- 17 hours ago
Willard and Dibs react to longtime NFL wide receiver Steve Smith Jr.'s comments about 49ers rookie De'Zhaun Stribling. Is he the future of the 49ers' wide receiver room?
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00:00At the risk of getting the excitement level turned up even a little bit more.
00:04We wanted to play this for you and get some reaction to it.
00:08By the way, I have a, I don't even, it's not a story or whatever.
00:14This is just an odd sort of admiration I have for the guy you're about to hear.
00:19Steve Smith, former NFL wide receiver.
00:24Long time ago, I don't know how many people know this.
00:27Steve Smith and Chad Ochocinco were teammates at Santa Monica Junior College.
00:34Wow.
00:35I think, if I've got that right.
00:36They also both worked at the same Taco Bell right down the street.
00:42To go back and hear their backstory is really, really amazing.
00:48These are grinders. These are hard workers.
00:50This is a long way of me saying I really admire this guy.
00:53I enjoyed talking to him when he's come on radio shows before.
00:57I value his opinion.
00:59Mighty Mouse.
01:00Mighty Mouse, exactly.
01:01So Steve went on, well, along with James Palmer.
01:06They got a podcast.
01:06Steve Smith and James Palmer podcast.
01:09And listen to what he said.
01:11Remember yesterday, we were talking about where this wide receiver core could end up ranking
01:17in the Shanahan 49ers era, and he kind of tackled a similar question.
01:24I think this is the most complete wide receiver group that Kyle Shanahan has had as a head coach
01:32for the San Francisco 49ers.
01:33I know he's had it as position coach, OC, but I'm talking about as the head coach of San Francisco
01:4149ers.
01:42I think this is the best group he's ever had in San Francisco in his tenure.
01:48Here's why.
01:48Mike Evans, complete wide receiver.
01:51The only guy in here because of age that I think is, you know, is a little bit different
01:55is the new acquisition with Debo.
01:58But Mike Evans, complete receiver.
02:01Stribbley, complete receiver.
02:02Unfortunately, he's not healthy.
02:04But Ricky Pearsall, right?
02:06Robinson.
02:07Robinson, it's really unique and interesting.
02:11Jacob Cowling.
02:12And they just have a lot of different guys that they can throw at you,
02:17and they all run some really good routes uniquely created to their roles.
02:22Okay, this is the point that I like that Steve is making,
02:26and we did talk about it a little bit yesterday.
02:30There's no way I can sit here today and tell you what the health of this group is going to
02:34be,
02:35what Stribbling is actually going to do, even starting to throw Watkins and Cowling
02:39and these kinds of names around.
02:42Debo on his second tour of duty here.
02:45But what I really like is just simply the setup.
02:49So if you want to go, oh, Ayuk, first time Debo, and Juwan Jennings was a better group.
02:56Okay, fine.
02:57This, to me, is a more diverse group, potentially.
03:00Just in terms of the skill set, the characteristics that these receivers have,
03:05put them out there with a play caller who's elite like Kyle Shanahan,
03:09and that's where my mind goes.
03:11It's not necessarily best, but it feels like potentially the most diverse.
03:16It feels like the deepest to me, and yes, it's diverse for sure,
03:20and you've got Stribbling who can come out there and maybe be your big body guy.
03:24He can also get down the field.
03:26And we know that Demarcus Robinson, we saw it in the playoffs, he's able to get down
03:29and make big plays.
03:31You actually have a boundary X for the first time in a long time in Mike Evans.
03:36You've got Debo Samuel at his best, is a, quote, wide back.
03:40And then you've got, you know, Cowling and other younger guys,
03:44not even to mention Christian Kirk, who may or may not even actually make the team.
03:48So you can talk about Jawan Jennings and Debo and Ayuk at their peak and say,
03:53yeah, those three might be better than this year's top three,
03:57but this year's top three, you don't even know who they are.
04:00It might be top three, top four, top five.
04:03You've got a much deeper group, I think, this year.
04:04All right, next thing that Steve wanted to throw out there with regard to this group,
04:09this is where he starts to zero in on Stribbling.
