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00:008 at 8, 9-5-7, 9-5-70. Do you find it far-fetched, the idea of the 49ers winning the Super Bowl this year?
00:08No.
00:08Is that far-fetched?
00:09No.
00:10So you do not?
00:11I mean, far-fetched...
00:11That's believable to you?
00:13Yes. If you want to play far-fetched NFL radio, I could give you probably 16 teams. 16 might be a little hot.
00:22I could give you 12 teams that I would say it is far-fetched that they win the Super Bowl.
00:27Oh, I think the number's way higher.
00:29Well, I mean, that's 12 teams of, like, you're not going to make the playoffs.
00:33Let me do a random sample here, and you tell me if it's far-fetched, the idea of this team winning the Super Bowl, okay?
00:39And for me, I define far-fetched by being, you won't make the playoffs.
00:44Because if you're one of the 14 that make the playoffs, 14 teams actually make the playoffs,
00:50that, to me, removes it from being far-fetched for the most part.
00:54Yeah, see, no, I think the winners of both of the South divisions, that's still far-fetched.
01:00They're not going to win the Super Bowl.
01:02I find that far-fetched.
01:04You know what I mean?
01:05Yeah, for the most part, and I'm looking at, Tampa won it out of the South.
01:09They had Tom Brady.
01:10And before that, you have to go, wow, back to New Orleans.
01:15Drew Brees in 09.
01:17Well, I mean...
01:17And that's either South.
01:19I'm talking just about where those divisions sit right now.
01:22Like, Tampa Bay is probably the most accomplished team out of those eight teams that are in the South divisions.
01:28Do you find it believable that they win the Super Bowl this year?
01:32Tampa Bay.
01:32I would say it's not believable, but it's not far-fetched.
01:36I would say they have a chance.
01:37I mean, they get in, and if you win the division, and you're the four seed, you get a home game, right?
01:44Sure, you do.
01:45So you would go up against the five, the best of the wild cards.
01:48You might be an underdog, but I think Baker Mayfield now, having been to the playoffs a couple of times there,
01:55I could see him winning that first game, and then you get into the final eight in the NFL.
02:00I mean, it's probably the most far-fetched of the 14 teams that make the playoffs, but...
02:06If I remove the teams that I know you're going to say yes to, the Bills, the Ravens, the Chiefs,
02:13you know, obviously the Eagles, the Commanders, Lions, Packers, you already answered about 49ers.
02:22But even what I just gave you there, like I gave you Bills, Ravens, Chiefs,
02:28Commanders, Packers, Lions, Niners.
02:33That's only seven teams.
02:35I would add in the Chargers and the Broncos.
02:37Okay, so you think those are two of the ones I was going to ask you.
02:40Right, I would put them in.
02:41Do you find that believable?
02:41Yes, absolutely.
02:43All right.
02:44Who else?
02:46Anybody else?
02:46Do you find it believable that the Cowboys would win the Super Bowl this year?
02:50No, I'd like to add Minnesota to that group.
02:54With a first-year quarterback?
02:55And that's what makes it difficult.
02:57I do think that what they have around them is really good, and I like their coach, so...
03:01All right, you're allowed to?
03:03And I think there's an area between the group you named and the really far-fetched, like the
03:08Giants and the Patriots and, you know, teams like that.
03:13That, for me, Carolina, New Orleans, those are the truly, like, far-fetched, like, you'll
03:18have no shot.
03:19What about the Rams and the Seahawks?
03:21I think the Rams have a legitimate shot.
03:23Really?
03:23Oh, yeah.
03:24A legitimate shot.
03:25Yeah, I think the Rams are...
03:27All right.
03:27The Rams are a playoff team, and I don't know what the odds will tell you, but they and
03:32the Niners are probably darn near co-favorites to win the West, and so I think it's close,
03:37and I do think that the Rams also have the same schedule in 14 of their 17 games.
03:45They get to play the South as well.
03:47Like, the Rams get to play Tampa, Atlanta, Carolina, and New Orleans, and they get to
03:52play the AFC South just like the Niners do.
03:54The 49ers are definitely favored, but the Rams are not far behind.
03:58They're not far behind.
03:59I'm looking at kind of the, uh, just like...
