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Willard and Dibs debate if the 49ers absolutely have to make a move or two in the wide receiver room now that Mike Evans may have to miss some time.
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00:00Jamie and San Pablo has called in.
00:02He's got two Niners that he wants the team to get rid of.
00:07Keep them in the back of your mind.
00:08You got your two that you think he's going to say?
00:10Absolutely.
00:10I got my two that I think he's going to say.
00:12Jamie, welcome to the show.
00:14Thanks for calling.
00:14What's up?
00:17It's Jaime, but it's all right.
00:18Oh, sorry.
00:19Jaime.
00:21No, no.
00:21All good.
00:22All good.
00:22So I'm just going to ask you guys a question.
00:25These two players that you guys are thinking,
00:28combine their receivers, combine.
00:30How many receptions do you guys think they have combined together?
00:34Two.
00:35I can already tell you that one of the players you're talking about,
00:38I guarantee, is not one of the players we had in our head.
00:42And I guarantee it's not Mike Evans.
00:44Right.
00:45So I'm pretty sure that one of your players is Jacob Cowling.
00:51And now I've got to guess on who the other receiver is.
00:54But I'll say, I'll say two.
00:59Two combined catches by the two wide receivers you're talking about.
01:05No.
01:06They have ten combined passes in two years.
01:10In two years.
01:11Oh, okay.
01:11I thought you meant this year.
01:12But okay.
01:15How do we expect, how do we expect the second half to go when you have two
01:20players that have caught five passes each in a year, two years, ten combined?
01:27How is this even possible?
01:29I don't understand.
01:30How is it that we seem to draft these Jets on defense?
01:34But offense, like, you know, we can't see the draft, the receivers that can stay healthy
01:40and that can produce.
01:42I just don't.
01:44I mean, I understand Pearsall, you know, getting hurt and scribbling.
01:47But it just doesn't.
01:48I don't understand how this happens.
01:51That on the defense, we just, you know, we have Halton.
01:55We have Mustafa.
01:56We have Siegel.
01:57So, and then on the offense, we have Cowling and Watkins.
02:02And I keep hoping this game might be a breakout for them.
02:05This game might be the break.
02:06And it just doesn't happen.
02:08I am sick and tired of seeing these two players just not being able to produce.
02:15Okay.
02:15Let's talk that out.
02:16I mean, this is interesting.
02:17I don't think either of us thought you were going to go after Jordan Watkins.
02:21I can see it.
02:22Yeah.
02:22Well, okay.
02:23Let me, let me.
02:24I thought it would be Cowling and Pinero.
02:25I thought it was going to be Cowling and Pinero.
02:27We can get to the kicker a different time because it's not all that interesting.
02:30Dude's going to need to make his kicks or he's going to be gone.
02:34Jacob Cowling and Jordan Watkins.
02:36All right.
02:36Let's talk about it.
02:37These are both fourth round picks.
02:39So, I'm going to first push back on the idea when Jaime says, I can't understand why they
02:46can't produce.
02:47Like, why could, are you under the impression that you just go draft people and all of them
02:53are good?
02:54Obviously not.
02:55That's not, that's not the way the NFL works.
02:57No team has that.
02:59These are fourth round picks.
03:00These are not guys that anybody thought to themselves, all right, we're going to build
03:05what we're doing on offense around these two guys.
03:08And that's not to give anybody a pass or anything.
03:12But the bottom line is they've, they're both fourth round picks.
03:16They both have dealt with fairly consistent injury problems, which I do think have stunted
03:23their growth during camps in recent years.
03:26I think Cowling has now arrived at a spot where the concern is real because the main reason
03:32he's still on the roster is to return punts and he's not doing a good job of it.
03:37So that I'm going to share that as a real concern.
03:40As far as him being out there and running routes, there's a reason that we don't see him out there
03:45very much.
03:46And it's that there are a bunch of people on the 49ers roster better than him at it.
03:51And so when you go into a camp and you got five receivers and you're like, these are our dudes.
