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Former NFL player and head coach Herm Edwards joins Willard and Dibs to preview the 2026 49ers season.
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00:00we're big enough to admit that some conversations that we have on this show are better than others
00:06hello the conversations that we always have with our next guest just happen to be better than
00:13others that's just the way it works yep you know what i mean um so let's dive into it and
00:18not waste
00:18any more time river islands guest line um years with espn the coach you know him you love him
00:24it's it's herm edwards right here on willard and dibs 95 7 the game hey coach how you doing
00:30i am well i think we're all excited i was in studio last week i made my journey to bristol
00:38to talk about football and uh obviously we're all excited about this season and um a lot of things
00:46have happened since the off season when you think about it i was visiting and said you know there's
00:5010 new head coaches and people don't realize there's 20 new coordinators too so that's a lot
00:56of change but um it'll be fun to watch i tell you what when you you mentioned the journey to
01:01bristol and i'm thinking about how many years you've been doing that how many years you've been
01:05coaching my partner and i were just having a conversation a short time ago about joint practices
01:11and i'm i'm sure you hear this all the time people are like man stop with the august injuries let's
01:16just
01:16do away with the preseason i'd love your perspective on where you've seen the game and that conversation
01:24go from when you started until now and what do you think of it well when i started i'm gonna
01:31age
01:31myself there was actually um six preseason games six there was only four there was only 14 regular
01:37season games so how about that one right and yeah six six of them six six i came to the
01:45league 1977
01:46with the eagles there was six preseason games 14 regular now here was the deal um i knew early i
01:53was
01:53going to be a uh starter so dick vermil told me he says hey look in the preseason he says
01:57you go out
01:58there with the vets because you're a starter he said in the second quarter you ain't leaving the
02:02field just stay out there just keep playing i gotta get you experience and so he was correct because
02:08anything else these young guys need to learn how to play and the only way to do that is keep
02:13playing
02:14i mean you know i always say this it's kind of funny about football players you know what they do
02:17for a living they play football i watch half of them now they wear baseball hats on the sidelines
02:22like what are you doing baby you're a football player it's football time you gotta play football
02:28that's how you get better when you play football all i know is this what i witnessed this weekend
02:33i watched in my opinion i watched the best player in football josh allen it was like hey i'm playing
02:43not just one series i'm gonna play a couple series and i said it's refreshing he's a football player
02:49go play football stop worrying about getting hurt because as soon as you soon as you think you're
02:54gonna get hurt you're getting hurt right and for me this is what people are missing with the preseason
03:00they cut it down i get it there's more regular season games i'm okay with all that but understand
03:05this you know who's what who the preseason games are really important for is your staff especially
03:11when you got a new one you want to see how these guys coach not in practice but in the
03:15game and
03:16that's the preseason you want to see how the offensive coordinators are adjusted how the defensive line
03:21coach is talking to his coaches how the secondary coach is talking you want you haven't worked with a
03:26lot of these guys how will they how do they coach on game day that's what i want to know
03:30in the
03:30preseason how they handling the players because when them players come off the field you know what
03:35they want they want answers you got to fix them they want answers has the preseason become though
03:42to the point where especially with all the money that's being doled out herm is it too dangerous for
03:46guys who are making like the gigantic money let me ask you though these guys get hurt in practice
03:57yeah before they even play in a preseason game some of these guys are already hurt yeah i mean people
04:02are worried about that i get it but you know what they're football players josh allen wasn't worried
04:07about it he went out there not only played one series he played two because the first series they
04:14didn't score to kick the field goal so he stayed out there he said you know what play another series
04:17man we're gonna score a touchdown this this got this more kid i got we got to work together for
04:21a
04:22little while so i got to play another series he's the best player in football in my opinion he played
04:29right i mean he didn't wear his baseball hat he went out to play i mean it's crazy guys are
04:36football
04:36players stop it stop worrying about getting hurt that's the last thing i ever worried about was
04:42getting hurt the last thing i never missed a practice i never missed a start here it is
04:49the great herm edwards yeah he is with us here withered and dibs 95 7 the game i i'm sure
04:54you
04:54get it though uh coach especially around these parts this fan base is they're triggered by this
05:03and and and so i i really understand it i get where you're coming from too um but i i
05:09don't know what
05:10is your take on this discussion that won't go away in the bay area which is why do they seemingly
05:17have them the most or close to it injured players year in and year out i have no idea that
05:24that that's
05:25that's puzzling to me and um you know i think that one time they were checking you know where they
05:31practiced that and said does that have something to do with no uh you know i i don't know i
05:38mean and
05:38and and i and i'm a 49er fan look the gm is a close friend john everybody knows he played
05:45for me in
05:46tampa so um i'm a close friend i don't want 49 to be said i hate for guys to get
05:51hurt and for some
