- 2 days ago
Former NFL offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz joins Willard and Dibs to discuss his take about the 49ers' recent draft history, to break down De'Zhaun Stribling's preseason performance, to debate the 49ers' offensive line philosophy, and more.
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00:00Jeff Schwartz joins us on the River Islands guest line, Sirius XM, Fox Sports.
00:05He's a former offensive lineman in the NFL, and he's a Bay Area sports fan, at least to a certain
00:10degree.
00:10Well, we can make fun of the Giants at the end of the conversation, but how are you, Jeff?
00:14It's good to have you on.
00:17I'm good. Yeah, we can maybe do that at the end.
00:22And when you give the Guardians their first series win in three months, you know you're playing good baseball.
00:28If you're playing the Giants, you're going to get a series win. That's how it works.
00:32But, Jeff, I want to remind our audience something you said on First Things First yesterday.
00:37Let me play that, and then we'll follow up here.
00:41The problem besides the injuries is that they have drafted very poorly for four years now.
00:46They have not drafted well.
00:47When you look at their roster and their depth, you can look at the first-round picks.
00:51Obviously, we couldn't put all the last four years on here, but Trey Lance, obviously, they traded all those picks.
00:55They missed out on first-round picks for years.
00:57Pearsall, obviously, unfortunately, had some off-the-field, right?
01:00Got hurt again. Williams got hurt last season.
01:02But the rest of the roster, none of these guys are any impact players.
01:06You go down 2023, 2024, 2025, they don't have any impact players that are young.
01:11They're all super top-heavy.
01:12So if these guys start getting hurt, which they're getting hurt, as they get older, there's no one to backfill.
01:17There's just no one there.
01:18And we don't talk enough about the Niners draft picks, man.
01:20Like, who are the dudes?
01:22Who are the dudes right now?
01:23You've got Trent, obviously.
01:24You've got McCaffrey.
01:25You've got Warner.
01:26Yeah, you've got Purdy.
01:28Who else?
01:29Kittle, Bosa, Evans.
01:30Sure, but they're all old.
01:31So, Jeff, you're certainly on to something here to a point.
01:36Here would be the first thing I'd want to ask you.
01:38When you ask, like, for instance, you spotlighted the last four drafts, and no one's going to argue with you
01:44for 2023, and quite frankly, most of 2022, although if you get a quarterback and nothing else, I think teams
01:52would take that.
01:53But isn't it a little early to point out 24 and 25 as far as not having impact players?
02:01And would the likes of Dominic Poonie and Upton Stout, et cetera, don't they qualify in your mind?
02:09Are you ready to give Poonie a long-term contract after the season?
02:14Well, no.
02:15I'd argue it's too early to know.
02:17But I like what I see.
02:19Isn't that sort of the point, right?
02:21Like, the point is when you have these impact young players, you guys are talking about stripping like he's the
02:26best wide receiver you've ever seen.
02:27He might be the best wide receiver ever.
02:29Immediately, like, impact guy, boom, let's go, right?
02:33These guys, they're good football players, sure, but who are you, like, I can't wait to the Niners pay this
02:39in a couple of years?
02:41That's my point, right?
02:42And you, you, you, you know, Poonie's a fourth-round pick, right?
02:46Third-round pick, I believe.
02:47Third-round pick.
02:47Third-round pick, yes.
02:48Third-round pick as well.
02:49I think Stout's a third- or fourth-round pick as well.
02:51Obviously, Williams got hurt last season, which takes away some of the, what he could have been.
02:56But I think he'd end up with one sack, right, in about half the season.
02:59But there were promising signs, obviously, that he could get there one day with some more reps and one-on
03:04-one.
03:04He's young.
03:05It's hard to judge that right now.
03:06Yep.
03:07But my point is that, by the way, the topic was, do you buy stock in the Niners moving forward?
03:14That was the topic.
03:15The answer was no, because they're top-heavy, they're injured, and they don't have a lot of young players to
03:21backfill the elite talent.
03:23And that's, what I said is not wrong.
03:25So, like, Niners fans, that's the thing when you do, obviously, media, right?
03:28Like, they did not mention the topic in the tweets to show what I said.
03:36Well, welcome to social media, Jeff.
03:38Yeah.
03:38I mean, it is what it is.
03:41That was the topic.
