- 9 months ago
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00:00A couple of tweets to tell you about.
00:01One of them is actually, it could be from any of the Niner reporters,
00:05Jacob Cowling out of practice again today.
00:09Injury at this point, severity unknown.
00:12Apparently it happened yesterday.
00:14Don't know what happened.
00:16I'm assuming at some point soon we will get word on what the situation is
00:20with Jacob Cowling and if there is a timetable or a problem or what have you.
00:25But then, I want to go back to early this morning
00:30when great NFL reporter Diana Russini sent this tweet.
00:36And I want to know how y'all translate this
00:38because to me, this has Juwan Jennings written all over it.
00:42Here's the tweet.
00:43The Jets are among several teams monitoring the trade market
00:47for potential wide receiver additions per sources.
00:51The 49ers and Vikings are also making calls.
00:58All right.
00:59The reason my head immediately goes to Juwan Jennings
01:02is the fact that even though there's all these Jordan Watkins
01:06and now here we go again with Jacob Cowling
01:09and we know that Ayuk is out and all of this stuff.
01:12There is still Russell Gage and Robbie Chosen and all of this.
01:17There's still enough to handle week one.
01:22Unless Juwan Jennings is not here.
01:26And then I get it if you're like,
01:29look, we might want someone really good
01:31or at minimum we're going to need somebody to be WR4 and WR5 that week.
01:39When you combine it with Kyle Shanahan's comments yesterday
01:42that even if Juwan's healthy in two weeks,
01:46you're not going to play football if you don't have camp
01:48because all you're going to do then, even if you're healthy,
01:50is you are going to get hurt again.
01:52And we've watched that happen.
01:54I translate this to mean things are not going well with Juwan Jennings.
01:59And I don't believe that's fully about health.
02:02I believe that something is going on contractually here.
02:06The Niners are trying to move this thing to the finish line ASAP
02:10because there is a game in two and a half weeks
02:12and they are preparing themselves for it to not happen.
02:15And also it could be injury, it could be cash, it could be calf, whatever it is,
02:20but it's not moving toward the spot where they want it to.
02:23And I do think what you said about Shanahan's comments yesterday
02:26is what I highlighted this morning
02:29where you've got to practice to be ready to play,
02:32especially with a calf.
02:33And if he's got a calf, and Kyle said that he does,
02:36and they saw it on the imaging, allegedly, a few weeks back,
02:40so even if the contract was all settled,
02:43you still would need him to get a little bit of a ramp up
02:45to test the calf and show if he's ready or not.
02:49And this also tells me that they're getting signals
02:52that the Demarcus Robinson suspension that is coming,
02:56that likely will come before week one.
02:58So if you start to pick through what you have,
03:02Pearsall, man, he looks great.
03:04Jennings, no calf, no contract.
03:07Robinson, likely suspended.
03:10Cowing hurt again.
03:11And then Watkins is hurt.
03:14And Robbie Chosen, you've got to be kidding me.
03:17He might be a practice squad guy.
03:20You pulled him in.
03:21Russell Gage, sure, he could be a guy.
03:24But right now, you don't have more than currently you have one wide receiver
03:29that you can look at and go, yep, I believe in him, and that's Ricky Pearsall.
03:34One.
03:34Not three.
03:35Not four.
03:37Not five.
03:38You got one.
03:39Right.
03:39So, yeah, you're damn right they're out there shopping for a receiver.
03:43They better be.
03:44Well, I wouldn't if Juwan Jennings was going to play.
03:48And I'm sure that they know right now a lot more than we do with regard to where this is going.
03:53And whether or not it has to do with cash, calf, or both,
03:57we're getting close to where they're going to have an idea of how this is going.
04:02And they have still, we have still not heard anything about a timeline.
04:06And the longer we go with no timeline, the more I believe that this is about cash, not calf.
04:12Because the cash is the one where you're like, well, we can't put a timeline on it.
04:15We don't know when either side is going to budge in this leverage game.
04:19But the calf, dude, you've got to have some sort of a clue about what's going on.
04:23If it hasn't gotten any better in the last three weeks, then I would outwardly say right now,
04:28well, yeah, it probably isn't going to get better within the next two and a half weeks.
04:32There has to have been some movement with the calf.
04:36We still don't get an update.
04:37Why?
04:37You're giving an update about everybody else.
04:40So I am very much starting to push to the side of the fence that I believe this is much more about cash
04:46than it is about calf.
04:48And I think that therefore the 49ers will start to play their leverage game,
04:52which is to say, all right, dude, if you're not going to come practice,
04:56then we're going to go start acquiring other wide receivers.
05:00And I don't think it'll be top-of-the-market stuff.
05:03I don't think it's going to be Terry McLaurin or anything like that.
05:07Gabe Davis is out there having meetings with the Steelers and the Bills now.
