KGMZ-FM / 95.7 THE GAME
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Transcript
00:00Willard and dibs. What do you think is going to happen in this game, Sting?
00:04Um, that's a great, that's a great, I think it's going to be a really tight game.
00:08On 95-7, the game.
00:12That's a great, that's a great.
00:16Signing? Uh, yeah. Luke Gifford. Yeah, it's big.
00:20His name's Luke, right? Who are you? Did I get it? His name's Luke.
00:24Both their free agent signings are Luke's. Couple of Luke's, yeah.
00:28A fucking tight end and a special teams ace. They're so bad.
00:32Does Nick have another brother named Luke Bosa? Forget that guy.
00:36Yeah, Christian does. I will say this, it's not exciting and nobody cares,
00:40but if we're going to spend a whole season screaming about how awful their special teams were,
00:44then maybe we shouldn't scoff at them signing special teams aces.
00:48Because that's who this guy is. That's fair.
00:52This guy is, he is a well-traveled special teams ace,
00:56and signing special teams was embarrassing last year.
01:00So, okay, like yeah, not sexy, not fun, don't know who he is,
01:04probably won't mention his name much ever again, but okay.
01:08Yes, go fix your special teams. That sounds fine.
01:12And you're replacing a guy who had one of the greatest special teams plays in franchise history
01:16in Teleno Hufanga. Hufanga?
01:20With a blocked punt that turned into points in a game where points were hard to come by.
01:24So, that's one of those things where, yeah, get your special teams better.
01:28I like it. That feels more like a day four, day five free agency move,
01:32but if that's where we are, then let's go crazy. Let's just backfill this thing.
01:36Well, I guess the guy who was with the Titans and their special teams coordinator
01:40is now an assistant with the Niners, and so he probably said, go get that guy.
01:44And he's also, by trade, he's a linebacker. And he picked off Joe Burrow last year.
01:48Whoa! Okay. Hey! I like him now!
01:52All right. Let's go to the phones. Do you give
01:56the 49er brass the benefit of the doubt
02:00or not, dot, dot, dot, right now?
02:04Listen, if they sit free agency out entirely,
02:08as I already said, Dibbs, I'll join you on that side of the fence,
02:12but I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Thursday. Come Friday. For now, this is a very
02:16short benefit of the doubt, but you get it. You get it now.
02:20If you've still not signed anybody not named Luke, when I go to bed
02:24on Thursday night, then yeah, I'll probably
02:28change my tune. That's the question.
02:32So who do you agree with? 888-957-9570 is the number.
02:36Let's go to Drew in San Jose. Hi, Drew. Thanks for calling.
02:40Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my call. How are you guys doing? Good.
02:44Yeah. So, I mean, obviously, yesterday
02:48was a shocking day for all of us, right?
02:52Still getting over the players that left, the money that they signed,
02:56and I think all of this in combination of
03:00where the Niners were from a salary cap perspective and how many wins
03:04they had last year, what they have done so far, it makes perfect
03:08sense, right? And I don't think we should get all
03:12gung-ho about free agency, so to speak.
03:16I'm not even waiting for Friday
03:20to be sort of perturbed about this or
03:24whatever deadline you guys are giving. I'm waiting for the
03:28draft, right? Because that's what's going to make or break this offseason,
03:32frankly, and that's what the Niners are setting themselves up for.
03:36But I also realize that, I mean, my expectations for the Niners next year
03:40given what has happened, they're not very high. And I sort of
03:44look at this as a reset year because of that. I mean, they're
03:48going to have to completely nail the draft end-to-end to
03:52be at the same winning level that they have been at for the last several years.
03:56I just don't think that's practical. I think it's going to take more
04:00than a year or two to get back to where they're at, and I'm completely fine
04:04with that as a fan. I understand how the
04:08NFL works, and so I'm
04:12not that anxious. I get the business of it.
04:16Drew, thank you. This is a really, really good call.
04:20And when I say, by the way, I'll join you on that side if they haven't done something
04:24by Thursday, I'm not expecting them to do something huge.