03:42The topic was, do you buy stock in the Niners?
03:44So, if you include that first question in the tweet, it would make a lot more sense what I was
03:49saying.
03:50And so, I just think they haven't drafted well, and maybe these guys immediately become good for them, you know,
03:56like, impact all-star players from these, you know, these last couple of draft classes.
04:02Yeah.
04:03Is Cooney a good hit for a third-round pick?
04:06Sure.
04:07But is he a top?
04:10I mean, I can look at my rankings, but, like, where is he for top guards in the NFL, top
04:14right guards?
04:15I mean, is he average?
04:17Yeah, about average, right?
04:19I mean, that's a good job for a third-round pick.
04:21But it's just been a lot of dry drafts, man.
04:24And so, when you start getting these guys at the top of your roster, get older and get hurt, who
04:28are you backfilling them with?
04:30And that happens to a lot of teams.
04:32It's not just a Niners problem, right?
04:33A lot of teams are in the same boat as they are.
04:35Especially when you, you know, you wind up drafting late in the first round or no first-round picks at
04:40all because of the Trey Lance thing in 2023.
04:43I wonder, Jeff, when you look at a draft and you decide, okay, now we can go ahead and judge
04:48them.
04:48Is it two years in?
04:50Is it three years in?
04:51What's that mark for you when you can actually look at it?
04:55Well, I think it's fair to say after year three, right?
04:57Because after year three, guys become extension eligible, right?
05:00And so, those are the times when you start thinking, okay, are these guys, are these guys, you know, going
05:06to get, like, in the 24 class, right?
05:08Obviously, Pearsall, it's not really his fault, but, you know, he's probably not getting a second deal.
05:13As I'm now, Green, Poonie, Mustafa, you know, that's probably the choices, I guess.
05:23I mean, not a lot of, not, Guadero's not getting a second contract, right?
05:27So, I just, again, that's sort of a judgment, right?
05:31Like, are you giving your guys a second contract?
05:32Now, of course, guys might leave, right?
05:34And then you get credit for that if they become superstars somewhere else.
05:37Like, you know, people are saying, kind of, the Chiefs, I'm like, the Chiefs have an up-and-down draft.
05:43You still get credit for, like, Trent McDuffie, even though you guys didn't pay him, right?
05:46And you still get credit for developing an all-pro corner, even though he went to Los Angeles.
05:50So, to me, it's after year three, but I argue that you guys are watching the football.
05:56You sort of know immediately.
05:57And I'll go back to, you know, to the scribbling discussion, right?
06:00The way you played last night, the way you talked about at camp, like, you're like, that's a dude.
06:05Immediately a dude, right?
06:07It's a guy immediately.
06:08So, you sort of know, I think, a lot of times, early on in a guy's career, what type of
06:13caliber player they can be.
06:16But you have to pretty much wait until they're second contract eligible.
06:19Jeff Schwartz is with us, SiriusXM, Fox Sports, former NFL offensive lineman on Willard and Dibbs 95-7, the game.
06:28Yeah, Jeff, that kind of actually led, that leads perfectly into what I wanted to ask you.
06:33If it's year three or after year three that you can really judge a draft, what's too early to even
06:39have some sort of a conversation?
06:40When we look at the draft picks the Niners got this year, nobody's played a game yet,
06:47but they are very, very excited by what they're seeing from a lot of these players.
06:52Is that too early, or how early can you see talent?
06:55Yeah.
06:57Okay, so here's, well, there's a couple of things.
06:58One, you can tell early on, I think, if guys are like, have it, but it's not the preseason, right?
07:02I mean, you've got to wait for a few games.
07:03But I'll tell you this.
07:05The way to view the preseason is very simple.
07:10Is it look like it should, right?
07:12And you should get, like, a check mark, like a passing grade for me.
07:15And then there's obviously red flags.
07:17It doesn't look like it should.
07:18I'll give you a good example of both, right?
07:20So, like, Sherbrooke, right?
07:21Like, looks good so far.
07:23Top of the second round pick.
07:25Looks talented.
07:26He's playing well.
07:27Like, check the box, right?
07:28Like, good job.
07:30We'll also see what it looks like in week one and week two moving forward.
07:33Yep.
07:33On the flip side, going back to the Niners game two games ago against Tennessee, you know,
07:38Cam Ward, they couldn't move the ball against your two defense.