05:12And so I don't know how that one feels.
05:14I know people want Amari Cooper, but we're getting to that spot
05:18where teams are maybe going to make a surprise cut or two.
05:22And so on the cheap, you can get a veteran wide receiver who can come in,
05:27learn something fast, and catch some passes for you at least for a few weeks.
05:32That's kind of how I see what's going on right now.
05:34I agree with you about the read on Jennings because if it was the calf,
05:38you'd get more of a sense of how close he is to returning.
05:42Is he working out on the side?
05:44What is the timetable?
05:45But you're not getting that because I think the contract is at a spot
05:49where they're probably fairly far apart because Juwan wants more guaranteed money.
05:55And the Niners are thinking, we've already got $30 million a year into IUC.
05:59And, you know, Pearsall is going to come up here in a couple more years.
06:03And so we're going to have to pay him if we like him.
06:05And we actually do.
06:07And so, yeah, what do you want, Juwan?
06:09You want a little bit more or do you want a lot more?
06:11And if you want a lot more, that's going to be a no because next year the Brock Purdy contract really hits.
06:17That's when the big kaboom actually hits on your salary cap.
06:22So for this year, you're still trying to preserve your cap room going into next year.
06:27And, you know, you still have IUC and he'll be back at some point.
06:31At some point.
06:31But in the meantime, can you get by with Robinson and Gage and Tariq Owens?
06:38Well, not Robinson because he won't.
06:40Exactly none of them.
06:41I love the Niner receiving core week eight.
06:44I love it.
06:45I love it.
06:46Robinson, IUC, Jennings, Pearsall.
06:49Yes.
06:49In theory.
06:50In theory.
06:50It's good.
06:51And then whatever rookies and young guys, Cowing and Watkins, whatever, like fine, all good.
06:56And apparently they really like Gage.
06:58So I don't know.
06:59Maybe he's going to be on the Niners this year for a while.
07:01Well, he will be the start.
07:02Yeah, for sure.
07:03When IUC goes to the pup and you keep Gage and Robinson, I don't know if there's a list
07:08for when you're suspended, if it doesn't count on your 53, but he'll probably be on that list
07:14when he gets suspended.
07:15And then Jennings is the interesting one where we're down now to 18 days until kick.
07:21You've got Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and then two weeks from there, 18 days until
07:27you need to have Jawan Jennings on the field.
07:31I read this as Kyle Shanahan saying if Jawan's going to be ready for week one, he probably
07:36needs to be at practice Monday.
07:39Yep.
07:39That's fair.
07:40I think that's right.
07:41He probably needs to be at practice Monday.
07:42And if you're not at practice Monday, we're going to go ahead and start making plans for
07:46you to not be there.
07:47Because you've got practice today, which is already over.
07:50It's already over.
07:50And then a walk-through Friday, and then a game Saturday, and then Monday.
07:55Right.
07:55Like, Monday we start, week one.
07:57We're getting ready for the Seahawks.
07:59Right.
08:00Yeah.
08:00And I think the cut down is Tuesday, if I'm not mistaken.
08:04That's where the cut down day is.
08:06That's all right.
08:07Yeah.
08:07Yeah, I think so.
08:08When you get to that day, you need to know whether or not you need to keep Gage, or you
08:13need to keep Robbie Chosen, or, like, who do we need to keep in order to cover our bases
08:19with Jawan being where he is?
08:21Well, to sort of borrow a point that you made yesterday, when we're going into this last
08:26weekend of games, I think there are very few jobs that are still kind of up for grabs.
08:30I think these teams know largely who they're going to keep.
08:33So, this is the week to call those teams and be like, hey, who do we think that you're
08:39keeping that you're not?
08:40Like, who are you about to get rid of?
08:42And maybe instead of just cutting that person and putting them on the open market, you can
08:47go ahead and throw that team a bone, and a trade can get pulled off right now.
08:52And, you know, whatever.
08:53Seventh-round pick swap.
08:54I mean, do something to pull that player your direction.
09:00This is the week to do it, because these teams, the personnel people, I think, largely
09:04know what's going on.
09:05Look at Washington and Bryan Robinson.
09:07Like, all of a sudden, there's trade talks.
09:09Why?
09:09Well, because Washington was going to cut him.
09:11They're going to cut him.
09:12And if there's no good trade, they will cut him.
09:14That's what I believe, at least.
09:16So, anyway, let's go to Guru in San Jose.
09:19If you want to talk about the Jawan thing, and maybe which side you would like to blink,
09:24if you read it that way, I do, 888-957-9570.
09:29We'll take your calls right now.
09:31Guru in San Jose.
09:32Hi, Guru.
09:32Thanks for calling.
09:35Hey, guys.
09:36Thanks for taking my call.
09:37Yeah.