03:59These are our dudes.
04:00We are going to sign Mike Evans.
04:01In fact, I can make it six.
04:03We're going to sign Mike Evans and Christian Kirk in free agency.
04:07We are bringing Demarcus Robinson back.
04:09We like him.
04:11Then late in free agency, actually beyond free agency, you're going to re-grab Debo Samuel,
04:16who I will remind Jaime is a 49er draft pick who produced.
04:22And then in recent drafts, you're going to have Ricky Pearsall and Dajon Stribling.
04:28Stribling, who, by the way, was, if you're going to sit here today and say that you love
04:33Yaxel and Steve Kirk and say he's our second best player already and he's never played a
04:38game before, then it's fair to still be excited about Dajon Stribling because he wowed them
04:44during camp.
04:45But he hasn't produced.
04:46He hasn't.
04:46But I don't know that you can say, therefore, he's a bad pick.
04:51Injuries happen.
04:52The jury's out.
04:53And so now we're down.
04:55You know, you've got Brandon Cooks on the street.
04:57We're down to wide receiver seven and eight.
05:01And so this is what you're going to get.
05:03Well, the point I think that he was making, Jaime, and I kind of share the point is you
05:09drafted these guys, you liked them, and they can't get on the field.
05:12And you said this when they got Brandon Cooks.
05:14If Cooks comes in and he immediately steps in front of Jordan Watkins, that's kind of
05:19a tell.
05:20That's a tell.
05:20And Cowing, like this year, we're all excited.
05:23He had the punt return in the preseason.
05:25And oh, look at that speed.
05:26He's a 4-2-5 guy.
05:28And yet now even that has become an issue because he makes bad choices and he can't catch the
05:34football.
05:34I'm not here to say that they should stay on the roster long term.
05:37I'm here to say that right now, holy hell, what do you want him to do?
05:41That's kind of where I am.
05:42They've got to have people who know the system.
05:44You know, this idea that the 49ers, hey, John, get on the phone and let's get a receiving
05:49core here for Sunday.
05:50What on earth do you think these guys are going to be able to do?
05:53You could acquire Brian Thomas tomorrow.
05:56How quickly is he up to speed on what is supposedly the most complicated offensive playbook in the
06:03game?
06:04I don't like, so yeah, they're stuck.
06:07And yes, they've got their eighth string out on the field.
06:10If you want to cut those guys when everybody else comes back healthy and you don't
06:13want them on the team next year, you're probably going to get your wish.
06:17So again, I'm not here being like, oh, they were great picks.
06:21Keep them on the roster.
06:22Make excuses for them.
06:23If they're not good, then their fourth round misses and we move on.
06:26But as we sit here today on October 20th, this is what you got.
06:32Yes.
06:32And I think they are misses, but right now you are not in a luxurious spot of being able
06:37to just cut guys.
06:38Guys, if you get Kirk and Debo and Stribling and Robinson and they all come back in week
06:4311 or 12, well, these guys are going to be deactivated.
06:46They won't be cut immediately because you need depth, but they'll be healthy scratches and
06:51you'll be in a spot where if you are wide receiver seven and eight, well, right now one
06:56through five are not available.
06:57So seven becomes two and eight becomes three.
07:00And now you've got to play.
07:01And the Cowan one is much more interesting to me because he's also your punt returner.
07:05And then if you don't have him doing it because you don't like him, then who does?
07:08It's Debo, but he's not currently, you know, fielding punts right now.
07:12I'm turning punts.
07:14I know kickoffs.
07:15I do not like, I don't personally, I, you know, for instance, I watched the Jaguars do this
07:21all the time.
07:22The Jags use Parker Washington as their punt returner.
07:25I think it's nuts, absolutely crazy pills.
07:29I am not putting my wide receiver one out there to go return punts.
07:33And I know Debo is not the wide receiver one.
07:35Well, they used to do that when, like if they ever needed a big play.
07:38A big play, yes.
