- 13 minutes ago
David Lombardi of the San Francisco Standard joins Willard and Dibs to discuss the 49ers' injury situation, to break down the options at the trade deadline, and more.
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00:00joining us on the river islands guest line from the sf standard it's david lombardi everybody
00:04here on with it and dibs hi david what's going on not much how you guys doing i'm gonna enjoy
00:10i'm gonna enjoy this weather in san francisco but i don't think it's gonna be too enjoyable
00:14in santa clara over the next few days it's good you guys see this 94 on sunday down there
00:20which means it's gonna be over triple digits probably on the field
00:24hold on man on the sunny side of the street yeah you know the 49ers ain't caught a break
00:32that this didn't come for miami or arizona because those are two teams we've seen arizona beat the
00:3849ers where i'm down in one of those hot weather games because they practice outside so um i think
00:44that they would be better equipped to take advantage of that so it's good for the 49ers they're playing
00:48denver not one of those two hot weather teams oh yeah so and and i feel obviously for the fans
00:54that
00:54are on the uh the other side of the stadium um too bad it's not a night game but but
00:59here we go
01:00uh there are always challenges and the wide receiver core is is obviously one of the main ones
01:06for the niners this weekend david what do you think what how does this affect the team what should we
01:11expect with that group i wouldn't be so quick to rule mike evans out i'll tell you what i step
01:18in
01:19the locker room on wednesday and mike evans has his jersey on and so does trent williams and that
01:25means that they both participated in the walkthrough they're sitting there playing cards guys who are
01:30so seriously hurt that there's very little chance they're going to play are not sitting in the locker
01:36room playing cards they're rehabbing around the clock like so i think with mike evans and to a degree
01:42with trent williams we're going to have to be ready for constant management throughout this season and
01:48i think that mike evans as we heard john lynch say when he was doing his interview this morning
01:54uh he's a guy that's going to really fight hard to play now there is a scenario in which the
01:5949ers
02:00tell mike and mike reluctantly agrees that hey seattle's coming up next week what do you need to do to
02:07be
02:07over 90 for seattle if that involves you sitting this week then then fine or they could carry six
02:14receivers active on sunday and maybe mike evans has a lessened role to make sure or to maximize the
02:21chances that he's a little bit more ready for the game against seattle so it's just one of the the
02:28byproducts of having a team that's as old as the 49ers are offensively um is that there's going to be
02:35a
02:35whole lot more this guy doesn't have to practice to actually play going on and we've already seen
02:41a lot of that from the 49ers and with with mike evans this season so there's going to be a
02:45lot more
02:45murkiness i think up until the game on sunday but i i do think that brandon cook's being promoted from
02:53the practice squad to the 53 man roster is a sign that he has impressed them because that that's a
02:58big
02:59pay raise guys that's he goes from making up to three hundred thousand dollars this year to a minimum
03:03of 1.3 million just with that one maneuver they don't give those out like candy those promotions
03:09to the 53 i think it's a sign that brandon cook's came in was in shape has been picking up
03:14the playbook
03:15and they said all right we want this guy on the 53 he's earned that and uh now now we'll
03:20see exactly
03:21how it works as far as the depth chart on sunday well kadero hodge gets let go and he's a
03:26guy who's been
03:27in on special teams does this mean that it'll be cooks or watkins how do they fill that one unique
03:33role that hodge actually had filled well hodge had a knee injury and they only have eight return from
03:40ir spots they they actually released him with an injury settlement which means that hodge and the
03:4549ers agreed that his injury will keep him out for a certain amount of time i don't know what the
03:50agreed upon time is maybe it's two weeks three weeks four weeks i don't know but at that point once
03:55it
03:56once that time has elapsed they will be able to re-sign kadero hodge if he's not on another team
04:03and they won't have to use an ir spot and one of the eight return from ir spots they have
04:08because
04:09they there's a log jam there already so we may have not seen the last of kadero hodge in the
04:1449ers
04:15uniform this season they signed malik turner to the practice squad because he played the the same
04:21gunner role that kadero in the past for the 49ers that kadero hodge has had for the first three
04:26weeks they can always elevate malik turner to be the gunner if they need him to be the gunner and
04:32that means that if mike evans does play that theoretically they could have six receivers
04:37active normally you only have five but in case evans is not a hundred percent but you still want him
04:43in
04:43that game it could be the game where you carry six uh so what we'll see but but you're already
