- 1 day ago
Willard and Dibs debate if the 49ers' injuries are a big deal or not. How does this impact their expectations this season?
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Speaking of triumphant returns, Aaron Donald worked out with the Rams today.
00:07No, not Donald.
00:10That's, come on.
00:12Oh no, babe.
00:13Under the worst kept secret of all time.
00:15Like this has become stupid.
00:17No, come on.
00:19What are we doing?
00:20Just announce it already.
00:22Oh, yikes.
00:26It's not like anybody's under a different impression.
00:31Hushmanzadeh came on with us last week and he's like, yeah, Aaron Donald's playing for the Rams this year.
00:36There's not.
00:37I love when people love to act like there's a secret and it's like, it's not a secret.
00:43Like we can see you.
00:44It's not like the people who pick their nose in the car to stoplight.
00:48I don't know why you think you're okay in there.
00:50We can see you.
00:51Right.
00:52Stop picking your nose.
00:53I don't care if you see me picking my nose.
00:55You don't matter to me.
00:56You don't care, yeah.
00:56Then just open your window and show everybody.
00:59I just, Aaron Donald's playing for the Rams this year.
01:02This may be as simple as camp bodies though.
01:05Like you don't want to have Aaron Donald have to play every day in camp.
01:08So he's working out.
01:10He's not on the roster and you've got some poor schlub who's going to be cut as soon as cuts
01:14can be made.
01:15And he'll be holding the spot.
01:16And once Aaron Donald really wants to get in there and start to ramp up, well then they'll sign him
01:21then and you'll go ahead and cut whoever you're going to cut.
01:24It's a roster thing right now.
01:26Yeah.
01:26You need bodies.
01:27You need available bodies in early August of guys who can run around there and go full bore.
01:31And that's not Aaron Donald.
01:33No, but the Rams have never made any, they've never made many bones about the fact that they're going to
01:42sit everybody in August.
01:44Is Miles Garrett practicing?
01:46I don't feel like he's practiced in a week.
01:49They don't, they rest their guys, which by the way, theory, if you will.
01:57And no, it doesn't apply to everybody.
01:59If you broke a rib, if you broke a finger, like Kyle Juszczyk apparently just did, then you sit out
02:07practice.
02:07But the Niners have this long list.
02:10I think the list reached 20 today with regard to players sitting out practice.
02:17And I'm wondering, while the substation is getting its own Twitter account and all of the, right, Warren Sharp wants
02:26to tweet about this every single day.
02:28All the Niners are going down because of the substation.
02:31What about this?
02:33What if all of the guys, what if the list is so long because of the injury history?
02:42Not adding to it.
02:44In other words, what if the 49ers this year in camp, especially early in August, are making more of a
02:51conscious decision that if anybody has the slightest anything, don't push it.
02:58Sit out.
02:59It's August 5th and we're fine.
03:03I mean, that is, like, when I read, oh God, the Niners have no receivers.
03:08And then the reporters are like, but Mike Evans and Christian Kirk are running full speed on the sideline.
03:14Well, if they're running full speed on the sideline, it sounds to me like they don't have horrible leg injuries.
03:20Right.
03:20And they have a month to go until there's a game.
03:23So, it makes me, especially with veteran guys like that, guys who've had their 30th birthday.
03:28So, it's very, again, and I'm not, I don't know.
03:32I don't know.
03:32Maybe, maybe they're very hurt.
03:35Maybe they're sort of hurt.
03:36Maybe they're a little hurt.
03:37I don't know how to characterize it.
03:39But what if the 49ers are just erring on the cautious side because of everything they've been through the last
03:48few years?
03:48And that's why the list of names sitting out is so long.
03:52That would make a lot of positive sense if that's the real reason.
03:55And ultimately, there's two ways to find out.
03:58One is, are they making roster moves accordingly, such as Debo Samuel gets brought in, and the next thing you
04:04know, a day or two later, Ricky Pearsall is going to have surgery.