04:28I don't expect them to go, like, that would be crazy after all of this to go out and start
04:32throwing a ton of cash around at big names. I don't even know how many big names
04:36are left. I just think they do need to get involved on some level. I don't
04:40think you can replace all of these people with rookies, but Drew's not
04:44wrong. They've got to nail the draft, and there will
04:48be maybe this year some sort of a pay-the-piper
04:52type of a situation because of what you've done the last two, three years
04:56with all the big names and all the acquisitions. I don't think, though,
05:00that that means that they can't compete next year, especially
05:04in the division they're in with the schedule that they have.
05:08Compete is one thing, but we've had a standard around here
05:12that's been more than just compete, and you've got a lot of veterans, and you've got
05:16a lot of high-priced players, and you're going to pay your quarterback a million dollars
05:20a year, presumably, and whatever that number is, he's going to get it.
05:24And you look around the room, and you're going to rely on a lot of younger players.
05:28And yeah, last year you nailed the draft. Pierce Allgreen, Poonie
05:32Mustapha, Gorendo. I'll even give you Cowling because he was a special teams
05:36player. He played special teams, and he, I think,
05:40is a guy who can step up into a role, but you're asking now for
05:44Pierce All to be wide receiver one or two
05:48until IU comes back, and you're asking Renardo Green to be your
05:52lockdown corner, and you're asking Mustapha to come in and be
05:56a guy who plays more consistently and is a legitimate number one
06:00safety, and Dominic Poonie, he had a nice year at guard, and you're asking him
06:04to even be a little bit better, so you're expecting last year's draft class
06:08to all get better, and then this year, do kind of the same
06:12thing, and find six more guys who can come in and be dudes.
06:16That's a big ask. I mean, the second part is, I don't think
06:20the first thing, when you talk about those four players you just named out of the draft, you said
06:24they need to really be good starters this year. I have
06:28zero fear about that. None. And Renardo Green does not
06:32really need to be the, quote, lockdown corner. In other words, the one.
06:36But Renardo Green...
06:40Green's going to need to be a starter, and he's going to need to play well. Not scared of that.
06:44I think Mustapha's fantastic. I think Poonie showed exactly
06:48who he is. Pierce All, that was a wobbly deal.
06:52I'm bullish. I like what I see. It's been a very small sample.
06:56I don't know if he's WR1 or whatever. I don't know.
07:00I think he's a dude. I think that's a starting wide receiver in the NFL.
07:04He's fine. He's good. He's a fine player. And you've got Juwan, and I do think
07:08that there will be an addressing of the wide receiver position
07:12going forward on some level. I wonder what level that is.
07:16Probably the draft and free agency. There's a lot of wide receivers.
07:20Professional wide receivers sitting out there. Kind of an elder statesman
07:24feel who can still do some things. What if they pulled in a Keenan Allen?
07:28Are you on Cooper Cup?
07:32That's intriguing, but that's probably causing
07:36a problem you don't need, and someone will probably pay him more than you.
07:40You know what I mean? You bring in Cooper. That, to me, is the
07:44perfect guy to bring in. Well, I don't know what he's going to cost.
07:48If you're still on the team, then he comes back and gets healthy. You've got first round
07:52draft capital used on Ricky Pierce All. You want to use him.
07:56John Jennings is sitting over here. Proved a bunch of stuff last year.
08:00I don't want to pay a lot to overcrowd the room,
08:04and then you're not even relying on any individual that much.
08:08I don't hate the player. Good player. Really good player.
08:12I like the player. I look at Ayuk, and he's coming off of two knee ligament tears.
08:16I do think that the Niners look at that contract and think,
08:20oh my god, how do we get out of this? We done messed this thing up.
08:24I agree with you there. If they could trade him now, they would, but I don't think they can.
08:28You're probably right, and I'm wondering why you like Cooper Cupps so much, because
08:32to me, he's exactly Joey Bosa on offense. Oh no, he plays more than Joey.
08:36Maybe. The guy got hurt every year. Let's be real.
08:40Three years in a row, hurt every year. I'm not saying you bring him in for a four-year deal,
08:44but you're looking at a spot where you need a guy, because
08:48John Jennings, he's a good receiver. He's a tough receiver. Ricky Pierce All is
08:52trending in the right direction, but you have no wide receiver one
08:56right now, and Cooper Cupp would be that for a year, and if you give him
09:00one year and $20 million, or $15 million, or whatever the number would be,
09:04you bring him in, you give him a one-year prove-it deal, and now you've got
09:08a real dude out there. Right now, your wide receiver core, if I'm a
09:12defense, I'm laughing. No, it needs
09:16more bodies. I think we get a little too
09:20football-ish with the whole, you need a wide receiver one.