04:49starting to see some of these complicated roster tetris maneuvers including the injury settlement for
04:54kadero hodge because of of how many players the 49ers have on injured reserve uh speaking of
05:00those players injured reserve and pup list um i'm interested to know your thoughts on the timeline
05:06for michael williams and christian kirk and and is it possible that either or both of them play
05:12in seattle michael is absolutely possible i think that they were intentionally conservatively
05:19playing his return there there were some discussions about having him ready to go for this first four
05:25week window but then they said you know let's display it safe let's let's push this back a bit
05:30so they kept him on pup which means that week five is the first week that he's eligible to return
05:35then the question is do they want him returning on artificial turf because seattle's artificial turf
05:40maybe they don't mind maybe maybe that's not a factor but but it has been a factor i think in
05:45the
05:45past so if they want michael williams back on natural grass then i think week six would would
05:51make a lot of sense against the commanders but he's looking explosive to me seeing him back out
05:56there at practice and uh that's a huge one right that he might be the single most important variable
06:02on this defense when it comes to playing against the run they were the number six run defense last
06:08year over the first nine weeks when they had michael williams and then it completely tanked they're
06:12like number 27 in epa against the run after he got hurt so that that's a huge huge one especially
06:19considering all the other injuries i don't have as much information on christian kirk beside the fact
06:25that i know that he's eligible to come off of injured reserve by rule for week five so we just
06:32have to
06:32wait and see i do know that the calf has bothered him for a long time that he did what
06:37a part of one
06:38training camp practice and then was back on the shelf so that that has to be a concern but anything
06:44they can get from christian kirk this year would be a a bonus and and we'll see if he's ready
06:49to go
06:49for week five any sense on the nick bosa piece and i know that part of it is you couldn't
06:55put him on
06:55injury reserve because you've got a log jam of guys you want to reactivate from there is that as simple
07:01as the case or is he maybe going to be ready to go within four weeks i think you have
07:08to look at
07:08this big picture with nick bosa and that is the guy's coming off of his third acl tear
07:14he's playing at an extremely high level despite coming off of a third acl tear he's completely
07:20changed games in which he's been involved so far this year and yet you have to take a long hard
07:27look
07:27at it if you're the 49ers and i think they did this heading into the season i think they're realistic
07:31i think that there was an expectation that he'd have to aggressively manage not only the knee but
07:37stuff that could be connected to the knee and they realize this is going to be a 20 game marathon
07:41if
07:41they go all the way to the super bowl and he's got to be ready for the stretch run and
07:46for the
07:46playoffs and i mean you're not going to win it all without nick bosa ready for that so the second
07:52that something happened like the calf even if it's minor even if it's small uh they ought to be
07:58ready to to shut him down for a period of time in a definite period of time now if you're
08:04the 49ers
08:04you have to make sure that the big picture plan is very very you know kept in mind at this
08:11point
08:11i don't know exactly when he's going to be back but i can tell you that if they keep on
08:15winning games
08:16even without him they're buying themselves more time to play the big picture here because it's it's
08:22really fair to ask if the guy is coming off of his third acl tear with the type of torque
08:28that that
08:28he's putting on those muscles i mean it's it it's not something that's natural right in this league
08:34which is why i think you see so many injuries now these guys are pushing their bodies to the absolute
08:38limits but it's very fair to ask how many games of nick bosa do you realistically have this year where
08:44he's playing at a really high level and you can shorten the demand you can make the ask more
08:49manageable by stacking wins now even without nick bosa so that he is primed and ready to go for when
08:56you're trying to close this one out down the stretch david a little early for this but based on a
09:00really
09:01good start and the the cap space which i know you're you're really good at um in what way are
09:07the 49ers
09:08positioned to be very aggressive at a forthcoming trade deadline if they do still need some help
09:15defensive line wide receiver etc oh well i think they're ready to be aggressive now i just don't
09:21know if any potential trade partners are ready to be aggressive it's october 1st right so once the
09:27calendar turns to october that was the month in which the 400s traded for christian mcafree but that
09:31was considered a very early trade on on the calendar and carolina was a mess back then so
09:37they obviously were in sell mode a little bit early uh you know there there are teams that are messes