04:06He's gone for the year.
04:07Okay, that was a direct, in my opinion, a direct connection between bad news A, good news B.
04:14So, if you've got Stribbling who's missing time, Evans and Kirk, who are still running up and down, full speed,
04:20seemingly injury-free, that seems to me to be more precautionary.
04:24Mike Evans is an older player.
04:26Christian Kirk is no spring chicken.
04:27That's kind of the way you handle vets anyway.
04:30The Deshaun Stribbling one is one that you'd keep an eye on because he's a rook who needs to be
04:34out there getting the reps.
04:36So, if he's out there and he's sitting because of a small ailment, that, to me, becomes a bigger story.
04:41Agreed.
04:42At the same time, I don't think all rookies are cut from the same cloth.
04:46This is their first pick.
04:49And he's a big deal.
04:51And they're probably also him being a rookie.
04:53I don't think the 49ers are, at least at a high level, relying on him on week one to be,
05:00like, a huge part of the offense.
05:02Maybe I'm wrong on that.
05:03I really don't know.
05:04The wide receiver room is a very, very interesting room.
05:07And they brought in, you know, they brought in another player at that position today.
05:12What's the, Kaderis Hodge?
05:14Is that right?
05:15They just brought him in.
05:16He's a Raheem Morris guy, too.
05:18I know that's the defensive coordinator.
05:20But, anyway, played with him over in the Falcons.
05:22Like, they brought in another guy.
05:25So, that sort of gives you a clue here and there.
05:29But I don't know.
05:31It just, it feels to me like there is, and I talked to you, Grandy and I did a lot
05:36on this yesterday.
05:37I just feel like there's a little bit too much worrying going on.
05:42And there's plenty of time for that worrying to be realized.
05:47I can't tell you they're going to be healthy at any point this year, let alone week one.
05:52But...
05:53Well, they won't be healthy, like, all of them.
05:55They're going to have injured guys all the time, right?
05:57Yeah, nobody ever is.
05:58But, you know what I'm saying?
06:00Like, I sort of challenged the conversation yesterday to go further.
06:04And it led to something that will probably come up time and again.
06:09Mark Grandy has decided he would like the 49ers to either stretch more or quit.
06:15But, so those are the two options.
06:17That doesn't sound like you, Grandy.
06:18Yeah, no, we've even...
06:19Well, we were trying to figure out ways to help with their issues.
06:23Their soft tissue injuries.
06:25And I suggested, I don't know, maybe do some more stretching.
06:28Or just disband the football team.
06:30Because there'll be no injuries that way.
06:32Smart.
06:32Smart, that's next level right there.
06:34I mean, and that sounds silly, but here's what I meant by that.
06:37I'm listening to this cyclical conversation that is either worrying or making fun of the 49ers from a substation standpoint.
06:48And you're welcome to do this however you want.
06:50If you want to worry, if you want to point and laugh, whatever.
06:54But I don't want to do either of those things.
06:57It's not fun.
06:57That's not how I football fan.
07:00I don't want to worry a month before there's a game.
07:02And I certainly don't want to make fun of professional athletes getting hurt.
07:07So, I'm going to do neither of those things now.
07:10But I kind of challenge the conversation to be like, if that's how you feel, then do the next sentence.
07:16If you're worried about the injuries, what is it you want to say about them?
07:20Do you want Kyle to stop pushing them so hard?
07:23Or do you want the 49ers to move facilities?
07:27And that's when Granny was like, stretch more or quit.
07:30I like that.
07:31Stretch more.
07:32I guess I'm just, it's like a golf ball that stops at the cup.
07:37Like, I want one more revolution.
07:39Right.
07:39Well, you could say something about it.
07:40You could look at the head of strength and conditioning, the vice president, who's now been there in his eighth
07:46season.
07:47And you could look at that department and say, maybe we need to just bring in a whole new group
07:51of people.
07:52There you go.
07:52And do things a whole different way.