07:41And you're like, that's a problem.
07:43That's a red flag.
07:44And so, you know, that's how I view the preseason.
07:47And there's other teams in that boat, too.
07:49The Panthers played tonight.
07:50They didn't look terribly good with their one offense in their second game.
07:55And so, like, I was like, oh, that's not good.
07:57They kind of look just organized and a little dysfunctional.
08:00So, I think that's the way I look at the preseason.
08:02So, yeah, the young players playing well is a good thing.
08:06You know, Ty Simpson, the 13th pick in the draft, he should play well against Chiefs backups.
08:11Like, that's the first-round pick.
08:13Of course he should do that.
08:14So, that's what I look at the preseason.
08:16It's always good that it's better than it is worse.
08:19But, you know, it's not the regular season.
08:22Right.
08:23At all.
08:23And I wonder about what you think about Kalon Black, who, you know, my partner here is pretty excited for.
08:28And he called it last night, like, it's going to be a big Kalon Black game.
08:32And he sure looked good.
08:33Is it too early to think about him, maybe, as the backup to Christian McCaffrey?
08:39I mean, it wouldn't surprise me, right?
08:40And that's a position you need depth, though, right?
08:42It's a position that we often see in a given year, you know, we might go through two or three
08:47of those.
08:48And, you know, McCaffrey does get a lot of carries, right?
08:50That's one thing that Shanahan seems to give him a lot of work.
08:53So, maybe not as much in San Francisco and other places.
08:57But you need two or three guys, right?
09:00Like, you need a lot of guys to run the football, especially in, you know, McCaffrey's offense, right?
09:05He wants to run the football.
09:06He wants to attack other teams.
09:08He wants to be aggressive.
09:09And it's hard to do all those things if you don't have enough running backs to do it.
09:13So, it wouldn't surprise me if he made the team.
09:16Well, he did make the team, obviously.
09:17It wouldn't surprise me if he was, you know, in that position to, you know, to contribute,
09:22especially if there's a little bit of injury this year.
09:24Again, it's a position that has a lot of injury.
09:26Jeff, I wonder, as a former offensive lineman, what your assessment is of the way Kyle Shanahan,
09:32John Lynch, and the 49ers attack their offensive line.
09:35They seem to play a little bit of an analytics game.
09:38They believe in value more so than, like, really investing first-round capital or anything like that
09:45on offensive linemen, particularly with the defensive lines they go up against in the division.
09:51What do you think about their philosophy?
09:55That's not what I would do about my running NFL franchise.
10:00I mean, you look at the best offensive lines in the NFL, a lot of them have really high draft
10:04picks.
10:04They're performing well, right?
10:06I mean, look at how good Trent Williams is for you guys.
10:10I know you didn't draft him, but, like, look how important a player of that caliber is to your team.
10:17And you imagine if you had, like, maybe two of those guys, you know, like, what that would be to
10:23your offensive line.
10:25I'm not going to need to draft them, you know, two in a year.
10:27But it's funny because remember when Barbaugh came into San Francisco, I think his first draft, he drafted two guards,
10:33like, immediately.
10:34That was, like, his first two picks.
10:36And that was the backbone of those teams, right?
10:38It was the physicality up front.
10:40And there's value in those guys.
10:42There's a reason why, again, like, look at the best offensive lines in the NFL.
10:45They all tend to have a couple first-round picks, right?
10:48Like, they've invested in that position.
10:50And I get it.
10:51Look, Shanahan is a master at designing the run game, right?
10:54He's really good at manipulating defenses with formations.
10:58And maybe he feels like he is sort of like he can make up for maybe O-line deficiencies because
11:04of the scheme, which I don't disagree with, by the way.
11:06I think that'd be a fair way to look at it.
11:11Man, like, again, you know, it's kind of a depth, like, I don't know, the offensive line is not really,
11:17you know, again, you're not replacing Trent Williams ever.
11:19So that's a bad cop, but I don't like saying that.
11:22But, like, it's just sort of the same as a lot of other teams.
11:24It's just really not there.
11:26It's not really a problem.
11:27The Rams have this problem in the offensive line, too.
11:29Like, it's not just the 49ers.
11:32Yeah, and I'm going back to the Harbaugh draft.
11:34He had the 11th pick.