07:39In a big spot.
07:40Circumstances.
07:40Absolutely.
07:41But I don't, in general, if I'm using a guy a lot on offense, you know what I mean?
07:46I'm not putting Christian McCaffrey back there to return kickoffs.
07:49Like, no, no, no, thank you.
07:52Maybe in the Super Bowl where you can roll the dice.
07:54Right now you've got, Cowling has returned seven punts this year, and he's gotten 27
08:00yards on those, a long of 13.
08:02It feels like he's had at least two muffs and at least one other just kind of a head
08:08scratching decision.
08:09And so it's not working.
08:11But to your point, and this is kind of where I've been, right now you have such an anemia
08:16at the spot, wide receiver.
08:18You can't just show guys the door.
08:20No, they can't afford that at all, and it's not that easy to go get guys on the street,
08:25and it's not that easy to pull off a trade and then make those guys get, they've got a
08:29game in five days.
08:31Like what, you know what I mean?
08:33And so that's, that's my response, by the way.
08:36There's a text that came in a little bit earlier that I want it here.
08:39I'm going to scroll and find this thing because I really want to talk this out with you.
08:42Um, okay, here we go.
08:475-1-0.
08:48I hope you're still listening because this was an hour ago that I held this because I
08:52want to have this conversation.
08:54Glad they got the win.
08:57Absolutely mad they don't have a plan B when Evans goes out.
09:03Offense went to dog crop.
09:07Shanahan should have planned better.
09:09It was expected.
09:11Okay, let's talk about that.
09:13What exactly would you like the plan B to be?
09:18What, what is it that you're asking?
09:21Do you feel like Kyle Shanahan?
09:23And this is sometimes the, for me, what I, I find to be a little bit of a frustrating
09:27call about Shanahan.
09:29Like, you're Kyle Shanahan.
09:32Dude, snap your fingers.
09:34Snap your fingers and get the first down.
09:37We're not on plan B.
09:39We're on plan K.
09:42Okay.
09:43Six wide receivers are out.
09:47Six.
09:48Six, like, either high-level professionals or early draft picks are out.
09:54So what exactly, like, I don't know, what do you want everybody to do?
09:59I hear what you're saying.
10:00Like, the idea that Mike Evans went out is not terribly surprising because he's been
10:05dealing with a lot of pain and a lot of injury.
10:08But I don't know that you can just be like, okay, let's run the Brandon Cooks, Jordan
10:14Watkins, Jacob Cowling, Malik Turner plan that we've all got here for you.
10:18Where do you see this, Washington?
10:20Well, newsflash, it ain't going to be good.
10:22It's not going to be good.
10:23And Washington is going to do exactly what Schlereth said that they would do, which is once he
10:29goes out, we're pinning our ears back, we're going to spot McCaffrey in blitz, and we're
10:33going to hurry everything up, and where do you go?
10:36The timing is all off.
10:38These receivers are, they're not dynamic.
10:41They're not that good.
10:43And you get a sack, and that's it.
10:45You go three and out.
10:47So, at a certain point, you got it to me.
10:50You have to acknowledge that from a personal standpoint, you end up in a rough spot.
10:55It's not that easy to fix.
10:56It's not, but the bigger issue is you have Watkins and Cowling who are healthy and available,
11:01and yet now, this far down the road in their careers, they're not trustworthy to play very
11:07often, unless when you're desperate.
11:09I'm looking at the second half yesterday.
11:11You had a 10-play drive for 65 yards, field goal, three plays minus one, three plays zero,
11:17three plays three.
11:18They had only three targets that were not Christian McCaffrey, one to Cooks, two to Kittle, the
11:24one layered throw to Kittle, which was awesome, but beyond that, there was no use check, and
11:29I wonder, I don't think that he came out on the injury report after, but he played a little
11:33bit more of a limited role.
11:35You didn't go to Farrell at all.
11:37You didn't go anywhere else.
11:38You tried, like heck, to just pass it to McCaffrey.