07:54Kyle Shanahan either works his guys too hard or doesn't work harder than any other team, depending on which player
08:00you talk to.
08:01And as far as the concern about injury goes, I'm concerned about some guys more than others.
08:07And some of those guys are, for example, like George Kittle.
08:10Is he going to be able to play week one?
08:12Will it be week three or four?
08:13He's on the pup.
08:14Michael Williams on the pup.
08:16Nick Bosa coming off a third ACL.
08:17So these are track record injuries.
08:20And then the other ones are the little ones like your new running back, Kalon Black.
08:25Back, he's gotten hurt and your holdover, Justin James broke his rib because his own teammate tried to punch the
08:32ball and he broke his rib.
08:33And your other running back never can get on the field.
08:36Isaac Garendo, your wide receiver core, they're running on the side, but they're not on the field.
08:40So it's not a full-blown worry, but it's almost like a here we go again in early August.
08:46And why?
08:47Why does this keep happening?
08:48And I'm not saying it happens to them more than other teams.
08:50I saw one of your tweets over the last couple of days.
08:53Like, you know, show me their data.
08:54Yeah.
08:55Show me the other teams and how many injured guys they have.
08:57The Eagles receiving core is completely hurt and nobody knows.
09:00I'm sure Philadelphia fans know.
09:02Yeah, but it's irrelevant on August 5th.
09:04Because they don't have a substation right there.
09:05And they also don't have a game this week.
09:07I don't care who's hurt on August 5th.
09:11I don't.
09:12Ricky Pearsall?
09:13That one matters.
09:14If it's a season, if it's a season-long thing, then we can talk about it.
09:20Yeah, it might be a career-long thing.
09:21And maybe.
09:23But that is a list of one.
09:27One guy that we know is out week one.
09:29We know for sure.
09:30100% he's out week one.
09:32Ricky Pearsall.
09:33End of list.
09:34You said Kyle used to take broke a finger today?
09:36Broke a finger.
09:37Well, no.
09:37He broke it yesterday.
09:39Okay.
09:39He sat out today.
09:41Two more guys did leave today.
09:42Zekiel left.
09:43Okawanna left.
09:44Maybe Okawanna was pissed that there were too many people that have long last names starting with O on the
09:50defensive line.
09:50There's only room for two, so he left.
09:52I don't know.
09:53But yes, those two guys got dinged today.
09:57I know everybody wants the 49ers to get through a whole practice without a ding.
10:00It's pretty rare, I think, actually for most teams to just have a clean injury report every day.
10:07I'm certainly not going to.
10:09I'm not gaslighting anyone.
10:10I'm not going to tell you that the injury bug hasn't been a problem for the Niners over the last
10:14handful of years.
10:15I just, no different than the Seahawks, Rams, and Niners in the standings.
10:19I take each year, year by year.
10:21It's a complete reset.
10:23So I don't.
10:24I get that part of it, but there's been a through line of this being a consistent issue over the
10:29majority of the season since Kyle's been here.
10:31And so, like, and then what's the next sentence?
10:35So you think what?
10:36I think a lot of things, and they can all be.
10:38I wonder what they are.
10:39Well, one of them would be looking at Dustin Perry as the vice president of your training and your training
10:45department and figure out if he's the GOAT.
10:48You look at the Warriors, and Rick Celebrini is wildly or widely regarded as one of the best in his
10:53field.
10:54And do the Warriors have injuries?
10:56Of course, everyone has them, but the people who go there rave about his ability to rehab them.
11:02I look at a through line through the Shanahan era, and Dustin Perry has ascended through those ranks,
11:08and he's somebody who's been there for a long time.
11:10So I would look at that department and look at other departments that maybe have fewer injuries
11:14and wonder what you're doing that other teams aren't doing or what you're not doing that other teams are doing.
11:20That would be somewhere that I would primarily look before this cockamamie substation.
11:24Yeah, and I agree with you, you know.
11:28And I would imagine, like, here's the other side to it.