09:42already i'm already looking at cleo mac and the chargers i mean that that's that's a mess and and
09:49they've got another tough game coming up this week so we'll we'll see what happens with them but
09:53as this month uh you know moves on the obvious targets i think will start to to really materialize
10:02and at that point the the 49ers can can make a move but you've got to have two to tango
10:07for these
10:08trades so i would give it a couple more weeks at least before anything serious can happen and when
10:13you look at this roster david do they see internally as michael williams being somebody that's going to be
10:19in addition and even nick bosa and christian kirk do they see guys getting healthy maybe as the pieces
10:25that they would otherwise go out and trade for of course with michael williams i think that with
10:31bosa i think the the plan all along you know people are like well why did they reinforce that position
10:38uh well it's because they they couldn't there was no competitive pricing this offseason there's no way
10:44that for example with mac max crosby uh there was no way they could have beaten out the the ravens
10:50offer for max crosby and that was one that ended up getting nixed by the the failed physical over in
10:57baltimore anyway so i think that the 49ers always had looked at this as pre-deadline is is when we
11:04could find something that actually works within the larger framework of of cost efficiency so uh but
11:12obviously like michael williams is somebody you count on getting back he used the first round pick
11:16on him last year he was already a transformative piece of your run defense you hope to get him back
11:21and help to get him explosive to help set some edges to work on the inside on some of those
11:26passing
11:27downs they already made a really good move last year for keon white you know a lot of people i
11:31think
11:31scoffed at it because it only cost them a sixth round pick but he had 20 pressures for the 49ers
11:36down
11:36the stretch he outplayed jalen phillips last year and the eagles used a lot more a third round pick
11:43on jalen phillips and they're sure happy that they have keon white right now so now you look forward
11:49and you say okay how much can you expect out of bosa who's out on the market max crosby might
11:54not be on
11:55the market at all since the raiders are three and oh but you can look at other pieces who might
11:59be
11:59available and you try to to supplement right i think you throw numbers at this if you're the 49ers
12:05you've got to come in waves along the defensive line you obviously have injury questions with
12:09bosa you have williams coming off the torn acl so the more the merrier the more quality guys you can
12:15bring in that room so you can come in waves the better as you try to finish out this marathon
12:20david lombardi sf standard on willard and dibs 95 7 the game speaking of keon white let's throw
12:25dre greenlaw in there too both of them i know uh did not practice again today are you expecting them
12:32this weekend keon i would expect he actually fell into the category last year of one of the guys who
12:38didn't really have to practice but ended up playing as long as he showed up on a friday he was
12:43ready to go he um i saw him warming up with with the team on wednesday and again i look
12:49for little
12:50hints especially with a veteran laden team because yeah back in the day when i first started covering
12:55the 49ers if the guy didn't practice thursday was over he's not going to practice it's so different now
13:00with all these vets um and and somebody like keon i look at the hint of him warming up with
13:06the team
13:07before not practicing instead of just exclusively being in the training room i think that's a hint
13:12toward him playing on sunday somebody like mike evans sitting in the locker room playing cards in his
13:17jersey with trend williams that that's actually a positive hint that either he's playing on sunday or
13:22it's an injury that that the 49ers are actively choosing to manage ahead of the seattle game so
13:27small stuff like that actually i think is is shining in the 49ers favor in those in those injury cases
13:33what about green law green law has been working on the side as well and i think he really wants
13:38to
13:39play against denver he spent the season there so um i know it's the quad and the quad is something
13:45that that slowed him down last last year but i think i i would i would actually my gut tells
13:50me
13:50that green law will play now that's that's a guess but i have seen him out on the side and
13:54if i
13:54hadn't seen him out on the side then i would say absolutely not so i would i would err toward
13:58green law playing on sunday what do you think of this defense so far david because you look at a
14:03lot of these long drives but they're not culminating in touchdowns against san francisco when you watch
14:08these three games what do you make of this defense well uh when they had bosa then they gave up
14:15seven and
14:1613 points and um you know i think a touchdown out of that was in garbage time against miami so
14:23with with bosa out there i think this could be a top five defense um and obviously they're probably
14:30going to think about something at the trade deadline to really bolster that whole that whole ethos of