11:42I thought you should have run the ball more, so what's your plan, K?
11:46Well, you're going into Atlanta.
11:47Let's just say you don't have Mike Evans.
11:49We don't know yet.
11:50I would expect you do a lot of different things in the pass game to have two running backs
11:56out there, or two tight ends, or three tight ends.
11:59You're going to have to come up with some sort of a plan, so last night, you lose Evans late
12:03second quarter.
12:04I get it.
12:05A lot of the game plan was for Mike Evans, because he's phenomenal, and that's your best
12:09passing option, but beyond that, you lose him, run the ball, and that's my criticism of
12:14Shani.
12:14And that's fair.
12:15That's totally fair.
12:16But then again, I'd always think about the defense knows that.
12:20And so now we get back to the exact same reason why Seattle stuffed the hell out of the Niners
12:26last January.
12:27If they know you're running the ball with Christian McCaffrey, they're going to stop it.
12:31You have to be able to offer multiple looks to another defense to confuse them and scare
12:37them as the whole reason they went and got Mike Evans and drafted Stribbling and all the
12:42things they did in the offseason to be ready for stuff like that.
12:46And so will they have a game plan?
12:48Sure.
12:48I think having a week to get ready for no Mike Evans will help, but I also would lower
12:54my expectations for how dynamic the offense is going to look.
12:59You lose six wide receivers, and yeah, we're going to head down a peg.
13:04No, I don't care who your quarterback and running back are.
13:06And that's fine to say that, and I can look at last night and see the first drive of the
13:11third quarter and you ran it.
13:12McCaffrey got six.
13:13He got two.
13:14We got four and then black got nine and you had a tush push for a first down.
13:18You were able to run it on the only scoring drive you had.
13:21And then after that, you came out, throw, throw, throw your punt a scramble.
13:27You tried to throw it and he had to scramble.
13:29Then he got sacked.
13:30Then you threw it and then you punt it.
13:32And then the last drive was a run and then the safe pass.
13:35I just thought that in a spot where you are down, everybody, virtually everybody.
13:40That was a time to, yeah, go ahead and run it and make them cheat up.
13:45And then maybe you could hit them over the top like they did with George Kittle.
13:49Real quick, Ray in San Rafael.
13:52Hi, Ray.
13:53Thanks for calling.
13:53What's up?
13:55Two things.
13:56One, my wife felt really bad for Luke McCaffrey.
14:00She was like, oh, he's just sort of smaller.
14:01But he could be someone we could pick up.
14:03The second thing is, there was a number 85 for the commanders who just, out of the corner of my
14:11eye, I thought was Vernon Davis.
14:14That's Chig Okonkwo.
14:16Chig Okonkwo is his name.
14:19Yeah, did you catch that?
14:21I was like, I kind of look like Vernon Davis.
14:23He's a good player.
14:24He's a good player.
14:25Yeah.
14:25Yeah.
14:25Wears the same number, has the same haircut.
14:27Yeah, I get it.
14:31Ray, thanks.
14:32I tell you what, I have no idea.
14:35I got to look into the contractual situation for Luke McCaffrey.
14:38That's a great idea.
14:39But they just lost Terry McLaurin.
14:41Correct.
14:42And he's gone for the year.
14:43Yeah, but Luke's not someone they really like.
14:45Luke is a punt returner.
14:46Right.
14:47And I think he got some snaps.
14:49I think he had a target in the game as well.
14:51Yeah.
14:51He probably moves up the depth chart just because they're kind of desperate.
14:55And from a skill standpoint, they don't have Bill Krusky-Merritt.
14:59Right.
15:00And so they're down to, you know, their dregs as well.
15:03Everybody is, as you said.
15:04Right.
15:04And they're also, I don't want to call them out of it because their division stinks,
15:08but 1-4-1, the Washington Commanders, I don't know how interested they are in this year.
15:14But anyway, would love to have a more reliable punt turner with the ball security back there,
15:20no doubt.