11:36He took Anthony Davis.
11:37He had the 17th pick.
11:38He took Mike Yopati.
11:40And so if the Niners don't have that high of a pick, is it forcing it to try to go,
11:45like, with a late first round or a high second round pick to try and get an offensive lineman?
11:52I mean, no.
11:54The Lions got to Blake Miller at, what, 21 this year?
11:57I mean, you could do it.
12:00Maybe sometimes you have to use some assets to move up and get the guy you want, too, right?
12:04I mean, that's also an option as well.
12:06But they really have not drafted.
12:08When's the last, like, first, second round drafting an offensive line they had?
12:12I think the last time they went first round, if I'm not mistaken, was McGlinchey.
12:17Yep.
12:18That was right when they first got the job.
12:22You know, you just see, like, it's just sort of really hard to have a Super Bowl winning team without
12:27a good offensive line.
12:28And, you know, not to go back to that Super Bowl, the Niners lost to the Chiefs, but that was
12:32a big factor, right?
12:34Like, the depth kind of bit them in that game.
12:38And it's just hard to win at this level without those elite guys up front.
12:43Think about Super Bowl champions, man.
12:45One of the stories of the Seahawks last year was that their offensive line got much better.
12:50They've also invested first-round pick, right, left tackle.
12:53You know, third-round pick, I think, Abe Lucas at right tackle.
12:56Like, they spent the time trying to invest in that offensive line, and it paid off for them last season.
13:03Jeff Schwartz is with us here on Weatherton Dibs 95.7 The Game.
13:07Sirius XM, Fox Sports, former offensive lineman.
13:10And then also, a Giants fan, like, you were born in L.A., though, right, Jeff?
13:16Yeah, but my dad's from Santa Rosa.
13:18Okay, so that's where it came from.
13:19And how have you enjoyed the summer of Giants baseball?
13:25So, about, like, I don't know, 10 years into the season, my buddy I do the podcast with, Chris Felica,
13:30the bear.
13:31He goes, hey, man, maybe we should bet on Giants that have the worst record in baseball.
13:35They're starting pretty poorly, like, new manager.
13:38And I was like, I don't know, man.
13:40But, like, I guess I'll just do it.
13:41We'll have fun.
13:42It's 65 to 1, worst record in baseball.
13:45And, like, they're probably going to lose out on it, but they're still in the hunt for worst record.
13:49So, I'm now rooting for worst record in baseball.
13:52The A's are probably worse.
13:53I mean, the Giants have too many good players, you know, like, to probably be the worst.
13:57It'd be shocking with, like, Logan Webb, which every five days, and Devers, some of the guys they have.
14:02And Devers, I think, is doing fine this year.
14:04And just the team just stinks.
14:05I mean, but we got that big old boy who, when you pitch yesterday, two days ago, and, you know,
14:12it's so funny.
14:13I watched, like, one video on that 17-year-old we traded for.
14:18I don't even know his name.
14:19And now my Twitter timeline is just, like, full of Giants prospect videos, homeruns in the minor leagues.
14:27Yeah.
14:28The kid, you know, that 17-year-old, I was like, oh, sweet.
14:30Like, he must be in rookie ball.
14:32And it's like, no, he's in Dominican rookie ball.
14:34He's not even in the States.
14:35He's in, like, Dominican.
14:36I looked it up.
14:37He's in the Dominican rookie ball league.
14:39You know, so, you know, in five years from now, the core of our roster will be ready, man.
14:43Let's go.
14:44That's it.
14:45Or next year.
14:46I mean, they might just call him up, Jeff.
14:49Why not?
14:49I mean, I'd be for that.
14:52I'm really interested in this, like, Dodgers owner maybe being corrupt.
14:56I think we should focus more on that.
14:58Focus more on him, like, defrauding people and committing insurance fraud and make that a story.
15:03That'd be fun.
15:05I'm in.
15:05Yes, the Dodgers are a fraud, and it's a crime ring.
15:08I'm in.
15:09Let's do it, Jeff.
15:10I think we should do as much as we can to make sure the Dodgers lose as many games as
15:14possible come the postseason.
15:15Who cares about now?
15:16I want them to lose in the postseason.
15:18Jeff, thank you for coming on, man.
15:20That was really fun.
15:22Take care, guys.
15:22Have a good one.
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