11:32I have no idea if they've done it successfully or unsuccessfully,
11:35but it's always interesting to me when multi, multi-billion-dollar organizations
11:41are experiencing a problem and people go, you know what you should do?
11:46You should look at the training staff.
11:49I have to imagine that the San Francisco 49ers, like all football teams,
11:56look at every single possible analytic, performance-based, how can we be better in this, that.
12:06I would imagine they look at all of those things every year.
12:10It would be robbery for them to not do that, right?
12:14I mean, I sure do.
12:15They do that, and I know over the last few years,
12:18they've totally upgraded their facility in terms of the weight room and the training rooms
12:22and all the rest of it, and so they're clearly putting resources into it,
12:25and yet they have not gotten the results.
12:28The process is maybe a little bit different.
12:29The results are largely the same, so then you have to look at other things.
12:34Is it the Shanahan practice approach?
12:36And the hardest thing about this for me, Mark, is even if you've had more injuries than most,
12:41I think they have, even if the coach pushes them harder than most,
12:45I believe that maybe they do, it's led to winning.
12:48So you've won at a rate that is almost second to none.
12:52You have a couple of teams who've outstripped you based on wins in Super Bowls,
12:56but like Buffalo, Baltimore, you, in the last 10 years,
13:00you're the three best teams without a Super Bowl, so it's led to winning.
13:04More injuries, probably.
13:06More wins, yeah.
13:07So how do you balance those two things?
13:09It's a very good point.
13:11I mean, how would this have gone without the injury poor luck
13:16or whatever you want to call it, the issue?
13:20Yeah, I don't know.
13:22And you're right, we've had a line of players through the years.
13:26You know, it's not like 49ers, it's not like they've never played anywhere else.
13:30A lot of guys have played for other NFL teams.
13:31They've all played in college.
13:33And a lot of people are like, no, it's not really all that different.
13:37It's a football practice.
13:37Yeah, like we go out there.
13:38But that's why I do think that the Niners have reached a point where if you're looking
13:46at all things, if I'm the Niners, one of the first things I would do coming into this
13:51camp, before the first injury even happened, one of the first things I would do, and I'm
13:56just a layperson, but I would go, okay, I've got some pre-existing injuries, you know, or
14:04rehab guys, Michael Williams, George Kittle, et cetera.
14:07I'm also, I'm not going to call the Niners, it's not like the Warriors, they're not an
14:11old team, but they've got some key position players who are, you know, they get some rings
14:19on their trees, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Mike Evans.
14:26So I would immediately go, all right, especially early in camp, let's really, if there's ever
14:36an opportunity to take our foot off the gas, let's do it.
14:39So I would tell my guys, especially on Mike Evans, hey, Mike, if you feel anything, I mean
14:48anything, we're going to sit you out.
14:51Let's just put you on the side.
14:53You're Mike Evans.
14:54Right.
14:55I think you know where it's going.
14:56Does he need to learn how to run a bang eight?
14:57Don't think so.
14:58Yeah.
14:58He's probably good on that.
14:59And from the sound of the first few days of camp, Brock and him were connecting quickly,
15:06very, very quickly, in terms of their rapport.
15:10If you can run a good route, and Brock knows what the route is, he's going to be able to
15:14find
15:14you right on time.
15:15That's what he does.
15:16So I don't know that they did that, but I'd do that.
15:19I don't know nothing from nothing, but that's what I would do.
15:22I would immediately show up to camp and be like, anybody feels anything in the first 15
15:28days of August, you sit.
15:31Rookies, that's different.
15:32So I like your shriveling point.
15:34That's fair.
15:34Even young guys.
15:36Jacob Cowling, I think, sitting out with an injury today is a concern because he has always
15:42been hurt.
15:44Um, yes, the two running backs, Jordan James, Caelan Black, that's a bummer.
15:49And, and that, those are setbacks.
15:51It's very, very unfortunate.
15:53But when we're talking about dudes who are veteran players on August 5th, I would be so
15:59overly cautious.
