- 2 days ago
Matt Barrows, who covers the 49ers for the Athletic, joins Willard and Dibs to break down the 5-0 49ers and the matchup ahead vs. the Commanders.
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00:00Let's go out to the River Island's guest line.
00:02He's going to be on YouTube as well with The Athletic.
00:05We're thrilled to hang out with Matt Barrows a little bit on a rare Wednesday off day.
00:11So how does this work for you, Matt?
00:13Have you just been sitting in swim trunks by the pool all day?
00:17Or what have you been doing?
00:18I've been sitting on the sofa putting bonbons in my mouth all day.
00:23Okay.
00:24Ah, smart.
00:25Yeah, I love that.
00:26All right, so yeah, the Niners will get to their full preparation starting tomorrow for the Monday night game.
00:34And I think what's first on everybody's mind is sort of the roster machinations and the injuries and whatnot.
00:40So what do you think they're going to do with the wide receiver position for the next week or two?
00:46I mean, I think it's going to be Brandon Cook sort of stepping into that Debo role.
00:52I mean, as soon as Debo left the game in the third quarter, Cooks, if he didn't take every snap
00:58from there on out,
00:59it was just about everyone, maybe not the kneel down at the end.
01:03So, you know, they don't really have a lot of options behind him.
01:09Jordan Watkins comes into the game, but when he does, he's coming in for Mike Evans.
01:16So Mike Evans, you know, catches the pass, he gets hit, he's got broken ribs, you see him sort of
01:22dangling that arm over his ribs.
01:24He walks off the field uncomfortable, takes a breather, and then Watkins comes in, and then one play later, Mike
01:33Evans is back out there to take that abuse again.
01:36And can't say enough about sort of the guts that he's showing and how much respect he's been earning from
01:44a team full of players
01:45that already had massive respect for him to begin with, and somehow that's been heightened.
01:52So Watkins and then Jacob Cowling are the other two that are on the active roster.
01:56And then you've got a handful of guys, Malik Thomas, Xavier Smith is interesting, who are on the practice squad.
02:04So I imagine one of those two guys will be brought up, and so you would have your five wide
02:10receivers in uniform for this Commanders game coming up.
02:14And you look at, you know, some of the options they have, like Watkins, it looked like he was going
02:19to start to get integrated more, and then he didn't.
02:21And Brandon Cooks, how much has he been able to learn the playbook and all the verbiage and assimilate himself
02:28into a spot where he might be starting in this game on Monday?
02:33Yeah, he absolutely could be.
02:35I don't think there was a lot of assimilating.
02:37He's been around the league.
02:39He's played in a lot of systems.
02:41He knows the route trees, et cetera, et cetera.
02:43He played for the Rams for a couple of seasons.
02:47It's a very similar playbook.
02:49And he's a sharp guy.
02:51So I don't think it was, you know, it took him long to do.
02:55I think it's more a matter of, you know, creating that chemistry with Brock Purdy.
03:01He just didn't have that training camp.
03:04And you're seeing Purdy sort of still learning things about Mike Evans, too, even though Evans has been here since
03:10the spring.
03:11He was kind of in and out of the lineup during the summer.
03:15But I thought one of the most interesting things anyone said after the Seahawks game was Purdy saying, you know,
03:23I'm programmed to go through my progressions.
03:26And when I see a guy is double covered, you know, my mind just goes to the next option.
03:32But I've had to sort of reboot that with Mike Evans.
03:37When he's double covered, he's still open.
03:39And I should oftentimes still throw him the ball.
03:43So for a kind of, I don't know, computer-like brain like Brock Purdy has, that's a hard reboot.
03:52But he's obviously doing it and doing it to great effect.
03:56Matty, a couple of questions real quick on the pass rush.
03:58First of all, what are the chances do you think that Nick Bosa plays Monday night?
04:03I think they're good.
04:04I mean, I don't know what percentage we're talking about.
04:08We talked to Bosa, a few of us did, on Friday before they left for Seattle.
04:14And he said something to the effect of, I'm definitely playing against Atlanta in week seven.
04:21And there's a good chance I can play against Washington.
04:23I think he's had made really good progress in recent days.
04:27And so he was very optimistic in a very good mood.
04:32And so the question is whether, you know, sometimes the players are a little bit more optimistic than the team
04:38is about those things.
04:39We'll have to see.
04:41But usually they take the cue from Bosa.
04:44I mean, the whole refrain with him is he knows his body better than anybody else.
04:50So I would say that the chances are, you know, a little bit better than, you know, 50% that
04:56he plays against Washington.
04:57An extra day to heal up and rehab and get ready.
05:02And so obviously that would be a big benefit to that defensive line.
05:07So I love that optimism, but interestingly enough, I think the optimism of the fan base right now is that
05:13the 49ers have been able to generate a pass rush without him.
