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00:00Let's go out to the River Islands guest line and welcome him in.
00:03Kyle Juszczyk joins us on the show.
00:05Juice, what's going on? Thanks for doing it, man.
00:08Hey, what's going on, man? Just finished up practice, headed home, ready for a big week.
00:13200 games? Are you kidding me, Kyle?
00:18200, man. That's regular season, too. That's not even counting playoffs.
00:22My gosh, like how does that, like, how do you process that?
00:26I'm sure that your mind goes back to when you were just entering the league,
00:31the idea of being able to play 200, so congratulations, and yeah, what does that mean to you?
00:37Man, it means so much to me, and it really, it's hard for me to even wrap my head around that number,
00:44because, like, I think back to playing college football, and I played 40 college games,
00:51and that was, that seems like a big chunk of my life, like a big chunk of my football career,
00:57and to think that I've done that five times over in the NFL is just a wild, wild thought,
01:04but I truly, truly am living my dream, man.
01:08So, I mean, what's the secret? How do you do it? Sleep and nutrition and off-season training,
01:13what are the things that you really kind of hang your hat on as reasons why you're still doing it here in year 13?
01:18Man, I feel like I could give you a hundred reasons.
01:24Sleep is huge, probably one of the biggest.
01:28Nutrition, of course, is huge.
01:30I mean, there are so many different recovery things that I do each and every week, each and every day,
01:36whether it's, you know, red light therapy, hot and cold therapy, acupuncture, massage,
01:41and, you know, in the off-season, I've gotten into stem cell therapy.
01:47I'm really big on, as if people have followed me, like, I love my garden.
01:52I try to grow as much of the vegetables as I eat as possible, really try to eat clean,
01:58and there's just so much that goes into it.
02:01Style of play, you know, I had to change that up from when earlier in my career, and, yeah, I mean,
02:10and I'm sure a little bit of luck goes in there as well.
02:13Kyle, are you aware that your coach, Shanahan, actually talked about this and you earlier today?
02:19Do you know this?
02:20No, actually, I haven't heard about it.
02:23Okay, so let us play it for you.
02:25Somebody asked Kyle, the other Kyle, about your longevity, and here's what he said.
02:30Juice needed to be that way.
02:31He would train his body to be that way and still be able to be that type of fullback.
02:35I think the game's a little bit different in how you use people and the angles that's created now
02:39compared to just ISO every play in the 50s.
02:42But I do think that stuff helps his longevity to a degree, especially at that position,
02:45because it becomes more than just an offensive guard in the backfield.
02:48But Juice, just from how he takes care of his body to how he lives his life, is really unique.
02:53An extremely thought-out guy from what he's putting in his body the first day after the season
02:58to the middle of the season.
02:59How much hours he sleeps, all that stuff.
03:01So guys like him, guys like Christian, guys like Fred, to me, are the perfect guys
03:06that all young players should watch in this league because they really know how to take care of their health.
03:09I mean, he's talking about some of the things that you just brought up.
03:12Can we ask you, like, how much do you sleep?
03:16I do shoot for nine hours a night.
03:19I don't always get it.
03:20But, yeah, I mean, even down to, like, you know, I'm crazy about my sleeping conditions.
03:26Like, I can have absolutely no light in the room.
03:30I sleep with a night mask.
03:32I've got a cooling mattress that keeps it cold.
03:35I keep the thermostat at 60 degrees.
03:38I have my room full of different plants that help purify the oxygen in the room.
03:45Who knows if any of it even does anything, but I try to do as much as possible.
03:52I mean, I don't want to be inappropriate here, but does Kristen, did she get any say,
03:57or does she just have to do whatever you do?
04:01She's been a very good sport about it.
04:03I did make sure that my cooling mattress is split so that my side is cool or hers is not quite as cold as mine.
04:10Yeah, that's genius.
04:12And I guess when you travel, you've got to bring, like, an extra suitcase with all your plants and all your other stuff.
04:18Oh, I'm super annoying.
04:19When I travel, it takes me so long to pack because I bring my own sheets, my own pillowcase, my own fan.
04:27I'm bringing all my supplements.
04:28I'm bringing my walnuts, my blueberries, my dates that I eat first thing in the morning.
04:34Like, it's a little outrageous.
04:36I was going to ask you about food.
04:38Can you take us through a mock day of what Kyle Juszczyk eats?