04:12Listen to what he says.
04:13I think people will not, that were interested in Stribbling,
04:17people will not be shocked to see what Kyle, when he gets his hands on him,
04:22what kind of wide receiver he will be.
04:24And I think they just found their soon-to-be best route runner
04:28when Kyle Shanahan gets him for the next couple of years,
04:32because here's what he is.
04:34He is what they were hoping Brandon Ayuk can be,
04:38but he has a little bit more of the mental bandwidth.
04:44He was with Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, right?
04:46Lane Kiffin can get on your damn nerves.
04:49Wear you out a little bit.
04:51He can wear you out.
04:52And what was told, and what do you and I know about Kyle Shanahan
04:56and Brandon Ayuk early in his career?
04:59He was in the doghouse, because why?
05:01All the time.
05:02Kyle was constantly on his butt.
05:04Generally, when Kyle Shanahan is constantly on your butt,
05:09what does he see in you that you don't even see in yourself?
05:12The complete receiver.
05:13I think with Stribbling getting drafted and getting him in the building,
05:18Kyle sees this as the future wide receiver for the San Francisco 49ers
05:23that they can rely on.
05:24I mean, it's interesting, because when Stribbling was drafted,
05:27in theory, Ricky Pearsall was still very much on the table.
05:31Kyle talked about mourning the injury to Ricky Pearsall.
05:36So I don't know what the plan was upon drafting Dajon Stribbling
05:41with regard to who's my future one,
05:44or if Steve sees this as something that developed after the fact
05:47because they got him in the building
05:49and they're so excited about what they're seeing on the field.
05:52I'm not sure.
05:54But now knowing what's going on with Ricky's body
05:57and the fact that there are all kinds of questions
05:59about how he's going to come out of that on the other side,
06:02yeah, I mean, Steve's probably not wrong.
06:05And I love the fact, this is another characteristic of the room,
06:09because the wide receiver market has gotten so out of whack.
06:13I love that right now it is Stribbling.
06:15It's young guys, Stribbling, Watkins, and Cowing,
06:18and then other people on short-term deals.
06:21That, to me, is perfect if you can get production out of it.
06:24And that's what you want.
06:25You want a mix of vets and guys who are either rookies
06:28or young players on, obviously, team-controlled deals.
06:32And if Ricky Pearsall can come back next year for his third year,
06:36even though it would be his fourth year, but it counts as his third,
06:39well, that's another piece that you're going to have under team control.
06:42So I love the composition of the room right now,
06:45and you obviously are expecting health from many of these guys,
06:49and Mike Evans coming off his first really injured year.
06:52The other piece of it is I wonder how much they knew about Ricky Pearsall's injury
06:57and how much they knew about whether or not he actually could make it into camp
07:01and through the year, and if that's why they went out and they took Dijon Stribbling.
07:05Yeah, I mean, if that's the—I don't know if that's the case.
07:09I don't think we'll ever know, right?
07:09Yeah, I mean, they're good actors.
07:12They're good actors if they knew something was wrong with Ricky.
07:15They certainly did not, you know, on the lead-up and OTAs and camp and et cetera, et cetera,
07:22they expressed that they expected Ricky Pearsall to show up and perform.
07:27They went through a whole off-season plan, said that he hit all of his markers,
07:32they were ready to go, got to camp, thing flared up.
07:36So, sure, there's always more going on behind the scenes,
07:39but it certainly acted like they were planning on him to play football this year.
07:42I'm sure they were, but at the same time, you have an insurance policy in a wide receiver that they
07:47loved,
07:48and more people, turned out, loved him than the consensus mock draft board would indicate.
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08:05One more from Steve Smith. Check this out.
08:07So, this is where he sort of gets into a predictive nature with regard to straddling this season.
08:16And this is a really good spot for that to start, isn't it, Steve?
08:19I see a couple of things. You have Mike Evans in that room.
08:22You have Christian Kirk in that room.
08:23So, he's going to take the number one corner, and then the slot would be Christian Kirk.
08:28What is he going to do? He's going to require some attention.
08:31CMC, line him up outside.
08:33All the eyes are there.
