00:00I think we kind of want to start out based on what looks and maybe at first glance feels like
00:07a Schefter bomb, and that is that Trent Williams and the 49ers are apparently not on the same
00:15page, struggling to find common ground in their contractual situation with Trent Williams
00:22due to make, and part of this is bonuses and some of it is base pay and all of that,
00:29but it all adds up to about $33 million, which is about $5 million more than the next highest
00:34left tackle in the game, and the 49ers are clearly in the process of both trying to add
00:40but reboot and rebuild and bring in some young people and make room for Brock's money and
00:47all of these things, and I think that they probably asked Trent to take just a smidge of
00:52a pay cut, and Trent, Mr. Boombox, doesn't seem like that kind of guy, and he's got, this
00:59is one of the rare situations, this doesn't happen a lot in the NFL, a player's got all
01:05the leverage right now.
01:07He does.
01:07Trent's got it all.
01:08He does, and you know, he's on the books for, I guess the cap hit would be 38.8 roughly,
01:14and you know, they already have some voided years on the back end, which is where the
01:18prorated signing bonus is going to be spread out, so you've already got some of that money
01:22lingering in your future when Trent's going to be 40 and Trent will be 41.
01:27He likely won't be playing, but they won't be paying him.
01:31He already got that money, but it's going to be on the books, and so basically what Trent
01:35is saying is, I want a little bit more of that fresh moolah, and go ahead and tack on
01:41a few more of the voidable years on the back end, and if you're the Niners, you don't want
01:45to do it, but you look at the things that you don't want to do more.
01:49We don't want to give you more money, but we really don't want to play without you.
01:53Right.
01:53So when those two, we don't want twos come together, you ultimately do what Trent wants,
01:58and that's going to be, you know, you probably won't give him a huge amount of fresh money,
02:03but you're going to give him something.
02:04Mean middle.
02:05Well, and actually, I think that it's important really to understand here, this doesn't
02:11really threaten, those of us who are thinking in the now, and I don't know about you, I
02:15am.
02:15My mind on the Niners is not about like, oh, I hope they can like, you know, be good in
02:19a couple years.
02:20I'm like, now, bro, like we, the Niners have to be really good this year.
02:24I think they can be.
02:25They've got some newfound money because of whatever's going to happen with Iyuk.
02:29There is a scenario here where you stretch the Trent Williams thing out with an extension,
02:35and it lowers the cop figure this year.
02:39And so the only risk that you're playing with is now you're taking Trent, you're taking
02:45Trent into his 40s, but he said he wants to play more than one more year, so that means
02:50he would like to play into his 40s, or damn near his 40th birthday at least.
02:54He's about to turn 38, very similar age to Steph Curry.
02:58He'll be 38 when the NFL season starts again.
03:00Um, so that's the risk that you're taking, but it could open up even more dollars this
03:07year for some shopping that I really feel like they need.
03:11I like, I know there's been a lot of focus on the draft and no doubt cheap labor, do a
03:18better job, address this, that, the other.
03:20I'm in full agreement, but I really, I'm excited about NFL free agency this year.
03:25And I would love to see the Niners much more aggressive than they were last year.
03:29Yeah.
03:29From what I've heard from people like Matt Barrows and others who are on the beat, it
03:33doesn't seem like they're indicating that they will be more aggressive than what they
03:37were last year.
03:38And so maybe it's a trade.
03:40I don't know if the Raiders would trade Max Crosby to the Niners.
03:43That doesn't feel like something that Mark Davis would green light just based on the long
03:48and somewhat bitter history of those two franchises.
03:51But he would be the one that you'd look at and say, yeah, that'd be awesome.
03:54But beyond that, you need another running back.
03:57And I did a deep dive on McCaffrey and his big touch year and what that's meant historically.
04:02We'll get into it as we get closer to the combine, but you need a tight end.
04:06You need another edge rusher.
04:08You need an offensive lineman for the future.
04:11I think you need another corner.
04:13You need at least one linebacker, probably possibly two to, you know, be a part of the future of
04:19your team.
04:19So you've got a lot of things that you have to go out there and do.