09:37Yeah.
09:38So, I mean, Mark, my mind went the exact same way after reading that tweet.
09:44I think, you know, adding the 49ers as sort of a subtweet to the tweet, so to speak, is
09:52sort of trying to get leverage in this Jawan Jennings situation, because he sees all the
09:57injuries happening on the Wyber Shaver side, and he's basically like, I'm clearly the number
10:02one, and you guys should, like, pay me like a number one, right?
10:08And, I mean, I think sort of Jawan wants to have his cake and eat it, too, in the sense
10:13that I think he wants the big one-year deal, but he still wants to hit free agency next
10:18year.
10:19And I think that's something the Niners are not willing to do.
10:22I think the Niners do want to sign, I mean, like, if they want to sign Jawan Jennings,
10:27they want to prevent him from reaching free agency next year and have him a year or more
10:32under team control.
10:33So, I think, you know, Kyle, the combination of what Kyle Shanahan said yesterday about
10:39Jawan Jennings and what you hear today is sort of trying to gain some sort of type of leverage
10:44in the situation, but it's very fascinating.
10:48I think the contract talks are very much at an impasse right now.
10:53Guru, thanks.
10:53Yeah, listen, I don't want to try to guess what Jawan is asking for.
10:58However, this is not, like, there is an old mystery with this.
11:03We've already seen the report out there from a couple of months ago that he wasn't going
11:08to show up to camp and he wanted to trade if he didn't get a new deal.
11:12To translate that as Jawan wants to get paid like a number one simply because last year
11:16he was the 49ers' number one, I don't want to go that far.
11:20I think it's crazy talk to think that Jawan is out there being like, you need to get me
11:24up to $27 million a year when right now I'm at $7 million a year.
11:28Like, that's a hard no.
11:30I can only imagine that what Jawan is trying to do is leverage a few million more and maybe
11:36there are some guarantees and how that goes into next year and is he a free agent and
11:42is he not?
11:43I have no idea.
11:45No sense whatsoever who's asking for what.
11:48I just know that there have been moments where John Lynch made it sound like, yeah, I think
11:53we can, you know, we can see him.
11:56We can see him.
11:57We can make him feel seen and heard.
11:58We can do a little something.
12:00But we're still looking at a player who's not practicing and has no timeline.
12:06So maybe Jawan does want a little bit more than a, hey, how you doing?
12:10And if he does, the Niners are going to say no.
12:14Because as much as I've learned this through the years, as much as there are certain players
12:18where in the moment, we're like, we can't lose that guy.
12:21He's super important.
12:24I don't think they see him that way.
12:27Right.
12:27And think about Mooney Ward last year.
12:29Mooney went in and said, hey, you know, we went to the Super Bowl and you value me and
12:34I'm good.
12:35How about I get, you know, a little something?
12:37They said, no, we're not actually going to do that.
12:39We're going to do other things.
12:41And the other piece is the Niners have always said you draft an A-list guy and you keep your
12:46A-list guys.
12:47He's not an A-list guy.
12:49He's probably off of last year a B-plus guy, but he's not Bosa, Warner, Kittle, Purdy.
12:57He's not that guy.
12:58And the third piece that I want to share is Drew Rosenhaus.
13:02That's his agent.
13:04Oh, crap.
13:04Drew Rosenhaus.
13:06And you know that Drew Rosenhaus is a guy who will hold everyone's feet to the fire
13:12to try to get every last dollar and he'll do everything he can.
13:15And I think that right now, knowing the situation with the Niners where, you know, the rookie
13:21receiver is out and Ayuk is out and Cowan can't stay healthy and Robinson's facing a suspension,
13:27I'm sure Drew's sitting back in his recliner thinking, oh yeah, we got these guys over a
13:33barrel.
13:33He does have some leverage.
13:35He does?
13:36He doesn't have a ton.
13:37He does have some.
13:38I told you guys earlier, I think that this is one of those rare cases where I really
13:42see both sides.
13:43I understand where both sides are coming from right here.
13:46It's just a matter of whether or not they can or cannot meet in the middle.
13:50I love Juwan Jennings.
13:52I think he's a wonderful player.
13:54I love the way he plays and I love what he stands for.
13:58But he's not irreplaceable.
14:00I hate saying that, but he's not.
14:02Well, he might be for weeks one, two, three, and possibly four.
14:06I just, I don't think so.
14:08Yeah.
14:08I don't think the NFL, like NFL, wide receivers, yeah, you're important-ish.
14:15Number one last year, according to PFF, in blocking wide receivers.
14:20And you need blocking wide receivers.
14:22Love him.
14:22So I do think that he's more irreplaceable than the average person would think.
14:27Can I get away with he's hard to replace, but he's not irreplaceable?
14:32That's fine.
14:32He's not irreplaceable.
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