05:16So through your eyes, what is the difference from last year to this year as to why they could not
05:23get sacks without Nick Bosa last year, but this year much better?
05:28I mean, it's a combination of personnel and scheme, you know, you've got Grayson Halton, for example, who's doing a
05:36great job.
05:37I mean, just about every pass rush he's penetrating.
05:41And then Keon White is here.
05:44He was here last year, but only at the end of the year.
05:46I think those are two big upgrades.
05:48Keon White leads this team in pressures, and I think it's by a wide degree.
05:54And then they're just sending extra rushers.
05:57Jaden Duggar got a nice sack the other day.
06:00I think it was the first quarter.
06:02One-on-one sack against the right tackle.
06:04But it was during a five-man front.
06:09He's technically a linebacker, but he was lined up on the line of scrimmage on that play.
06:13They're doing that more often.
06:14They're sending that fifth, sometimes that sixth rusher much more frequently than they did in years past, including last year.
06:22Dre Greenlaw plays to the echo of the whistle and then sometimes gets a little bit aggro on the sideline
06:29as well.
06:29So he headbutts.
06:31He gets ejected and suspended.
06:32What was the reaction from Kyle Shanahan and others after the fact about the way that went?
06:39I mean, you know, we talked to Kyle Shanahan on Monday, so that's when the suspension came down.
06:46And there was a hope that on Tuesday the suspension would be dismissed.
06:51It wasn't.
06:53I don't think anybody thought that it would be.
06:56It seemed pretty open and shut.
06:58But you can't – I know that what you guys do in the office is a little bit rough and
07:03tumble.
07:03You can't headbutt somebody with your helmet.
07:07So, I mean, I think that they fully expected this to happen.
07:11I think that they've been encouraged by Duggar in that he's the next man up at this position.
07:17And, you know, like your caller just said, you know, some of these guys, when they come in, they're just
07:23playing lights out.
07:23I don't think Duggar's going to be better than Trey Greenlaw by any extent.
07:27He's a rookie.
07:29He didn't have a lot of snaps at linebacker even in college.
07:34But his kind of learning curve, his growth has been exponential.
07:40And I know that his position coach, K.J. Wright, just, you know, is over the moon over this guy.
07:47He's a K.J. Wright twin.
07:50And, you know, we're seeing sort of a latter-day K.J. Wright growing up right before our eyes.
07:56And so he's going to get a lot of play in this game.
07:59He's going to have a lot of responsibilities with Jaden Daniels escaping the pocket and whatnot.
08:04So it'll be a really good, interesting test for him.
08:07Matt Barrows, The Athletic, with us on Willard & Dibbs 95.7 The Game.
08:11Matt, without getting into names and kind of convoluting the conversation, let me just ask you, like right now, what
08:17do you think the 49ers want to do, if anything, on the trade market?
08:23I mean, I would think that they would want to bring in a defensive lineman, just given the fact that
08:30they've, you know, averaging one, losing one a week with injuries.
08:36And I realize that some of these guys have stepped up, Sebastian Valdez being one of them.
08:41I just mentioned Halton being another.
08:45But, you know, we've only played five games.
08:48You know, there's a lot more to come.
08:50There are a lot more injuries to come.
08:52You can really bolster yourself if you bring in a veteran.
08:56And probably a veteran edge rusher is what you're looking for.
08:59And there could be a lot of them available.
09:02I mean, just look at all the win and zero-win teams out there.
09:07And then look at the roster and look how many veteran pass rushers or expendable pass rushers those teams have.
09:14I'm saying that I think that there will be options out there.
09:19The caveat is what you just noted.
09:21They're doing pretty well, at least in this last game, without that marquee veteran.
09:28And this upcoming draft is supposed to be deep in a lot of positions.
09:34And one of them is defensive tackle.
09:36It's supposed to be a really good defensive tackle draft.
09:39So you might want to shave up your draft capital to take advantage of the April draft.
09:46I can't help but think back to 2019 when they acquired Emmanuel Sanders.
09:50They also were undefeated.
09:52They just beat Washington 9-0.
09:54But that position group was completely devoid of bodies.
09:58Is this team different on the receiver and also the D-line in that they kind of have more depth
10:04than that team in 2019 did at wide receiver?
10:08Yeah, and theoretically, a lot of that depth is going to be coming back.
10:12I think Demarcus Robinson has to sit out one more game, and then he's eligible to come back.
10:18Don't know about Christian Kirk's timeline.
10:20It seems like that keeps getting pushed back further and further.
10:25I don't know if he had a setback or what, but that's sort of fuzzy right now.
10:30They think Dejan Tribeling is going to be back at some point.
10:34They have some options there.