09:24Chiefs don't have one, haven't had one. They go to Super Bowl every year.
09:28Well, their tight end is their wide receiver one, and it was, and this year he faded, and now
09:32he might retire. Yeah, and they still went to the Super Bowl, got within a game of winning the whole
09:36thing. I'm not saying I hate the idea. The Eagles have
09:40two really good receivers, but I don't think you need to have somebody
09:44that fits that dog bill in order to
09:48succeed in the NFL. In fact, I think you could
09:52argue the Niners, the last handful of years when they've been really good,
09:56they've had good receivers. They haven't had anybody where you're like,
10:00ooh, WR1 done walked into the building. You know what I mean? They had
10:04four different people. Right now, if you want to look at all your targets, you've got
10:08George Kittle, who's wide receiver one, and George Kittle has been amazing,
10:12and he will continue to be that. You've got Christian McCaffrey, who's a great receiver,
10:16but I don't know what McCaffrey's going to be with the bilateral
10:20Achilles tendonitis. We just don't know how much he's going to
10:24bounce back, and then you get to an injured Iuke, and
10:28Pearsall, and Cowing, so for me, you go from Debo
10:32and George, and Christian, and Juice, and Juwan, and now
10:36you've got Juwan, who's better. Christian? Question mark?
10:40George, yes, but he's getting old, and we don't even know if
10:44Ricky Pearsall can be a six-pack catch-a-game guy. I think
10:48Moore's coming. Don't you think? I think Moore's coming. Or like where we just started.
10:52Go get some receivers. In the draft. I bet
10:56there's a veteran free agent also. I bet that.
11:00I would bet that it would be somebody of the Anquan Bolden
11:04ilk, somebody who got brought in at 36 or 37.
11:08Maybe that's a Keenan Allentown. I don't know about 36, but like
11:12somebody who's had their 30th birthday, maybe. Or even, I would say well beyond that.
11:16And that's where I have my biggest issue, and we can go to the phones, is the vibes
11:20they're giving off that I'm getting as a fan is
11:24we're not in on day one, we're not in on day two, we're going to wait until
11:28we get to the real bargains. Like, you go to a garage sale at like
11:324 o'clock, and you have a garage sale that's like, garage sale, 8 to 5,
11:36and you pull up at 4 o'clock, and that lovely vase
11:40that was there for 28 bucks is now a buck and a quarter. It's like
11:44yeah, I'll take that. How about Amari Cooper?
11:48What's wrong with that? I'm not a huge fan. Why? I think that he drops
11:52the ball too much. He does? Just my perception.
11:56Not a big Amari Cooper guy. Can't block? Someone like that.
12:00Sure. And that's what we're looking at. I don't think
12:04the Niners are going to get Stephon Diggs, but I'm bringing up names who are 31 year
12:08old, veteran receivers, downside, you're going to get
12:12them on a one or two year deal for blah blah blah million dollars
12:16and move on. How many teams have looked at Amari Cooper and said,
12:20yeah, we're good. Is it now four in a row? Four straight teams? I don't know that they've
12:24all said it like that. I mean, the Raiders
12:28dealt him at a time where they were Raidering, right? This is the constant
12:32Khalil Mack, like, oh, you want money? Let's send you somewhere else. Then he was
12:36absolutely incredible in Dallas. Incredible.
12:40Then they reboot their thing. He goes to Cleveland. I'd argue
12:44a hell of a lot more good than bad. And the only, to me,
12:48the only odd stop for Amari was last year, where he went to
12:52Buffalo. Did he play? Yes. And by
12:56the way, that was at the deadline. So we're literally looking at like 10 football games.
13:00He had a couple really good ones. Then disappeared a lot.
13:04Then missed a couple. And then came back and just wasn't
13:08really in the rotation. And you thought with Josh Allen, you're like, ooh, this is going to be some music.
13:12And it wasn't. But yeah, there's 10 games.
13:16You know what I mean? Like I still think, and for what the Niners need, I think
13:20that's a name that's interesting to me. I mean, if we're talking about 2 million,
13:24then yeah, bring him in. I don't know about 2 million. Well, I know that's
13:28less than your backup quarterback makes. Yeah. Yeah. Backup quarterbacks
13:32make about 4 now. That's more than your starting quarterback made. So there you have it.