08:35All the eyes, linebacker, right?
08:37And then Debo. Line Debo up, put him in motion.
08:39What's going to happen?
08:40Oh, somebody's got to get the big guy.
08:42Got to count.
08:43All of a sudden, the corner is not a starter.
08:45The second, number two guy, he's not covering him.
08:49So, Mike Evans has the starting best corner out there covering him.
08:55Christian Kirk has the best nickel guy covering him.
08:57The linebacker with George Kittle, he's got him, and then CMC, whatever he's doing.
09:03And then Debo.
09:04Man, you're getting deep into that corner spot that they don't necessarily think he's good enough to cover Mike Evans.
09:14Well, guess what?
09:15There's probably going to be a third or fourth corner who Stribbley played against in college,
09:20or a guy who's a gunner on special teams, who's developing.
09:24This is a fun visual that Steve's throwing out here right now.
09:27And actually, before we even talk about predicting this year, I want to take the point he just made and
09:32talk about last year.
09:33Because this is something we never, ever talked about.
09:36We go, oh, that was nice that Juwan Jennings, kind of like, he was able to step up and do
09:41some good things.
09:42We never, never talked about the fact that Juwan Jennings was going against the other team's No. 1 corner.
09:48And the No. 2 corner only had to deal with Kendrick Bourne or Marquez Valdez-Scantling.
09:55Right, Skymore or whatever, yeah.
09:56Or whatever the heck was going on.
09:58And this is no shade at any of those players, but these are different levels of athletes.
10:03Now, the premise that he's throwing out there calls for, we all know what I'm about to say, the 49ers
10:11have to stay healthy.
10:12Those guys all have to stay on the field.
10:15But the trickle-down effect that he's potentially talking about is a real thing.
10:20And it has been maybe even so far as a couple years since the 49ers have been able to offer
10:26that to Brock Purdy and the offense,
10:28which is receivers that at least have some of those elite traits.
10:35And instead of going up against the No. 1 or even No. 2 corner, now they're going up against nickel
10:41people.
10:41And quite frankly, if you're a first-round talent or an early second-round talent like Debo and like Dejan,
10:49that's a humongous advantage.
10:52Yeah, especially when you talk about like even the pre-snap reality of what the Niners used to be and
10:57what they try to get back to this year,
10:59which is you look in the huddle, you're the defensive coordinator of the other team,
11:02and you look at the personnel group and you see, all right, it's Debo, it's Yuscheck, it's Kittle, it's McCaffrey,
11:10and it's Brandon Ayuk, for lack of a better way to describe what you're looking at.
11:14And so the defensive coordinator is thinking, we don't know what's going to happen when they break the huddle.
11:18It could be McCaffrey in the slot and Debo in the backfield.
11:20It could be Yuscheck playing the second tight end spot with Kittle and McCaffrey in the backfield,
11:26and then Debo goes in motion.
11:27And so defensively, when you have these different sorts of players who can do a lot of other things,
11:33it becomes harder to scheme against.
11:35And the way Steve was laying that out, yeah, you've got Scribbling and you've got Debo and you've got McCaffrey
11:40and you've got Kittle and you've got Mike Evans.
11:42Well, who knows what they're going to come out and actually do.
11:45You know, I mean, to the point that I was trying to ask Greg Cosell earlier,
11:52like it's the same offensive line and the same running back.
11:55How are they going to be better running the ball?
12:00And I'll be straight with you, I wasn't terribly thrilled with Greg's answer.
12:05He didn't really arrive at, hey, this is what needs to happen for them to get better.
12:12He sort of started talking about McCaffrey.
12:14I circle back to the question again, why did they not run the ball?
12:19And he goes, yeah, the offensive line didn't perform great.
12:23I'm like, well, it's the same people coming back this year, so why would they perform better?
12:28And maybe we just got our answer, at least it pops into my head just by listening to Steve Smith.
12:34Maybe it's just as simple as this year.
12:38If the Niners get some health on the outside, you can't put eight, nine.
12:45Good Lord, it felt like 37 people in the box.
12:48And that receiving group could even open up the run game.