04:02Odds to win the West.
04:03That's the blending of all of the, uh, of all the books.
04:06Right.
04:06If you like FanDuel, uh, the Niners are plus 155, the Rams are plus 200.
04:12Okay.
04:12They're not terribly far behind.
04:14Uh, the Cardinals are plus 380, the Seahawks are plus 550.
04:18So they're the prohibitive underdogs in the NFC West.
04:23Do you think that, uh, let me give you two more, Dolphins and Bengals.
04:27I'd like the Bengals chances, but, I mean, it's not far-fetched, and the Dolphins would
04:32be closer to far-fetched for me than the Bengals, for sure.
04:36Like, I would put more stock in Cincinnati, but honestly, I would look at Pittsburgh as
04:42a better chance to go to the Super Bowl than Cincinnati.
04:46Huh.
04:46I mean, Pittsburgh, they always win.
04:49They don't ever go below 500, and even last year, when they didn't, they didn't seem to
04:55have that much going for them, just clock a 10 and 7.
04:58Right, but that's kind of classically what I'm getting at.
05:00Like, they made the playoffs.
05:01Right.
05:02At no point was that a Super Bowl contender.
05:05At no point did it look like that.
05:07And then it got to the playoffs, and that, you know what I mean, that bared it out.
05:10Well, if you want to really, like, drill down on, you know, the reality of,
05:16like, the chances, the AFC is Kansas City and Buffalo.
05:23Like, and Baltimore.
05:24Okay, fine.
05:24Baltimore.
05:25And then the NFC would be Philly and...
05:28Washington.
05:29Eh.
05:30I mean, sure.
05:31Okay.
05:32I mean, they're going to be a wild card team unless they get by Philadelphia.
05:35Detroit is ripe for regression.
05:37They lost both their coordinators, and I think that Detroit would be a team that I would fade.
05:44Really?
05:44And I know we're going to fade the Dibber.
05:45Coming off a 15-2 in a tough division.
05:49Yeah.
05:49And I don't know who they have schedule-wise in the crossover.
05:52I'll check it because I know they do have a first-place schedule.
05:55They sure do.
05:56You lost your offensive coordinator, who was amazing, and the defensive coordinator is now
06:00the head coach in New York with the Jets.
06:03I think that they are ripe for regression.
06:06Oh, my God.
06:07At the Ravens.
06:08Their schedule.
06:09At the Bengals.
06:10At the Chiefs.
06:10Their schedule's bananas.
06:12Like, just right out of the gate.
06:14Like, you start at Lambeau Field.
06:16Then you host the Bears.
06:17Then you go to Baltimore.
06:19Then you host Cleveland.
06:20Short week.
06:21Then you go to Cincy.
06:22You go to Kansas City.
06:24You host Tampa.
06:25You host Minnesota.
06:27You go to Washington.
06:28You go to Philly.
06:29There's your first 11 weeks of the season.
06:31Yeah.
06:31How you feeling, Detroit?
06:32Oh, wee.
06:33Pretty much, right?
06:34I'm glad I read that.
06:35By the way, just a little tip, and I don't know why I say this kind of stuff with you guys
06:39in the room because I actually play fantasy against you, but sometimes these are the things
06:43that you need to look at before you do your draft because you're just like, oh, the Lions.
06:49I want the Lions.
06:50The Lions have a good offense, and Jameer Gibbs, and let's do all that, and Willard and Gibbs,
06:55and all those things that have happened, right?
06:56Like, you can, but then you go, oh, like it's a dome team that has to go to Lambeau,
07:03go to Baltimore, go to Cincy, go to Kansas City, go to Philadelphia, and go to Washington
07:09all in the first 11 weeks of the season.
07:11Those are outdoor venues, I believe.
07:13And all really good teams.
07:15The Bengals' defense, not so much, but.
07:17Yes, I get it, I get it, although who knows what they'll be when the season starts.
07:22Maybe everybody will kiss and make up and sign.
07:24I don't know.
07:25I don't know.
07:26Still got a long way to go to week one.
07:28And even the back half for the Lions, you have the Packers again, obviously.
07:32You go to L.A. to face the Rams.
07:35To L.A.