04:44I mean, a typical day, like I said, like I always start with my AG1s, which is athletic greens, you know, probiotics, multivitamin type of thing.
04:55I always have walnuts for my brain, blueberries for antioxidants, dates for just general, like, energy.
05:06And then at the facility, I have over-easy eggs, steak, onions, sweet potatoes, and avocado.
05:14And then from there out, like, I really just try to, you know, eat a lot of protein, some carbs, not a ton, a lot of vegetables, and then a kiwi every night before bed because I saw on Instagram it protects your DNA.
05:29Who knows if that's insane.
05:31Nice little dessert, fruit, you know.
05:34Yeah, do you ever have a cheat day?
05:37Oh, absolutely.
05:37I mean, and that's the thing is, like, you know, people are always like, oh, Juszczyk takes such good care of his body, which is definitely true, but I also love to eat junk food, too.
05:48So, like, I designate post-game as my kind of, like, my real cheat day.
05:55There's nothing off-limits post-game.
05:57And, honestly, some of those, the flights home from away games can get out of control just because we have unlimited access to chips and candy and cookies and cake and ice cream.
06:09And you sit on a plane for five hours that, you know, coming from the East Coast, you can get a little dangerous.
06:15No doubt.
06:15I totally get that Kyle Juszczyk here on 95-70 games.
06:20So, it's hard to ask, like, how long do you want to do it, but I just want to ask about you and George Kittle and, you know, the bromance and the couples that you guys now love each other.
06:30How did this start, and when did you and George kind of realize that you're really cut from the same cloth?
06:36Yeah, you know what?
06:37I noticed George right away, you know, as a rookie, that there was something different to him and that he could be a really special player, you know, if he did things right.
06:48And it definitely has panned out that way.
06:51You saw his freak athleticism very early on.
06:54But I would say it was probably our second year on the league, or on the team, that we really started to become close friends.
07:02You know, when he first got here, he was still a rookie.
07:04He was living with all the other young guys, all the rookies in the same apartment, having their own little episode of Friends.
07:11And, you know, I was on my second contract.
07:15I had bought a house.
07:16So, like, you know, I was living my own life.
07:18I was married, all that type of thing.
07:20But the more time we spent together and the more time we played together, executed blocks together, you know, we started to realize, like you said, we're cut from the same cloth.
07:30We're very similar people and made up of very similar stuff.
07:34And, you know, just over the years, it's just gotten stronger and stronger.
07:39Just spent more time together.
07:41Our wives have become best friends.
07:43And it's been a really, really cool experience to go through this for nine years together now.
07:49Kyle Juszczyk with us here on Willard & Dibs.
07:51And I think a lot of people, maybe a lot of people haven't, Kyle, but that appearance that you two did on the Kittles podcast recently has kind of made the rounds.
08:03And those stories that you shared, not just about the group you four, but what was going on during those few days this offseason when you weren't a Niner.
08:14And it was interesting to hear it from the perspective of you four, but I'd love to hear you maybe just share a little bit of a timeline of kind of why did that happen in the first place?
08:27What was going on day by day?
08:29And then what made it reverse field and get everybody back together?
08:34Yeah, you know what, I knew with probably like two weeks to go in the season last year that it was a possibility that they were going to come to me about restructuring my deal.
08:49And it was never something that was set in stone.
08:52It was something that they had given me an idea that, you know, just be ready.
08:55It is possible.
08:56And I really used that as fuel to play my absolute best football to end the season.
09:04And I felt like I did.
09:05I felt like that game against Detroit and Arizona, you know, I put it out there that I can still play at the highest of levels.
09:12So I was feeling really good going into the offseason.
09:15You know, I figured I had shown what, you know, what I could still do.
09:19Unfortunately, you know, with there were so many different contracts up in the air with the Niners and, you know,
09:26so much going on with as far as, you know, signing Brock and, you know, they upped, I believe it was Fred and George this offseason.
09:36And, you know, trying to sign guys like Huff and Greenlaw.
09:38And, like, there's just a lot of money being spent.
09:41And I think, you know, they were looking, you know, for a place to find a little extra cash.
09:47And, unfortunately, you know, it came down to the 13-year fullback.
09:51And, you know what, it was a complicated process.
09:57And, you know, I've spoken about it a million times.
10:01You know, I was hurt by the whole thing.
