need to start concentrating on the draft to get all of those inexpensive
01:21rookie salaries as part of their cap.
01:24So that's how I see it going.
01:27Does that mean that they're just going to ignore Miles Garrett and ignore Max Crosby
01:32if they become available?
01:33No.
01:34This is the team that likes to be at the table.
01:36They like to know what's going on.
01:38They want to have the opportunity, if it comes by, to say, you know what, I think we can
01:44do this.
01:45Let's send Cleveland a first-round pick and a second-round pick for Miles Garrett.
01:52So I wouldn't be surprised if their name is associated with, say, Miles Garrett.
01:56But my sense is that the draft is where they'll do most of their business this offseason.
02:02And part of their business has to center around Brock Purdy and the extension.
02:06And I know it was a lesser deal, but Andy Dalton had a contract extension done today.
02:12What do you think the timeline is for Brock Purdy to get his money?
02:17I think the conversations start to begin very soon.
02:23The scouting combine is when Prague Marathe and those guys usually sit down with the agents
02:29of the upcoming free agents.
02:31So that includes Brock Purdy, Talano Hufanga, Dre Greenlaw, Traverius Ward.
02:37And they get the lay of the land.
02:42They get to find out whether it's possible that they can get one of these guys back.
02:48Having said that, usually the closer you get to free agency, which is March 12th this year,
02:55the less likely it is you're going to resign one of your free agents.
02:59But they're going to want to see what the market is.
03:02So with that in mind, I think it's getting more and more likely that these guys at least
03:08get to the open market.
03:10Hufanga and Greenlaw, I don't think Traverius Ward is coming back, and see what's out there
03:17for them.
03:18And there's reason to think that they might not find what they're looking for in free
03:22agency, and that they do come back, perhaps on a one-year deal.
03:26But I think that all those conversations, and I know that Brock Purdy isn't a free agent,
03:30but those kind of dinner meetings with the agents start to begin very soon.
03:38Matt Burrows, The Athletic, speaking of available players, now I'm going to predict how you're
03:44going to answer this question, and maybe you'll surprise me, and I'll look silly.
03:48But Matt, I keep getting emails about odds of things in the NFL, and the 49ers are consistently
03:57either the second or the third favorite to be where Aaron Rodgers plays football next
04:02year.
04:03Will you please, with purpose, explain to the world on 95-7 the game that both Aaron
04:10Rodgers will not be the quarterback of the 49ers next year, and will you explain why
04:15Aaron Rodgers will not be the quarterback of the 49ers next year?
04:18Well, I don't think they would be in the Aaron Rodgers market right away.
04:25The only way I can see that happening is that somehow this Brock Purdy situation goes
04:31south.
04:32You know, it takes a Brett and Iyuke turn, if you will, and he's not in camp, or there's
04:38something happening, and they're looking for somebody, you know, going into training camp
04:43or something like that.
04:44But I think, you know, we've listened to John Lynch, we've listened to Kyle Shanahan, we've
04:48listened to Brock Purdy, I mean, all three of those guys, the principals in this, want
04:54this deal to happen.
04:55So I don't think that the 49ers are going to be flirting with Aaron Rodgers while they're
05:00trying to get this deal done.
05:02I don't think that's the right message that they want to send, not the right message they
05:06want to send to Purdy or to Purdy's teammates at this point.
05:10And you know, I forget how old Aaron Rodgers is, but it would only be a stopgap.
05:17Brock Purdy is a long-term deal for this team.
05:20So in terms of business, and I believe Rodgers is 40, I think he turned 40 this past season,
05:25which is...
05:26Oh, that's so old!
05:27I mean, Tom Brady played until he was 45, but this is not that.
05:31But as far as other business in the offseason, where does the Debo Samuel trade request slot
05:38in, in terms of order of operations for the Niners?
05:42I mean, they've allowed him to seek a trade, they're going to listen to any trade offers,
05:47they hope that trade offers come in, you know, the big catch there is that, you know,
05:53they're willing to part ways with Debo Samuel because he's got this big, what is it, $15.4
05:58million bonus that comes due, an option bonus that comes due on March 22.
06:05So anything that trades for him, you're either going to have to kind of pick up all of that
06:10contract stuff that's written in now, or you have to negotiate a new deal with him.
06:16So I'm not exactly sure how eager teams are to do that.
06:21It could happen, the 49ers are hoping it would happen, but it seems to me like if you're
06:26a team that is interested in Debo Samuel, maybe you wait for him to be released and,
06:33you know, his contract starts over again.
06:36So let's talk about that wide receiver room, under the assumption that Debo is not in it.
06:41Brandon Aiyu coming off the injury, don't know if he'll be ready for the start of the
06:44year.