13:36All right. Let's go to Wayne in Walnut Creek. What's up, Wayne?
13:40What are you doing?
13:44Hey, it's great to be on. Yeah, I just wanted to weigh in on the 49ers.
13:48A free agency. And I just wanted to say
13:52that I'm glad that the 49ers are exercising
13:56restraint in terms of overpaying
14:00for free agents that obviously have
14:04questionable injury history.
14:08We've got to ask ourselves as Niner fans, when's the last time
14:12has the 49ers spent a lot of money
14:16on a free agent who has injury history
14:20and it just so happened to pay off for us?
14:24The only one that comes close, I think, was Richard Sherman. And we
14:28really had to overpay to bring him in. So outside of him,
14:32who else has really paid off?
14:36It depends on what you mean by paid off. Sometimes
14:40I'll give you a name like Dee Ford and people will remember that
14:44as a bad thing because the money got out of hand
14:48and he got really, really injured late. But then again,
14:52he also paid some huge dividends
14:56early on and in a playoff run that led to within a quarter
15:00of a ring. So I don't know. It's hard sometimes
15:04to assess paid off and free agency.
15:08Like Christian McCaffrey wasn't a free agent, but
15:12he was outside the building. They did what they had to do to bring him in.
15:16They paid him. No, they haven't won a ring, but I would
15:20do that deal again if you had to do it all over again. For sure.
15:24For McCaffrey, like a second, third, fourth and fifth. And he came in and got you close.
15:28And even though now you're looking at maybe the beginning
15:32of the end, I don't know how he's going to bounce back from the injury he had. But last year
15:36was not good. He had, and I was looking at it earlier, he had a grand total
15:40of 69 touches for the season.
15:4469. 50 carries, 19 catches and that's it.
15:48Four games and he's out. And he gave him all that new money and so
15:52now you're going to bring him back and he's going to be 29 and he's had how many injuries?
15:5629? Yeah, but I remember a year or
16:00two when he was at Panther where people were like, oh, Christian McCaffrey
16:04burned me in the fantasy draft and I'm done with him. And then what happened?
16:08Well, that's when he was 24. Yeah, I get it. I mean, now he's a running back who's coming up
16:12on being 30. I know, but he's not yet. And I don't think you're like done and dead at
16:1629. Put it this way. A lot of people
16:20go, man, we're going to go out in the market and get someone with an injury history. They've all
16:24got injury history. Sure, sure. All of them. Nobody in
16:28the NFL hasn't been hurt. So like, yeah, that's the game
16:32you play and you're going to get burned some. Right, and that's why when you move off
16:36of Debo, it's easy to do so. Now you have Brandon Ayuk with an injury history
16:40and he's coming off of two major knee ligament
16:44injuries and you hope that the surgery goes well and he can start
16:48to make his way back, but it's unfortunate because
16:52I do think that you would have looked at it after a 6-11 year if he didn't get hurt
16:56and you still went 6-11, he would have been traded by now without a doubt.
17:00Ayuk? I believe so, yeah. You're probably right. Although, if he hadn't gotten hurt
17:04what kind of a season would he have had? Probably 6-11 still. No, no, no, him
17:08individually. I think the other part of Ayuk is not just that he
17:12got hurt, it's that I don't think he looked all that good before he got hurt. He had
17:16one really good game. It looked like he was back. Yeah, he also had three
17:20that made people scream at him in the home building.
17:24This is a complete quick aside.
17:28Brandon Ayuk has completely ruined his relationship
17:32with the 49er fans.
17:36That's too bad. I was thinking about this today, especially
17:40with all the news that's come out just in the last two weeks about how much the
17:4449ers themselves really regret this deal. Really regret
17:48this deal. Some, in fact, are even pinning the
17:52business model they have this year specifically on what
17:56happened with Ayuk last year. So when you add all these things up, and again
18:00I'm not putting what happened last summer all on Ayuk. The Niners share in the
18:04blame for the way that whole thing played out. But at the same time
18:08Brandon Ayuk, with the way he handled his contract negotiation
18:12then came to the podium and admitted that he was a pain in the rear
18:16then came out, dropped balls on opening night, then
18:20dropped a few more balls, then kind of had one good half, then blew his leg up
18:24and now the Niners are rebooting everything, especially that
18:28position room. Boy, like
18:32even when he gets healthy for week four or whatever and comes out
18:36I just don't think that relationship is ever going to be the same.