05:53reason and you know what's funny they haven't played a game yet and guys are getting hurt
06:01how about that yeah right i mean yeah one of those guys yeah one of those guys is ricky pierce
06:07all who got hurt last year and then he went through the offseason he came back after two or
06:11three days and he got hurt again have you been in touch with ricky at all and have you talked
06:16to
06:16him about you know what his journey is going to be like i have not but i do know this
06:22coaching him
06:23you got to protect ricky from ricky he's a full-speed guy he don't know how to he don't know
06:28how to
06:28practice him the other way and sometimes you got to just protect him from himself right you just do
06:34so yeah you know there's players like that you say wait a minute now this guy you know and and
06:39he
06:39gets a little nit so you got to have a plan for him and i'm pretty sure kyle and those
06:44guys had a
06:44plan for him i'm just hoping that you know he can recover from this because after a while it just
06:49becomes uh-oh again right and everybody starts saying again right and you don't want that for any
06:55player harm i i would love your take on the 49er receiving core now that we know that ricky
07:02is not going to be a part of it this year mike evans age 32 they bring debo back there's
07:08a lot of buzz
07:09about stripling and then you sprinkle in uh sprinkle into marcus robinson and christian kirk and maybe some
07:16other young guys what what do you think of the viability of this group well i know one thing
07:23that mike evans fella he he can still play and maybe one of the greatest football players to ever
07:30play uh was a 49 and he played wide receiver and um one route that you couldn't stop when he
07:38ran it
07:38that's jerry rice a slant i don't care what coverage you're in you ain't covering the slant
07:44he ain't covering it well mike evans is there to run slants now he's gonna run a lot of other
07:49routes
07:49but when you when you need it when you need a play you run him on the slant he's big
07:53he's strong he's
07:54physical he can read defenses and pretty pretty accurate he'll keep the chains moving for all the
08:02rest of those guys are i think they all fit in uh coach shanahan will find a way to distribute
08:08the
08:08ball to him but at the end of the day evans watch what i say on a five yard slant
08:14there's a little
08:16simple playing football run a slant you can run it against any coverage you're gonna throw it to them
08:22and all of a sudden they're gonna be in second and four and second and four is the worst down
08:26you
08:26could be in as a defense second and four is just terrible but you're sitting there going here we go
08:33we're gonna have to play this series down unless they turn the ball over we're going another
08:36series because it's second and four right they got a heck of a running back we know who that is
08:42mccaffrey he can catch it he can run it all right got a good tight end all right most of
08:48these
08:48offenses in today's world they get the tight end that can catch and a running back can catch
08:51that's a bad matchup for defense they got two of them they got a really good tight end and they
08:56got
08:56a heck of a runner when you look at that runner christian mccaffrey and you look at his workload last
09:02year which was you know more than 400 touches is that something for you as a coach do you you
09:07look
09:07at those touches and you think you know what we maybe need to dial that back a little bit or
09:11new year new guy let's go do it well you want to get the ball to your best players he
09:18happens to be
09:18one but evans will help that now evans will help that it'll help a lot of it'll take a lot
09:25of stress
09:26off him because of the situation you can be in but you got to get in the ball but you're
09:32right i mean
09:32you know he only got so many hits in him he only got so many carries in him any football
09:40player
09:40and you want to keep this guy knowing when december hits that he's okay that he's he's good he's not
09:47beat up right because that's when the playoffs start
09:52herm edwards joining us right here on withered and dibs 95 7 the game coach uh your analysis on
09:58the nfc west uh well yeah we're looking forward to this how do you sort of assess uh the rams
10:06seahawks 49ers who has an advantage who has an edge etc what do you see here well
10:16you know look i ain't gonna be a homer but this is a division was really one of the best
10:22divisions
10:22of football last year all these teams won 10 or more games except for arizona the teams you mentioned
10:28seattle ends up you know winning it all um i think it'll still be competitive arizona would be a little
10:34bit better but i think it's these three teams and i do believe this um if if aaron donald decides
10:43to
10:43come back and i think he will people are gonna have problems now with miles garrett and aaron donald
10:53that that's a problem if you have to throw the ball and i think he might come back he's not
10:59saying
10:59anything but you're talking about two guys historically aaron donald has what 111 sacks
11:05in his career and miles garrett has 125 so good luck to you if you get yourself in the passing
11:12down
11:13because you ain't blocking those guys and the rams are pretty good matthew stafford i don't know how
11:18much longer he's going to play marvelous player they got an outstanding offense can they fix their
11:24defense good enough i do know this
11:29they're they're legit they're a good team seattle obviously you know what they did last year in san
11:34francisco i mean they're going to be right in it too so this is one of the better divisions in
11:39football i think the division that will come close to this division this year will be the nfc east
11:47with harbaugh with harbaugh going to the giants philly we know what philly's going to do jayden
11:53daniels will be healthy with washington right so dallas is dallas they went out they went out and
12:00bought themselves a defense their offense is top five offense in the league if they can just stop
12:06anybody just just be 15th in the league the dallas cowboys got a good football team so i think that