10:36Debo Samuel, obviously, is going to be back at some point, probably after the bye week.
10:41So the reinforcements are coming at that spot.
10:45That spot has proven to be good when those guys are healthy.
10:50I'm not sure you're getting that same consistency from defensive end, for example.
10:56I mentioned Keon White.
10:58He leads the team in pressures for sure.
11:02But they're not getting a lot of sacks from any one other individual guy.
11:07So I think that that, if you had to make a guess where they would make that trade, it would
11:14be defensive end, where they've made quite a few trades in the past.
11:17Matt, just because the fans are buzzing about it, some comments sort of insinuating it from Ian Rappaport yesterday, would
11:25the Niners be interested in Jawan Jennings?
11:28And how was that relationship upon his departure?
11:32I mean, he tried for a contract extension in the summer of last year, and it didn't work.
11:41They wouldn't give it to him or wouldn't give him the numbers that he was seeking.
11:48If you can put that behind you, and some guys can't, and we've seen that at that position with the
11:5649ers, but most guys can, then it sort of fits this theme, this homecoming theme that we've been seeing over
12:05and over again with Dre Greenlaw, with Debo Samuel, with Dante Pettis a couple weeks ago.
12:11So if he's not, you know, if he's unhappy in Minnesota, if the Vikings are unhappy with signing him in
12:22free agency, yeah, that could be a move for sure.
12:26Now, both of these teams are undefeated.
12:27They're going to play each other in Mexico City next month.
12:31I'm not sure the Vikings would want to do that.
12:35Would that make sense from their standpoint?
12:38I don't know.
12:40It seems like five weeks is too soon to give up on a guy and say, you know what, he's
12:46not going to work out here.
12:47He's terrible.
12:48So I would think that they hold on to him, but like I said, it fits the pattern.
12:54And the timing of the return from injury leads me to Dijon Stribling.
12:58Any sense on how he's progressing in his rehab?
13:01I know it's too early to pinpoint a return date, but how has he been doing it?
13:06What have you heard?
13:08I mean, I think he's just making the, you know, the expected progress.
13:12I saw him in the press box, I guess, for the Denver game, and he was on crutches in a
13:20walking boot.
13:20So he's not close to coming back to the field.
13:24And I think, you know, especially with a rookie, they would give him a long runway.
13:30So I know that Kyle Shanahan said 10 weeks after the injury, which, you know, we're looking at week 12
13:37or week 11 for him to come back.
13:41I would say it's probably around then or maybe a little bit later than that.
13:46Matt Barrows, The Athletic, with us.
13:48Hey, just within the organization, and I'm sure everyone's close to the vest and they're only five weeks in.
13:54Is there some raised eyebrows around the team with everything that's going on, mainly with the Rams?
14:01But I guess to a degree, the Seahawks as well, who have a physical matchup again tomorrow night.
14:08I don't think so.
14:09I think Christian McCaffrey said it after the Seahawks game.
14:14He said, you know, we were 5-0 three years ago in 2023, and we went into the bye 5
14:20-3.
14:21They dropped three very quickly.
14:23His point was, you know, as soon as you relax, as soon as you take your foot off that gas
14:28pedal, it can spin out of control for you very quickly.
14:33So, I don't think anyone, you know, they're obviously paying attention to it.
14:37I think that everybody believes that the Rams and the Seahawks are going to be better by the end of
14:42the season than they are right now.
14:44The Rams with their defense, that's going to get better.
14:47The Seahawks with their running game, that's going to get better.
14:51And that could happen fairly soon with the Seahawks with a couple guys coming back at that tailback spot.
14:58Before you go, Matt, would love just a thought on the matchup as a whole.
15:02On Monday night, if you see this as a potential letdown for the 49ers, a mobile quarterback, they haven't really
15:08faced one of those yet.
15:10Do you see this as a dangerous spot in any way?
15:14I mean, they played Bo Nix, and Bo Nix is a mobile quarterback, and he gave them a few problems
15:21with his mobility.
15:22I just don't think that Bo Nix has the combination of mobility and accuracy that Jaden Daniels does.
15:29So, that'll test out that defensive end spot, I think, that we've been talking about.
15:35And if he does damage, it's more kind of ammunition for making that midseason trade.
15:42But, I mean, it's hard to see the 49ers being distracted, you know, especially if Nick Bosa is back.
15:50Kyle Juszczyk could be back for this game as well.
15:53They're getting a little bit healthier and healthier, and I know that can change in a week.
16:00But, yeah, I think that the 49ers should be in control of this game.
16:05All right, Matt, back to bonbons.
16:08Have a great night.
16:10Thank you so much for doing that.
16:13All right, anytime, guys.
16:14Talk to you soon.
16:14Okay, Matt Barrows, The Athletic.
16:16Okay.
16:16Bye.