07:36And then you've got Pittsburgh followed up by at Minnesota at Chicago.
07:40And if Chicago, many people are looking at Chicago as their boutique sleeper this upcoming
07:46year.
07:47I mean, could be.
07:48And you would think that Caleb Williams would be better then than he is now.
07:51Going against your old coordinator, he'll know you well.
07:53Right.
07:54So I look at Detroit as a team that I'm looking to fade.
07:59Okay.
07:59Just based on the schedule and, you know, a regression to the mean.
08:03I guess, you know, I bring it all up to say, like, I am not going to fall over and be shocked
08:10if somebody wins the Super Bowl this year that's not on the list that we just brought up.
08:15Because I would argue that that happens all the time.
08:18In fact, it happens many times in ways that you can't even really see on Christmas.
08:28Happens all the time.
08:29You know, we look back on, oh, the Bucs won with Tom Brady.
08:34We look back on that and go, well, yeah, Tom Brady makes all the sense in the world.
08:39It didn't even make sense in mid-January.
08:42It made no sense in mid-January.
08:44That's not what was going to happen.
08:45He had to go to Green Bay and face the MVP in Aaron Rodgers.
08:51He wasn't going to win that game.
08:53Nobody looked at, like, yes, nice team.
08:56Wow, Tom's good.
08:58Boy, Tom got over on Bill.
09:00He left and his team's good and New England's not.
09:03But you weren't looking at that team to win the Super Bowl.
09:07And then they won the Super Bowl.
09:09Then they blew out Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl.
09:13So, I don't know, man.
09:15This is kind of what I'm getting at, even with regard to the 49ers.
09:19Everybody has really solid points right now.
09:22They're totally fair.
09:24There's a lot of new players.
09:26There's going to be rookies.
09:27By the way, just because CJ West and Mike Cal Williams look really good in camp,
09:32I mean, go find any athlete and be like, hey, tell me about somebody who looked great in practice.
09:38But then when the lights came on, whoops, it happens.
09:43So, until they've played week one, I'm not going to crown these guys as phenomenal starting defensive tackles in the NFL.
09:51I don't know what they're going to be.
09:53Really good early returns.
09:55It's exciting.
09:56All of that.
09:57Everyone's got really fair questions, though.
09:59The health of an aging team, a bunch of new players who have to come in.
10:03The depth is not exactly maybe where you'd want it to be.
10:07There's all good questions in there.
10:09But I also do not think that it's far-fetched to think that the 49ers come out and are amazing.
10:16Amazing.
10:17Like, there's something to be said sometimes when we go, oh, they're really young.
10:22Well, that's good.
10:23It's a young man's game.
10:25Like, I want dogs on the defensive line who are in their early 20s,
10:29who are just physical freaks who have not been beaten up by this game.
10:33Yeah.
10:34That's not a bad thing.
10:35That could be a really good thing.
10:36And that could be CJ West and Mike Cal Williams.
10:39You're hoping that they are both young and they have different skill sets and they can impose their will.
10:44And also, you've got Robert Salabak and Chris Kuceric, who is still there.
10:48And from a defensive line standpoint, they're going to rotate seven and eight guys.
10:52So it's not like, okay, Mike Cal Williams, he's got a pop or else you're in trouble.
10:57You've got Sam Oh, and you've got, you know, Evan Anderson, the guy who wears the guardian cap.
11:03You've got a number of different pieces given when he gets back from his minor injury.
11:09Defensive pieces that make it so you're not totally going to have to rely on those two rooks up front.
11:14Two, be impactful.
11:15Speaking of Robert Salah, this is from earlier today, post-practice, talking about an overall update on this rookie defensive class.
11:25Here's what Salah had to say.
11:27We love this rookie class.
11:28They're all attacking every moment.
11:30You know, I know Fred spoke pretty candidly about up and stout.
11:34He's doing a hell of a job.
11:35Alfred's been getting better every day, getting his legs underneath them, showing some really good progress in the run game.
11:40CJ's been showing good stuff in the run game.
11:42Mike Cal, obviously, it's hard to see in there, but his pass rush on the inside has been fantastic.
11:48And even Siegel safety is coming along really strong and doing a really nice job.