18:40It will be if he comes out and plays amazing right away in a win.
18:44I said it last year where he needs to, the way he did the whole
18:48offseason, and the team is responsible as well, but the way he came off the
18:52offseason with the holdout and all the rest of it, he had better
18:56come out and ball out because the fans are going to have no tolerance and they didn't
19:00have tolerance. You look at what he did in the seven games that he played
19:04and he finally, he had the eight catch game against Arizona they lost
19:08and then he had back-to-back two catch games, including the one against
19:12Kansas City where he got hurt and it was like fans were just so frustrated at that point
19:16because the team was struggling and he was a non-factor.
19:20Jacobi Brissette to the Cardinals. He'll be Kyla Murray's backup. Just wanted to throw
19:24that in there as things keep flying during free agency. Carlos in Hayward.
19:28Hey Carlos, thanks for calling. Hey, thanks for
19:32having me, fellas. I want to give
19:36Danny and Lynch the benefit of the doubt and I wasn't too worried about
19:40losing all those players. I knew half of them would be gone, but
19:44when we lost Greenlaw, I felt like that was a bargain. I didn't
19:48think we would overpay. That was a good deal that
19:52we could have had for Greenlaw and I kind of envisioned
19:56that duo of Warner and Greenlaw being like the next
20:00Willis Bowman and playing together for years like that
20:04and that one hurt. Now I'm starting to worry. I don't know
20:08if Joey Bosa is going to be the answer to the D-line and we haven't addressed
20:12the O-line. We don't have an O-lock down corner.
20:16I'm really worried now, guys. I think Lenore
20:20probably should have earned a little bit more of your
20:24trust after last season, Carlos, but your larger point I think is totally
20:28fair. Carlos, thank you so much for the call. We appreciate it.
20:32I'm with Carlos. The Dre Greenlaw thing hurts.
20:36It hurts on multiple levels. It also makes me scratch my head, though. I wonder what they know
20:40that we don't know. When you look at the amount of money that got
20:44spent yesterday and then Dre Greenlaw gets 3
20:48and 35 with the Broncos, so an average of just under 12 a year
20:52and everyone goes, damn, that's a bargain and I'm like, yeah, that's a bargain.
20:56So why the hell is that all he got? And what do we know? We know that Dre
21:00finally came back late in the season. He looked awesome for a half
21:04and then he had to limp off the field again. And then he played again
21:08like two weeks later and he had to limp off the field again.
21:12So I look at it and go, I think the Broncos
21:16are buying low but gave
21:20a good couple year guarantee there for a player who we know is
21:24talented, but clearly the doctors know something, too, because when you
21:28look at the amount of money that got thrown around yesterday, a man of Dre Greenlaw's
21:32talents, if people were very confident in his health, he'd have gotten
21:36twice what he got. But they weren't confident in his health, which is why
21:40he signed a deal that was a little bit more secure long-term. It's a three-year
21:44deal and if the Niners were offering 1 and 15 and Denver was
21:48offering 3 and 35, even though it's not fully guaranteed,
21:52if you're Dre, you're taking the 3 and 35 because you're going to go one year
21:56and make the 12 and figure, well, I'm going to earn the next 12 and go out there
22:00and have a chance to earn that final piece of that contract, that for
22:04me is the way that that's all going to go. And I'm just looking at what
22:08the Niners are doing or not doing and it feels like they're
22:12really tightening the belt and Tim Kawakami will have a better idea of exactly
22:16what's going on. I'm just scratching my head as to why.
22:206 and 11 for me is not a good enough reason for them to
22:24all of a sudden now not want to be players in free agency.
22:28And again, I don't know if it's I don't want to be a player in free agency or if it's I don't want to be
22:32a player at that level of free agency. Because yeah, I watched a lot of those deals
22:36yesterday and I'm like, dude, those are big. They're too big. There's a lot of guys that got signed yesterday
22:40like, what? Well, they used to do this. Yeah, and here they are.
22:44And when you do that, you have to reboot.