04:22I don't know if this excites people.
04:23Is this too in the weeds?
04:24David Lombardi threw out a name to be the other running back this year.
04:28Kenneth Gainwell.
04:30Yeah, that sounds great.
04:32Yep.
04:32And like that won't be expensive.
04:35He played really well in Pittsburgh this year.
04:37At times, he actually kind of moonlit as the lead back.
04:41Jalen Warren was the main lead back.
04:43But Gainwell did a lot of the red zone work.
04:45He's a really good receiver out of the backfield.
04:47I don't know if stuff like that sounds and feels exciting to people.
04:50It does to me.
04:51Because that's exactly the kind of player that the 49ers need that would really take a lot
04:59of this load off of Christian McCaffrey.
05:01It is sorely needed.
05:03And you also need somebody who can be a positional, flexible kind of a player where you could put
05:08him out there in the slot.
05:09You could put him in the backfield.
05:11And that's what McCaffrey is so good at is you can use him in a number of different ways.
05:16And that's where Kyle Juszczyk has been so important.
05:18And Debo, when he was here, you could put Debo in the backfield.
05:21You could put him out wide.
05:22So if you're looking for a running back, you're looking for that type of player who can do multiple
05:27things for you.
05:28I mean, that's kind of what I'm getting at with how excited I am about free agency.
05:31I don't know to what level they'll be, you know, like really involved and aggressive
05:37or are they kind of more all the way down in the bargain bin again, whatever it may be.
05:43But to the point that I think you're making, what an odd setup that we have right now.
05:48It's a 49er team that is accomplished.
05:51They're coming off of 12.
05:52You could call it 13 wins.
05:56Yet, we all look at their roster and go hole, hole, hole, hole, hole, like holes everywhere.
06:06Sort of.
06:07Some of them will probably, you hope, fingers crossed, get filled by the people who are coming back.
06:13Like, just Fred Warner and Nick Bosa being added back to your team kind of change it.
06:19And then there's the mysteries of George Kittle, who will tell you he'll be ready for week one.
06:23We'll see.
06:24Yeah.
06:24Even if you are.
06:25I think there's another tight end receiving type that the Niners would probably be interested in.
06:31Tim Kawakami predicted that Isaiah likely will end up on the 49ers for whatever that's worth.
06:37You know, that's been one of the Ravens' two tight ends next to Mark Andrews the last handful of years.
06:42And he's a good receiving tight end.
06:44That's an interesting name.
06:45But I'm not saying they need to go break bank, but I would love activity.
06:51I want to see the 49ers.
06:53It's the same way what we talked about yesterday with basketball coaches.
06:57What do they want to see?
06:58The activity, man, defense, rebounding, move your feet, move the ball.
07:02I want to see the offseason for the Niners feel like that.
07:06And you mentioned holes, and it's real because, and we've talked about this, the 6-11 year,
07:10it came down to three games you could have won.
07:13You would have been 9-8.
07:14Last year, you were 12-5.
07:15There were three games you might have, quote, stolen that maybe you didn't quite deserve to win, but you did.
07:20You don't apologize for it.
07:22But you look at what they were last year, and every year that Shanahan's been here,
07:26when they've been good, they've been able to do one thing every single time,
07:30and that's run the ball.
07:32And last year, they could not run the ball.
07:33And I don't think your center is good enough.
07:35I think your left guard needs to be replaced.
07:37Your right guard is good.
07:39As he got healthy, Dominic Poonie had himself a good year.
07:42PFF loves your tackles, but you need a left guard.
07:46You might need a center.
07:47You've got to be able to get back to Shanahan ball,
07:49which is we're going to run it 30 or 40 times, and we're going to beat you that way.
07:55888-957-9570.
07:56Nick Friedle joins us in a half hour.
07:58We've got a lot going on and not necessarily a ton of time to do it.
08:02John Lynch is scheduled to speak at the Combine in front of reporters in five minutes.
08:07We will be monitoring to see what he has to say.
08:10So stay right where you are,
08:12because his answer about Trent Williams and much more is right around the corner.
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