11:53So just overall as a group, they're getting better.
11:55They're competing.
11:55You know, going against a really, really precise offense.
12:00Our offense has been rolling out for eight years, and so the precision at which they operate is pretty damn good.
12:05So they're getting all they can handle as rookies.
12:09It's as hard as it's going to get for them going against our offense and all the different things they do, but they're showing that it's not too big for them.
12:18I mean, that's great to hear him say, but additionally, like, it's interesting.
12:23You don't usually hear this, but I hear a lot from Shanahan and Salah right now with regard to sort of talking up rookies as if they're already, like,
12:34these are NFL players, and I'm like, well, maybe, probably, they're not yet, and you don't hear coaches jump to that in front of microphones this early very often.
12:46So are they playing a dangerous game?
12:49Are they just trying to really pump them up?
12:51Or are they actually that blown away by what they're seeing?
12:57And, I mean, obviously, that's the hope.
12:58Yeah, I think it's both, and I think they're excited by what they're seeing, but it's also the reality that these guys are going to have to play
13:07because you don't have the same level of veteran depth as you did last year, and I'm just looking at last year's depth chart in September
13:16as you were breaking camp and heading into the first game, and you had Jair Brown as a second-year player.
13:23He's the only guy listed as a starter on that depth chart going into the season last year, and beyond that, you had, you know,
13:32Devondre Campbell, veteran, didn't work out, Leonard Floyd, Javon Hargrave, veteran, Malik Collins, veteran,
13:41Charverius Ward, obviously a veteran, Isaac Yadim, who was a veteran who you brought in, and he was in the starting lineup.
13:48So, this year's defense doesn't resemble last year's defense at all when you look at even D. Winters.
13:55Like, Diameter Lenore is one of the OGs now on your defense, and he was drafted in 2021.
14:01Right.
14:01And he's now a guy you're leaning on as a vet.
14:05But that's also what, like, to a degree, that's one of the things that I'm getting at, is that's not necessarily a bad thing.
14:12You do need to regenerate these guys, and you need to do it quickly.
14:16And so, the hope is that you're able to do a good job and find some in the draft.
14:21They clearly feel like they have done that with Mikel Williams.
14:24That's their first-round draft pick, for those of you still getting to know the names.
14:28But here's what Salah specifically said about him today.
14:31He's got great feet.
14:33He's kind of awkward because he's long.
14:35He's tall.
14:36He's not a traditional three technique.
14:39So, he's, you know, he's got great foot speed and strength and power and length to just, he's shifty.
14:44He can get outside his frame.
14:45He's, I'm trying to figure, like, it's different for guards to go against a guy like him.
14:50And he's so good with his hands.
14:52He's so good with his feet.
14:54He plays with great pad level.
14:55He's got power.
14:57So, he's a three-way player.
14:58He can run around you.
14:59He can run through you.
15:00He can counter.
15:00And, you know, he's showing all of it off.
15:03And, you know, he still has a long ways to grow.
15:06So, you know, like I said, he's going to be a good football player in this league.
15:10And it's going to, it may not come this year.
15:13But you can see it through practice that this kid, once he gets it, it's going to be special.
15:17I'm coming.
15:17Interesting comment there at the end.
15:19A little bit.
15:20It may not come this year.
15:23Oh, you're going to kind of need it to.
15:26I mean, it'd be cool if it did.
15:27Let's do it this year.
15:29Let's do it this year.
15:30I mean, it's an interesting way to go about it.
15:32They've really, they've really gassed these guys out.
15:36There's no two ways about it.
15:38They have spoken about these rookies in ways that you do not often hear them do it.
15:43They've done it with Upton Stout.
15:44They've done it with C.J. West.
15:46They're doing it with Mikel Williams.
15:48But then you get all the way to the end, and you're like, oh, by the way,
15:50all these wonderful things we're saying about him, not this year.
15:53It may not be.
15:54Not this year.
15:55And it's fair to say because, you know,
15:58you've got a guy who's going to be in there going up against bigger,
16:01grown men in the NFL, and, you know, he's only 6'5", 270,
16:07and, you know, everyone wants to comp him to DeForest Buckner,
16:10and I was just looking at Buckner, 6'7", and they've got him at 300 now.