12:53Right.
12:54And didn't they have like the worst separation rate in the past game?
12:58100% in football.
12:59And so you had me just thinking about Steph Curry and the gravity, and we all talk about
13:04Steph Curry and the gravity.
13:05And when Steph Curry's not out there, even if you have every other Golden State Warrior,
13:09it's going to be harder for them to get open and get shots because the defense doesn't
13:14have to worry about Steph Curry absolutely everywhere and at all the times.
13:18We talk about the non-Steph minutes and how do the Warriors get buckets?
13:21Well, it's tougher.
13:23When you have Jimmy Butler, it's fine because he can get his own bucket.
13:26But when you don't have Steph out there, it's tougher on everyone.
13:29And I think the same thing applies to the Niners offense, where if you have McCaffrey and I'm
13:34looking at it here, Kittle played 11 games.
13:37Pearsall played only nine.
13:39So there was games out there where you would have, you know, Tongis and you would have
13:43Marquez Valdez, Scantling, no disrespect, and Kendrick Bourne.
13:47And so if you're a defense and you see the huddle break and you've got Marquez Valdez,
13:53Scantling and Demarcus Robinson and McCaffrey and Tongis and Juszczyk, you're thinking,
13:58OK, McCaffrey, let's go ahead and make sure we double and bracket him in the pass game.
14:03And we'll single up the other guys and we'll probably be OK.
14:07And they were.
14:08Mike in Santa Clara wants to weigh in.
14:10Hi, Mike.
14:10Thanks for calling.
14:11What's good?
14:13Hey, guys.
14:14Thanks for taking my call.
14:15I mean, you know, in this case, I honestly think that our receiver group in general is
14:23very in-depth right now.
14:25Mike Evans, as long as he stays healthy, he's going to take that X slot.
14:29And very proven in this case, you know, you put the other guy on the other side.
14:34Well, let me start with the slot before that.
14:37You put Debo in there and then you put, like, you know, Stribling or potentially Kirk in there
14:42if he's healthy.
14:44I mean, you still have, like, you know, potentially when Kittle comes back.
14:48But at the same time, I have to say the X factor is going to be the tight end position
14:52in this case.
14:54You know, let's say Kittle isn't back there.
14:56Tonjes has proven plenty enough that he can still play that mark in the case.
15:02So I still think that the tight end position is going to be the X factor.
15:06I'm not worried about, like, Christian McCaffrey having to take more snaps out of the backfield
15:11as a receiver in this case.
15:13I just think that, you know, we still have a deep receiving group in this case.
15:18And we also have, again, that X receiver in Mike Evans.
15:22So that's all I wanted to say, guys.
15:24Thank you very much.
15:25Yeah, Mike, and I think those are all fair points.
15:27And, look, I know the arrow is now pointed in a positive direction for George Kittle,
15:31but he's got to prove it.
15:33He's got to go out there and do it.
15:34I think the 49ers, from the reports we hear, from talking to everybody there,
15:39they seem very encouraged by what they're seeing also behind George Kittle
15:44at the tight end position.
15:45Tonjes did some interesting things last year.
15:47For whatever reason, the other tight end, Luke Farrell, I kept wanting to say Luke Gifford.
15:55I'm like, I know it's not Luke Gifford.
15:56What's his damn name?
15:57Luke Farrell, who is traditionally a blocking tight end,
16:00has been much more involved in the passing game in this camp.
16:04Can they get him very much more involved?
16:06I don't think Brayden Willis is going to make the initial roster,
16:09but he has had a nice camp as well and is in the mix.
16:13Can they get production out of that group, not just with Kittle, but behind Kittle?
16:17I think right now they feel positive about that.
16:20And they should.
16:21At the same time, for me, the bigger key is Kyle Juszczyk
16:25because he can actually flex out and be a pseudo tight end in certain formations.
16:30And so when he's able to get out there and play and be your regular fullback,
16:34it doesn't always have to be two running backs and one tight end, 21 personnel.
16:38I do think that this year you're going to see a lot more three receiver sets
16:42because they're deeper receiver than they've been almost at any point in the Shanahan era.
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