12:13division is going to be similar to the nfc west a lot of teams over there have a chance to
12:18win 10 or
12:18more games and that's going to be a tough division i mean jayden daniel's getting healthy and i can't
12:24help coach but ask you about brendan iuke who was you know pining toward being a commander and now it
12:30doesn't feel like he'll be a commander what have you made of the offseason for brendan iuke
12:36it is very it's puzzling it's puzzling because we had those guys you know rashad white obviously is
12:45with jayden now who played with jayden at arizona state as well um and uh you know i don't know
12:51what brandon is thinking or what he's doing but um i've had conversations with jayden too but i don't
12:57want to get into that that's personal but uh i don't know i just that was that was the puzzlingest
13:04thing i've ever seen and i'll leave it at that because i've coached the guy yeah you know i mean
13:10totally coach did was there because by the way you're not alone in terms of for example i know
13:16tj hushmanzada was his personal coach um yeah they they've sort of stopped uh talking uh tj doesn't
13:24know exactly where that went did you when you were coaching him did you see any aspects of his
13:30personality that would you that would lead you even potentially down a road like this
13:36not at all not at all no i did never never saw anything like this and i don't know what's
13:42going
13:42on i i don't want to i don't want to get in the middle of it yeah obviously because of
13:47of john
13:48and you know and i just kind of i'd stay away from that conversation i'll leave that one alone
13:53and then 49ers will handle it the way they got to handle it you know and it's just a shame
13:57because
13:57he he's a good football player and you know and a good person for the most part but i don't
14:03know
14:03what has spung this on and why this is all occurring i have no idea yeah neither do we and
14:09we've seen the instagram stuff and you know we're trying to like make sense of it but as we sit
14:13here
14:14in the middle of august and i mean august is getting late now and so if you are if you're
14:19a team and you
14:20know put yourself in the gm spot of any of the 32 and forget brennan iuke for a moment but
14:25when you're
14:26talking about like additions and you know bringing somebody in from the outside is it getting a little bit
14:31late yeah but i think 49ers are set if he comes back or whatever that that situation they're they're
14:38set i mean if he's there he's there if not then they move on knowing john and those guys and
14:44coach
14:45shanahan and you know that's it's not the less being said right now the better you know because
14:52you're in you're into it now you're you're in practicing i mean you got another game or two and
14:55then you're going to kick the ball off real it starts counting so i think they have moved on
15:01and they're going to get this team ready uh to play and win games when was the last time you
15:07spoke to
15:07john uh herm oh i talked to him about a week and a half ago actually okay and did anything
15:14stand out
15:14how's he how's he feeling about the situation they're in this particular camp oh i i think i think
15:21they think they got a good football team and if they can just stay healthy and they do have a
15:25good
15:25football team you kidding me they won 12 games last year with with a skeleton of a team you know
15:31half their team was beat up and still found a way to win this is a winning organization there's no
15:35doubt about that got a great head coach they got players that get it um so i mean it's this
15:42uh you
15:42know they it it's kind of interesting like i said this is one of the better divisions i mean it
15:48really
15:48is and um it's going to be fun to watch it i mean this is competitive i mean seattle's not
15:55going
15:55anywhere obviously the rams the rams scare me a little bit if they can if they can stay healthy
16:03you know if this ram team can stay healthy they're dangerous i mean they're dangerous they got a
16:09quarterback we know they can play i mean and he's he's running out of time he knows that you know
16:14he's
16:14only going to play so much longer and so he knows this is an important season for the rams and
16:19the
16:19rams know it as well they have you know they're this it's kind of interesting this is a good division
16:25when you think about it it's going to be tough for whoever makes it through it's going to be a
16:30little
16:30bit of a of a juggernaut and a little bit of a gauntlet i wonder coach if you were going
16:35to
16:36australia for a game would you go the mcveigh route which is a day before or the shanahan route
16:42eight days before i think i i would probably go the shanahan route yeah especially when australia
16:55i would go to shanahan route i i i don't because i think it's good your team gets away um
17:01they're
17:01there you know that's really getting away you know training camp you say they're away but they're
17:05really not if they're in the state that they play in but when you go there and you go away
17:09it's a lot
17:10of bonding going on now you find a lot about guys you know you just do so i think it's
17:16a good deal
17:17for them i mean to do it you know and there's a lot of things that go on when you
17:22really find out
17:23who you are you find out a lot about your teammates when you when you go that far away because
17:27nobody's
17:27calling you nobody's calling you you're in a different time zone you it's just you this is you
17:34and the players and the coaches so i think it's great to be quite honest um coach good luck with
17:41the uh the season i'm sure we'll try to catch up with you again at some point we're so appreciative
17:45of your time thank you anytime my friend this is going to be a really good season and um i
17:51just think
17:52that uh you know when football is back i mean we all get excited about there's a lot of other
17:57sports
17:57and i get it but football yeah last time i checked it's number one it's number one on my chart
18:03i know
18:03that no doubt there's nothing like it coach thank you yeah thank you man thank you all right
18:09herm adwords the best
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