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00:00So now we get joined on the River Islands guest line by our buddy, Matt Barrows, the
00:04athletic.
00:05Hey, Matty, what's up?
00:06How are you guys doing?
00:09We're doing fine, except for the last time Brock Purdy didn't talk on Thursday, Brandon
00:13Allen played football.
00:14So what the hell's going on out there?
00:17Oh, I don't think this was a shoulder issue, it was more of a scheduling issue.
00:23He was getting ready for his press conference and then had to duck into a quarterback meeting.
00:28And so it was decided that he would have his Thursday press conference on Friday.
00:33But I don't think there's any shenanigans going on, I think it's just what I just described.
00:40What's the concern level for the shoulder, and how's he looked when you've seen him out
00:43there in practice?
00:44He looks fine now, I mean, I thought that one indication that his shoulder was okay
00:50was after the U.S. check fumble in Buffalo, it was Brock Purdy that sent the Buffalo Bills
00:59defender out of bounds, and he did so with his right shoulder.
01:03So to me, that was a good indication that he wasn't feeling a lot of pain from it.
01:08Hard to tell from the throws on Sunday, because there just weren't a lot of deep throws from
01:14either quarterback.
01:16But in practice, he looked like himself.
01:18Matt, I'm sure you hear this, we hear this, I'm trying to figure out how to answer this.
01:24When somebody says to you, the league has figured out Kyle Shanahan's scheme, how do
01:31you answer?
01:34I answer it that the league has definitely done different things this year.
01:42Teams are playing more man coverage, for example, and you see the effect of that.
01:49Brock Purdy is holding onto the ball longer, he's taking off and running with the ball
01:55more.
01:56His completion percentage is lower than it was last year, but I don't think that that's
02:01a Purdy problem, or a Kyle Shanahan problem, I think that's a wide receiver problem.
02:07When teams play more man coverage, it usually means that they're not scared of your wide
02:14receiver core.
02:16And when you lose Brandon Aiyuk, he's your man-beater on the 49ers.
02:25And when you lost him for the season, I think that just emboldened those defenses even more,
02:30and that's what you're seeing out there on Sundays.
02:33Ricky Pearsall is supposed to also be somewhat of a man-beater, yet last three games he's
02:38been very quiet.
02:39What have you seen from Ricky that has caused him to maybe have an early regression in his
02:44rookie year?
02:45Yeah, I mean, I would say that that's a rookie year issue, that's a missing-most-of-training-camp
02:52issue, that's a missing-most-of-the-beginning-of-the-season issue.
02:57Yeah, I mean, it's nothing you want to see.
03:00He's a first-round pick, he's getting lots of playing time, and he's had zero catches
03:05in the last three outings.
03:08I do think that he can probably throw Buffalo out of the mix, just because it wasn't a game
03:16that you're going to have a lot of passing yards and receiving yards.
03:20But yeah, I mean, I think that's part of the same thing that I was describing.
03:25Whether it's Thibaut Samuel or Ricky Pearsall, these guys aren't getting open, or they don't
03:31have the same connection with Brock Purdy in man coverage.
03:37Matt, you think Nick Sorensen's going to be the defensive coordinator again next year?
03:43I think so.
03:44I mean, I'm writing about that for tomorrow.
03:47I don't think that the 49ers' issues are a Nick Sorensen issue.
03:53I think it's a personnel issue.
03:55But having said that, I think Kyle Shanahan's going to have some options at defensive coordinator.
04:03This team looked initially at Jeff Ulbrich in the offseason, the New York Jets interim
04:09coach right now, and a longtime 49ers linebacker, and they were told politely that they were
04:16not allowed to interview Jeff Ulbrich.
04:19If Ulbrich becomes available at the end of this season, will they pursue him again?
04:26Robert Sala might be available.
04:27There might be some other names as well.
04:29I think Kyle Shanahan will have options, and perhaps more options than he had when he tapped
04:35Sorensen in this most recent offseason.