06:46Do you think they've got enough in there, or do they need to make another addition?
06:48Yeah, I think they have to make another addition until they're sure that Brandon Aiyu is going
06:52to come back at the start of the season in full strength.
06:55And I think that that's, I mean, I think the timeline for him, and no one said it, it's
07:00too early to have a concrete timeline on it, but usually his ACL occurred on October 20.
07:08Usually it's at least eight months, and probably nine before he's back at full strength.
07:13So, you know, we're talking about him not starting training camp on time, him sort of
07:19ramping up to speed, so I think that's a really good question about whether he's back at full
07:26speed by, you know, September 8 or whenever week one is.
07:30So then you have a situation where you've got Juwan Jennings playing that X position,
07:36and you've got Ricky Pearsall playing the other spot, and then it's the question of
07:40who's number three.
07:43Jacob Cowling is probably the leader in the clubhouse right there, but, I mean, that's
07:47not a very deep wide receiver group.
07:49So I think that that's a position that they have to find a veteran, there are going to
07:54be a lot of veterans available.
07:57Amari Cooper is one, if the 49ers had traded Aiyu to the Cleveland Browns last year, they
08:04would have gotten Amari Cooper in return.
08:07So there's some attractiveness, attraction there between the 49ers and Cooper, but he's
08:14not a long-term solution.
08:16But he could be somebody who chills in for a month and a half while Aiyu is getting his
08:23legs back.
08:24But yeah, I think that's sort of an overlooked position that probably needs to be addressed
08:30somewhat this offseason.
08:31I think Linebacker, just talking about Drake Greenlaw, they said goodbye today to Demetrius
08:38Flanagan-Fowles, he's been on the team since 2019.
08:42He could be back, but it's not a very deep group right now.
08:46After Fred Warner, there's a lot of question marks.
08:49So that's another spot where they could stand to bring somebody in, probably in pre-agency
08:54and in the draft.
08:56Would Devontae Adams be of interest if he's available?
08:59I think he would be.
09:00I mean, he's expressed a desire to come back out this way, come back out West.
09:07He'd like to play for a contender, so that puts the 49ers in the mix.
09:13It also puts the Rams in the mix, and it puts the Chargers in the mix as well.
09:18And the Chargers seem to be the leaders in the clubhouse right now, but that's certainly
09:24a possibility.
09:25Some of these veteran guys, some guys are going to be available via trade, some guys
09:31through free agency, but there are a lot of well-known wide receivers, most of them on
09:37the wrong side of 30 years old, who will be available.
09:40And so if you're looking for a short timer, which I presume the 49ers are, it's a good
09:47off-season for them.
09:49How are they looking cap room-wise?
09:51I know last year, toward the end of the regular season, they were No. 1 in cap room, and once
09:57you get to the off-season, I know a lot of those numbers reset.
10:00Considering Brock is going to get an extension, all of which won't kick in immediately, but
10:05outside of the Brock contract, how are they fixed for other additions?
10:11They have room, and they can do a lot with that.
10:16One of my questions is, they went into last year's off-season with a to-do list of contracts,
10:24and out of the blue, Christian McCaffrey wanted his deal redone, and Trent Williams wanted
10:33his deal redone, and the Williams one took a long time.
10:37My point is that there's always one or two that crop up, and I could see Fred Warner
10:44saying, listen, my deal looks old right now, I'd like to redress it.
10:52I know that you guys have talked about George Kittle going into the final year of his deal.
10:56He probably would like an extension as well, so it's not just the ones who are coming up
11:02for a free agency this year.
11:04There might be some other ones that pop up, so all of those are going to be huge money
11:09deals that they have to fit into these future caps somehow.
11:13I think, as usual, it'll be a mix of contracts that pay out or count against the cap immediately,
11:22and some that they put off for later.
11:26That's the balancing act that they have to figure out over the next, I don't know, three
11:31to four years.
11:32Matt Barrow's The Athletic talking it out with us here, Willard and Dibbs.
11:35What do you think they're going to do about Jordan Mason?
11:38That's a good one, because this draft class is supposed to be a special one when it comes
11:46to a running back, so the 49ers could calculate that any team that's looking for a new running
11:56back or looking to bolster their running back core isn't going to spend money on Jordan
12:01Mason.
12:02They're going to wait until the draft, and one of these great rookies that are coming
12:05in would be cheaper.
12:07They may end up doing the lowest tender amount possible for Jordan Mason.
12:14I think that they like Isaac Arendo very much as the possible number two running back behind
12:20Christian McCaffrey.
12:21Both of those guys were injured last year, so was Jordan Mason for that matter.