10:05But thank God, you know, it worked out that after they did release me, they had told me, like, you know,
10:13the door is open for you to come back.
10:17You know, they just prefaced it with, you know, it's probably not going to be for what you want it to be.
10:23So, you know, as a professional, I had to go out there and, you know, kind of shop myself,
10:28see what else was out there, see what kind of market I really had.
10:31And, fortunately, I had one.
10:33You know, I founded a few teams across the league and was able to, you know, come back to the Niners
10:39and, you know, basically say, hey, you know, this is my market.
10:44If you guys, like, I want to be a Niner.
10:47And, you know, we were able to come to an agreement and, you know, get to a deal that I felt comfortable with.
10:54And they did as well.
10:56You say that there were suitors.
10:58And I'm not surprised because you're so good at what you do, but so few teams actually need what you do.
11:04With so much 11 personnel, not a lot of teams use the fullback.
11:08And yet you come back to the 49ers.
11:10Is your fit in the Kyle style simply better than it would have been anywhere else?
11:16In my opinion, yeah.
11:18Yeah, because, you know, there are a number of teams now, you know, that kind of come from that Shanahan tree that, you know, that I can fit into.
11:28But even if they haven't used, you know, a quote-unquote fullback in years prior, you know, I had teams tell me, like, hey, like, I know we didn't use, you know, a typical F like you,
11:40but this is how we envision using you if you did come here.
11:44And, you know, that always, it sounds good.
11:48And, like, I got some, you know, you know, people told me some really great things and how they envisioned me being in their offense.
11:56And it sounded incredible and it was enticing.
11:59But at the end of the day, like, I've been through this a long time.
12:03And there's a difference in talking about it versus a team that's actually going to do it and implement it like we have in San Francisco.
12:11And I kind of think, too, a number of Pro Bowls that I've been to, talking to the O.C., like, going into the game and they're like, oh, yeah, we love the fullback.
12:22Like, we use the fullback probably, you know, second most in the league outside of you guys.
12:27And then I'll go back and fact check it.
12:29And their fullback plays, like, 15% of the snaps.
12:32Yeah, I don't know if you guys are really speaking the same language as me, you know.
12:38So, I know what we've done in San Francisco and I knew that, you know, we could keep that consistent.
12:44Kyle, you check with us.
12:45Just to bring it to now, we definitely want to get your perspective on what last week felt like.
12:49Like, in your words, how is everything different when Brock Purdy is on the field?
12:56Yeah, you know, Brock is just, you know, he's dynamic.
13:01He loves to push the ball down the field.
13:03And I think we saw that last week.
13:05And having him, having Ricky back was huge.
13:09I think that just changes the way defenses have to play us.
13:13But really, I mean, the whole offense is healthy generally.
13:16So, like, this is kind of, you know, what we envision coming into this season and the few snaps that we all have been on the field.
13:25You know, most of that Seattle game in week one and then now against Arizona, we've been pretty successful.
13:32So, you know, we're looking to continue that here going forward.
13:35And more successful running the ball.
13:37Do you think that getting your center back after he was hurt and now George is back,
13:41is it starting to feel more like a typical rushing attack after some struggles earlier in the year?
13:48Yeah, I think it's, you know, it is a number of those things.
13:51You know, like you said, getting Jake back.
13:53Jake is so smart and he does such a good job of the targeting and the run game.
13:58George is a game changer.
14:01You know, truly one of the best blocking tight ends in the league.
14:04And then in order to run the ball, you've got to be able to throw the ball.
14:08Like, Kyle always says that.
14:09Like, you really have to be good at both in order to do one of them well.
14:14And so I think, you know, having a number of our receivers back being healthy, you know,
14:20even if that's just the threat of the past, it makes things a little bit easier in the run game.
14:24So we've had a lot of things kind of come back together.
14:27And I think we've found some different schemes in the run game that really fit our personnel
14:32and just the team that we have this year.
14:34Kyle, this is a little top of mind because the Bills have a receiver who, for instance,
14:39was late to a meeting last week and he's been an inactive.
14:43There's a story for the Cowboys that CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens both missed curfew last Sunday night
14:48before the game in Vegas on Monday.
14:51Did you tell George Kittle a story that you missed your first day as a 49er?
14:56Long story short, yes.
15:02But I got there late.
15:05Basically, so in 2017, the Niners, I mean, they signed like it was like 13 free agents to start the season.