16:00And I'm hopeful that that's part of what they're doing.
16:02I hope so too, because we would all be overly critical if they pushed him and the injury
16:07got into a spot where now you're gonna have to miss a couple of games in the regular season.
16:11The first preseason game is a week from tomorrow, and I think they've got a joint practice
16:15before that with the Titans.
16:16And so you're gonna get next week, things are gonna start to ramp up even a little bit
16:21more.
16:21And right now it's a Wednesday here in week two.
16:24And so you're still trying to ease your way through it.
16:26And really right now you're analyzing players 70 through 90.
16:31And you may already know who those bottom 20 are, and they're gonna be gone.
16:34So then you look at, all right, who's gonna be players 53 through 70?
16:38That way we can really start to zero in as the month goes on, on who we're gonna keep
16:43on this team.
16:44Who can we maybe get on our practice squad and they won't get plucked by somebody else.
16:48And so you're making those evaluations.
16:51You're not looking at Mike Evans and thinking wide receiver one, or does he come off the bench?
16:56I gotta figure this out, Mike.
16:57Exactly, exactly.
16:59So anyway, the larger conversation, which is where we started, is kind of the overall
17:05expectations thing that comes from, as you pointed out, the quarterbacks they play, the
17:11overall strength of schedule, which is a lot of guesswork at this hour, but it's based
17:16on some Vegas data, overall win totals, and then the constant story about the injury bug.
17:23But I look at this season and I, I mean, I share, I think the same headlines that everybody
17:28else does.
17:29Yeah.
17:29They play in a really hard division.
17:30So if, if that's what ends up getting in the Niners way, that's possible.
17:35But I also do, I take every single NFL season as its own.
17:41And of the two teams that everybody talks about in the NFC West, I think one of the narratives
17:47is accurate.
17:47And I think the other one is inaccurate.
17:49I think the Los Angeles Rams, if they're blessed with health, are a problem.
17:54I think that's a roster that's got a lot of answers at a lot of positions and a lot of
18:00elite players.
18:01And Aaron Donald working out for them today does not help.
18:05They have the, uh, the highest percentage on Cal sheet to make the playoffs 80%.
18:09They, they are, are they the Superbowl favorite, like the NFL wide Superbowl favorite right
18:14now?
18:14I would guess yes, but I'm just looking right now at the Cal sheet markets for likelihood
18:19percentage chance to make the playoffs and LA, the Rams are at 80 and Seattle is fifth on
18:25the board at 65.
18:26Um, I'm pulling up the actual up to the minutes, uh, Superbowl.
18:32Yes, indeed.
18:33In fact, they're a significant one.
18:35The Rams are Superbowl favorites at plus five 50.
18:39The next two teams are at plus 1100.
18:42Wow.
18:42And they are the Seahawks in bills.
18:44And that's the other point I want to make the Seahawks should not be down.
18:47That's, that's what we do with the defending champ.
18:49We over inflate and they're good.
18:52They're good.
18:53They have a great home field advantage.
18:54They got a good defense.
18:54They're well coached.
18:56Um, Sam Donald works out well for them, but I find it to be so overly simplistic to just
19:03go Seahawks one last year Seahawks.
19:06It's like, I mean, you're, you're dismissing all of the little points on their journey that
19:12kind of fell their way, which to me happens in any Superbowl run.
19:17So that's not pointing at them.
19:18That's any team.
19:19Um, and you're dismissing the departures that they've had, which were not insignificant.
19:26So, um, the Seahawks are, are good.
19:30I think the 49ers are good.
19:32I think those two teams, you could have a healthy conversation over who should be predicted to
19:38be second in the NFC West right now.
19:40I think it's pretty wide open and obviously that comes down in many ways to those head
19:44to heads.
19:45And I just wonder if I was to offer you the Niners record last year against the Rams and
19:51Seahawks in the regular season two and two, would you take that?
19:54Or can the Niners be slightly better than that?