12:26They have to think about their depth at that position, but I don't think that it's going
12:31to be a high tender amount, certainly not the first or maybe not even the second round
12:36level.
12:37Is it hubris, or is it a nod to the system that Kyle Shanahan seems to be able to get
12:42away with unknown running backs year after year behind Christian McCaffrey?
12:46Yeah, I mean, they've got a track record of that.
12:50It's him, and it's really Bobby Turner who does exhaustive work at that position.
12:56I mean, he's already been grinding film, and he starts to kind of call all of the running
13:03backs that he likes just to make sure that they're the right type of person, they have
13:07the right work ethic, that they'll call him back on time.
13:11Bobby Turner has very, very old school sentiments, and so he kind of wants to have players that
13:21will basically be coachable, and he starts to kind of find that out right now, late February,
13:28March, April is when he starts to do all that work.
13:32So I would think that the 49ers would feel confident that they could come out of this
13:36draft, and I'm including the undrafted guys as well, with a good player.
13:42With a Jordan Mason, with a Matt Breida, with a, you know, there have been lots of other
13:47guys as well, late round picks and undrafted guys who have ran very well for this team.
13:54So you know, they've been quite good at that over the years.
13:59Matt, I've sort of contradicted myself in the last couple of months, because I always
14:04say it's really hard to recreate the past, and then in the next breath I'm like, I am
14:08so in favor of this Robert Sala thing.
14:12But you tell me, how's this going to go?
14:17With Robert Sala, I mean, I agree with you, there seems to be a return to 2019 kind of
14:23slogan here, where they're getting Sala back, and they're trying to find a bookend for Nick
14:30Bosa and all that stuff.
14:33One big difference is that Sala came in, and he had DeForest Buckner, he had Eric Armstead,
14:39he had B.J. Jones, in 2019 they traded for D. Ford, and they drafted Nick Bosa, number
14:46two overall.
14:48He had a loaded defensive line at jump, and he's coming in and finding that defensive
14:54line probably worse overall than it was at any point when he was with the 49ers.
15:02So that's got to be job one for Robert Sala, and I know he's probably out there trying
15:07to convince Gray Greenlaw to come back for one more season, I'm sure Fred Warner is doing
15:12the same, I'm sure there's a lot of lobbying going on, but to get back to your very first
15:17question, I mean, I think defensive line has to be a priority for him and for his team
15:23this offseason.
15:24Are you getting any sense of the market outside the building for Gray Greenlaw?
15:28Do you think it's a certainty that the Niners are going to be able to bring him back at
15:33a decent price?
15:35I don't think it's a certainty, because, you know, in the 49ers' favor, you have the fact
15:41that he was coming off an Achilles last year, he played exactly one half of football.
15:46That's going to make most teams hesitant about giving him a big-money deal.
15:51The 49ers would probably be more apt to do that, because they know who Gray Greenlaw
15:56is, but the hitch is that there's some other guys out there in the NFL who know exactly
16:02who Gray Greenlaw is as well, and I'm talking about Adam Peters with the Washington Commanders,
16:09there's some coaches out there, D'Amico Ryans, for example, Ethan Wall is the interim GM
16:16in Jacksonville.
16:18He was with the 49ers when they drafted Greenlaw in 2019, so there are some very easily identifiable
16:28suitors out there for him.
16:30And the other part of the equation is, I wonder whether Greenlaw just wants an opportunity
16:38to be the guy at linebacker somewhere else.
16:42Aziz Alshair got that opportunity in Tennessee a couple years ago and is now the middle linebacker
16:49in Houston under D'Amico Ryans.
16:52You know, if Gray Greenlaw stays here, he's second fiddle to Fred Warner, probably for
16:57the rest of his career.
16:59So, you know, I wouldn't be surprised if, you know, in his heart of hearts, he wants
17:05to kind of strike out, get a big deal, but also be a guy to prove to everyone that he
17:13can be the Fred Warner for his own team.
17:16Matt, great stuff, man.
17:18Wonderful to have you, and here we go.
17:20And by the way, when do you think something may happen here?
17:25When do you think the next sort of newsworthy Niner thing is?
17:28Yeah, it's going to be at the scouting combine.
17:32The combine begins Tuesday of next week.
17:35Like I said, that's when, you know, the GM will be there.
17:40Lynch will talk to the other GMs about trade stuff.
17:43They'll get an idea about what the market is for their guys.
17:46I'd say coming out of that week is when we have our first real news of the offseason.
17:51Okay, we're looking forward to it.
17:53Matty, thank you, man.
17:54Great stuff, as always.
17:55All right, anytime, guys.
17:56Talk to you soon.
17:57Okay, there it is.
17:58That's Matt Barrows of the Athletic Zone.