15:13You know, they had like cleared house.
15:14And so we were all coming out here to kind of like, you know, meet everybody and see the facility
15:24and where we'd be living and all that type of thing.
15:27And they had given us a booklet with our schedule like for the weekend.
15:32And I read the itinerary and like I did my physical, I did everything at the facility, you know,
15:39did my press conference, all that type of stuff.
15:42And then that night there was like a meet and greet, like get together at the hotel.
15:49But what I didn't realize is that was on the backside of the itinerary.
15:55I missed that.
15:56So I did everything on the front page and I thought I was done for the day.
15:59Like, so my wife and I went to go look for somewhere to live.
16:03And, you know, we were just looking around Santana Rho.
16:07And I start getting a call from the scouts and they're like, where are you?
16:11I'm like, what are you talking about?
16:13And we have this meet and greet at the hotel.
16:16And so, yeah, like I said on the podcast there, you know, panic ensued.
16:21But I got there.
16:23I met everybody.
16:24I was just a little late.
16:25No punishment, huh?
16:26No, no punishment for that one.
16:29Okay.
16:30All right.
16:30Kyle Juszczyk, great to have you.
16:32Hey, before you go, you got to help us out with something.
16:35Who do you look up to the most?
16:37Who's the best fullback of all time?
16:41Man, that's a tough question for me.
16:44Because if I'm just being transparent and honest, like I never wanted to be a fullback.
16:49That was never like my goal or my intention.
16:51So, like, growing up, that's not who I was watching.
16:55Like, I so badly wanted to be a receiver.
16:58As I got older, like, you know, I started to realize that wasn't going to happen.
17:01So, I'm like, all right, I would love to be a tight end, like a good receiving tight end.
17:05And, again, unfortunately, I'm not 6'3 or taller.
17:10So, my avenue to the NFL was going to be a fullback.
17:13So, that wasn't until I, you know, had graduated college that I really started playing fullback and started watching that.
17:21But, at the same token, like, I've, you know, obviously grown an appreciation for the position.
17:27And I do love watching clips of Tom Rathman.
17:30I think he was just such a complete player.
17:34I mean, he had a season of, like, 600 yards rushing, 600 yards receiving, you know, won a Super Bowl.
17:40Like, I think he's, in my mind, probably the best of all time.
17:45It's a great answer.
17:46And another one close to our heart is Lorenzo Neal, who we all work with still at the station.
17:50And he's a semi-finalist for the Hall of Fame.
17:52And you've got nine Pro Bowls.
17:54So, if he can somehow get into the Hall of Fame, that might clear the way for old number 44, not Rathman, but you someday, Kyle.
18:02Hey, that would be pretty sick.
18:04And I also, obviously, I love Lowe.
18:07I love Daryl Johnson, Tony Richardson.
18:10Like, those are some other pullbacks that I liked as well.
18:13But, man, I would be so happy if Lorenzo got into the Hall of Fame.
18:17Because, I mean, he obviously had such an impact on all the teams he had.
18:21You know, all those thousand-yard rushers that were following him.
18:24Very different style than myself.
18:26But I definitely respect his game.
18:28Kyle, great stuff.
18:29Hey, real quick.
18:30Does the fact that the Super Bowl is at Levi's Stadium, is there anything?
18:35Is there any extra, pardon the pun, is there any extra juice on this because it's here?
18:43I mean, yeah, you're obviously going to be excited.
18:45But to say that, you know, anything could motivate you even more to want to play in the Super Bowl, I think is a little crazy.
18:53Like, I mean, that is the goal.
18:55Every single year, like, that is the number one.
18:58And, like, I don't think anything can motivate you more.
19:01But that really would be a cherry on top if we could play in our own stadium.
19:07Like, that's something out of a movie, you know?
19:10No doubt.
19:10And you can sleep in your cold bed and you wouldn't have to pack all your plants.
19:14Right.
19:14That's what I'm saying.
19:15I'd be so ready for that game, so recovered.
19:18Like, watch out, whoever plants.
19:20Watch out.
19:21Watch out.
19:22There's going to be blueberries and dates everywhere.
19:24All right.
19:25That's right.
19:26Kyle, thanks so much, man.
19:27You're the best.
19:29Yeah, thanks for having me, guys.
19:30All right.
19:30There he is.
19:31Kyle Juszczyk.
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