19:57Because this Ram game in Australia is, it sets up to not be a great spot for them because
20:03they'd always do so well at Levi South.
20:06And now you have to travel.
20:07It's a neutral.
20:09And normally you get that bonus home game in LA and the Rams, I do think are going to
20:14be revved up knowing that they are the favorites to win the whole thing.
20:16And the Niners won't be totally healthy.
20:18So this one's a bad spot.
20:21So can you split with the Rams?
20:23Can you split with Seattle?
20:24What do you think, Mark?
20:25Can they?
20:26Of course, they're allowed to.
20:28They're allowed to win all four.
20:30I checked.
20:31But I think what you're asking me is kind of like, would I take that?
20:34If you offered it to me right now, would I take that?
20:38And I think I probably would.
20:41And the reason I probably would is because I think you can come to a reasonable, not overwhelming,
20:48but a reasonable conclusion that that gives you a pretty good shot to be four and two in
20:52your division.
20:52And that's a good record.
20:54That's a good record in your division.
20:56And if you do go four and two in your division, and then I look at the rest of this
21:00schedule,
21:01I see things going pretty well for them if they go four and two in their division.
21:05I think you look at the rest of the schedule.
21:08Sure, there's some losses out there.
21:11But let's put it this way.
21:13If they go four and two in their division, I love their chances to win 11 football games
21:18this year.
21:19That 11-11 football games gets you in.
21:21Especially if you wind up winning the correct 11, which would be, you know, you knock off
21:25the Giants, who could be an upstart team, a wildcard competitor.
21:28Same thing with Dallas, a team they're going to face.
21:31Philadelphia is always a big game.
21:33So those other NFC games that might serve as tiebreakers, they can maybe loom if you do
21:38wind up with just 10 wins.
21:40Philadelphia, Sunday night football, Levi's Stadium, January 3rd.
21:46Sign me up.
21:49That's always a juicy one.
21:51Yeah, I mean, things for one or both could already be decided.
21:54Or they could all be on the line.
21:58So, you know, that game, traditionally, that first game kind of after the new year, you
22:05know, I remember that was that Detroit game at Levi's Stadium, a primetime game a couple
22:10of years ago, and we circled it before the year started.
22:13It was like, ooh, boy, here we go.
22:14You know, 49ers.
22:15That was December 30th.
22:16Yeah, and they were coming off of the NFC Championship battle the year before, and they
22:23came all the way out here, and the Niner season was completely cooked already.
22:25It was completely cooked, and it was a Jared Goff chant fest at Levi's Stadium.
22:31So fun games, fun to go to, but like everything was already decided.
22:35So hopefully those two teams both still have something on the line when they get to that
22:39one.
22:40Yeah, that'd be juicy if that was absolutely the case, and hopefully the Niners don't
22:44have to worry about that last game against Arizona if they can just rest everybody and
22:48be buttoned up, but interesting to see how the season unfolds.
22:52I'm looking at the rest differential, and Seattle, they have the...
22:55That's the fourth kindest rest differential on the year.
22:59That's helpful.
23:00Tough schedule, but they play one, two, three, five games where they're going to have more
23:05rest than their opponent.
23:06What's the Niners?
23:07The Niners is a flat zero.
23:08Okay.
23:09They're a dead zero.
23:10They've got a game where they have a three-day advantage, a four and a seven, and then they
23:15have a seven against them, two threes and a one.
23:17So they're exactly dead on the zero.
23:21But did they give them the rest advantage for week one?
23:24Because they have it.
23:26It's a rest disadvantage based on when they played last year.
23:29Oh, the Rams played deeper.
23:30The Rams went farther.
23:32So yeah, they have like a three-day advantage.
23:34I think it's like a seven-day advantage.
23:35Something like that, yeah.
23:36Yeah, the Rams had to play in, you know, like late January.
23:41The Rams only had to play in mid-January.
23:43They hate playing in late January.
23:45So hopefully that's going to pay some dividends here.
Comments