16:14I don't know if he played at that as a rookie,
16:17but you'd probably take this from Mikel Williams.
16:19He played in 15 of the 16, recovered two fumbles.
16:24He had six sacks and 73 combined tackles for DeForest Buckner.
16:30That's a good, solid rookie year.
16:32Six sacks out of a rook playing defensive tackle,
16:35and a guy who played in almost every game,
16:38a couple of fumble recoveries and all the rest of it.
16:40So I think if you have guys in the interior who can win,
16:45and you've got, you know, Huff on the outside and your other edge rushers,
16:49it's going to make it easier on Nick Bosa to have a more impactful year than he has.
16:53And then we're not only talking about rookies either.
16:55We're also talking about the guys who are going to be starters thrust into a job
16:59who may not be rookies.
17:01And we talked about this guy a little bit earlier.
17:03The team has made it very clear that D. Winters has won this gig.
17:08He's won it over Martin.
17:10There's not really much question about that.
17:12The gap is large.
17:14And Fred Warner's partner out there,
17:17now of course not Dre Greenlaw,
17:19is going to be D. Winters.
17:22What do they get out of that?
17:23Apparently there was a one-on-one rep between Winters and McCaffrey today
17:27that got people's attention.
17:30Here's what Salah said about that.
17:32His coverage ability is as good as anybody.
17:35You trust him in those situations.
17:37Normally with a guy like Christian on the field,
17:39you're not going to want to be in a call that puts it back one-on-one,
17:42but give him the op and he won.
17:44And with every passing day,
17:45he builds more and more trust that he can do that.
17:47And the more he shows that he can,
17:48it just creates openings for everybody else,
17:51especially from a blitz standpoint where we can send extra people at their protection
17:55knowing that we have guys all over the place that can handle
17:58the different athletes that the league has to offer.
18:02I really, really, really, really just want to believe
18:06that this team's going to be good.
18:09I just want to.
18:10I want to.
18:11So I will.
18:13So I'm just going to...
18:14It's what you do.
18:14That's what I do.
18:15Yep.
18:15That's what I'm going to do.
18:18But, I mean, I do understand that there is sort of a splitting of the difference here
18:25that you have to allow when you talk about the Niners.
18:29I mean, what Sala has done here,
18:31just in what we've played with regard to what he said earlier today,
18:35that's probably the most interesting thing to me.
18:38Like, you sit there as a coach and you just gas up and gas up.
18:43He's twitchy and he gives you long arms and he can do this and really hard cover
18:49and all of these things are going to happen.
18:51And, oh, by the way, I don't know if anything that's going to happen this year.
18:54And, again, there's so much mystery going on.
18:56I don't know if you're doing that to sort of relieve pressure from the young player
19:02or if you actually believe that the middle of the defensive backfield for the 49ers
19:08is going to be a work in progress all year long.
19:11You probably think that, and I'm just looking at the depth chart,
19:14and right now your starting safeties are Richie Grant and Jason Pinnock,
19:19both of whom are just grab-em-off-the-street free agents,
19:23guys who you just brought in because Jair Brown and Mustafa's hurt,
19:27and so your safety spot is in a lot of flux.
19:31And, yeah, you're banking on Upton Stout, a third-round rookie to come in
19:36and be your nickel corner, and you're going to play the nickel about half the time,
19:40which means the other half you're probably going to have Nick Martin on the field.
19:44If you're playing your three-linebacker set, maybe it's going to be Tatum Bethune,
19:48who's the third-linebacker when you go to a 4-3.
19:51So either way, Stout rookie, Martin rookie, Alfred Collins rookie,
19:57you're going to have to rely on these guys in sub-packages and in your depth spots,
20:02let alone the guys who you're banking on to be your defensive starters.
20:06So I think if you're Salah, it puts you in the best interest to gas them up,
20:11and you're not going to over-promise, oh, this guy's going to be a Pro Bowler in year one.
20:16And, you know, you're setting reasonable expectations,
20:18but at the same time, you're praising these guys, keep their confidence high,
20:23and they're going to need them to do well.
20:25Well, yeah, although I don't think that there is the pressure that many think.
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