14:35you need a bookending pass rusher to to allow the defense to close games out and be one of the
14:41top
14:42units in football without bosa you start to inch into last year's territory where the pass rush
14:48wasn't good enough so you just have to build a shell and keep everything in front of you and last
14:52year they weren't even able to do that they they gave up some explosives last year but they they
14:56actually lead the entire league and explosive play rate allowed like they're number one this year which
15:03is the hard part and that's the one thing like if you're playing money ball with the defense and you
15:08could only pick one thing to stop you would pick the explosive plays and that they did that very
15:13well against arizona they've done that very well all season what they needed to do better against
15:18arizona is find a way to force a takeaway and they're they're down in the bottom five of takeaways forced
15:24and they needed to be better in the red zone they needed to hop on an opportunity to end some
15:29of those
15:29drives and they didn't do that so that's that's the point of improvement you're not going to be a
15:33dominant defense minus a splash trade minus bosa if you could get bosa back and make a splash trade
15:40well now now they're cooking with gas right but that's that's not coming through this door probably
15:46in the next few weeks so you're gonna have to get through october without you know probably both of
15:51those components at least for the next couple weeks with bosa we'll see what the timeline on him is
15:55and until then you build that shell you don't allow explosive plays that's up to the safeties the dbs
16:02they're really good there and raheem morris and then you you pick and choose your spots to pounce
16:07with blitzes with disguised coverages and you try to generate more takeaways that's the formula and
16:13you know what the the bottom line for that formula is that the best defense is a really great offense
16:20and they've got the best offense in football so that's that's what they've got to keep on doing
16:24stack wins and and wait until you can actually have a top five defense down the stretch run of this
16:30season once nick bosa and company come back david that um that dominant offensive has really kind
16:35of leaned on the passing game more than anything else i i don't know if that's anti shanahan um and
16:43and and you know the way he's done it in the past but i've also seen what you've been talking
16:47about
16:48on the metrics of the broncos run defense right now do you think that this is a week where the
16:5449ers
16:55kind of they lead with mcafree and black first you lead with whatever the defense dictates so
17:02if the broncos are stacking the box brock is passing if the broncos are afraid of of brock
17:08um which is what the rams were in week one they're running nickel uh every especially every down then
17:14you just run it down their throats like you you you that's how shanahan has always operated you
17:18you go with what the defense is is giving you right but the the broncos have been exceptionally
17:25poor against the run which leads me to believe that that there will be openings there i think just
17:32in general with denver guys this is a team that had 68 sacks last year it was the most in
17:38the nfl by
17:38like 14 sacks like a crazy amount the rams were controlling the game in the first half when they
17:45were nice and balanced and they were rushing at five yards a pop and then the for whatever reason
17:51the rams kind of panicked and the broncos scored two quick touchdowns and all of a sudden the rams
17:56felt like they were in deep water and they got a little pass happy and and stafford you know threw
18:01a couple that's all no funga including that that pick six really the opposite happened as the 49ers
18:07against the cardinals where the 49ers they they calmed down offensively in that second half after they
18:13lost evans and they just grounded out short pass game good run game and even though the defense
18:20faltered the 49ers won the game on offense same kind of thing i think that needs to happen with
18:24denver they're one of the worst first half teams in football one of the best second half teams in
18:28football because that pass rush gets going the way that you mitigate it is that you you try to control
18:33that game on the ground i don't know what's up with the broncos run defense by the way they were
18:37good
18:37last year they missed 24 tackles against kansas city they look like crap against the rams i don't know
18:43what's going on there but i do think that the 49ers are looking to capitalize on that but again you
18:47can't just capitalize on it by entering the game saying we're going to run it down their throats
18:51you've got to be balanced because if they're selling out against the run you've got to loosen up that
18:55box um the 49ers are in really good position to be balanced they've got purdy a quarterback they got
19:01weapons on offense they've got christian mcafree so um i think they're in a good spot to stave off that
19:07broncos pass rush david great stuff man we appreciate your time thank you yeah thank you guys uh enjoy
19:15have a good one indeed you too david lombardi sf standard
19:19you