04:38But again, on Sunday, you looked onto the field.
04:45I've been covering this team nonstop since the spring.
04:49I saw numbers out there that I was unfamiliar with.
04:52I had to consult my handy-dandy roster a few times.
04:58Who's 41?
04:59Who's 50?
05:00There are a lot of guys playing who are unfamiliar to us and unfamiliar to the defense, and I
05:09think that's the bigger explanation for why they've struggled versus the defensive coordinator.
05:16And why has the depth been an issue this year, where previous years it seemed like they were
05:21able to just plug and play on the D-line when somebody went down?
05:24Well, it's a lot of somebodies this year.
05:27I mean, look at their missing three of their top six defensive linemen, Bosa and Jordan
05:37Elliott, Javon Hargrave, and then Kevin Givens went down in the first quarter.
05:42So that's a big chunk.
05:44I mean, you go into a game with eight defensive linemen, the 49ers were missing four of those
05:50eight after the first five minutes of the game.
05:54By the way, speaking of Bosa, Matt, I know he didn't practice today, but Kyle Shanahan
06:00had said he has a chance to play this week.
06:01What do you think's going to happen there?
06:03Yeah, I don't know.
06:07Obviously the last time he kind of pushed it on that hip-slash-oblique injury, he ended
06:11up injuring the other side of his body and then missing two games.
06:15So I would think that the 49ers and Bosa are going to be cautious with this, and knowing
06:24what happened the last time he played on the injury, that they might wait for it to subside
06:30even more.
06:31I think it is getting better.
06:33Until I see him practice, though, I would just assume that he's not going to play.
06:38Any word on Trent Williams?
06:40I know it's super touchy and what he went through is unspeakable, but has there been
06:45any thought or any chatter about whether or not he'd come back?
06:49Yeah, he has not been around the locker room.
06:54He has that personal issue, as well as he's still coming back from the ankle issue, which
07:02he told me after the Seattle game was more of a heel issue, more of a bone bruise.
07:07So it's something that's going to take a while to heal, and obviously it wasn't healing quickly.
07:14There's swelling involved, and I think it took a lot for him to get through that Seattle
07:19game, and I think that told them that it's probably not worth him playing on at these
07:26last two games.
07:27Matt Barrow is the Athletic on the Niners with us, Willard and Dibbs.
07:30Matt, you're around the guys.
07:32How's morale?
07:33It's what you would expect.
07:38I think George Kittle put it well today.
07:42This team went into the season with the highest of expectations, realistic expectations that
07:48they would return to the Super Bowl.
07:50So to be five and seven, and to be really blown out these last two games, it's demoralizing.
07:58I think it's hard for guys like Kittle and for Fred Warner to do what they do, which
08:05is try to inspire, to get the team around them and rally everybody.
08:11It's hard to do that week in and week out when there are no results, you're not seeing
08:16the results.
08:18And again, I think it's a personnel problem.
08:20They're just playing without so many stars.
08:23I think it goes back to the offseason.
08:26This was not a good offseason for them.
08:28The 2023 offseason was really good.
08:33Christian McCaffrey was out there all the time.
08:34Brandon Ayoub was out there all the time, this, that, and the other.
08:40And there were a lot of absences this year, and I think that was sort of the start of
08:44it.
08:45But it led to a bad start, and that bad start just got worse.
08:50And it hasn't been able to turn around, and it's virtually a must-win here on Sunday.
08:55I want to ask you about Debo Samuel and what you're seeing from his season, and I was mentioning
09:00earlier to Mark that I kind of see him as a one-or-two trick pony, and if things aren't
09:05schemed up perfectly for Debo, then it doesn't seem like he makes much of an impact.
09:10How would you rate his season so far, Matt?
09:13Yeah, I think it goes back to what I was saying earlier.
09:16Brandon Ayoub is the wide receiver that beats man coverage for the 49ers.
09:23Debo Samuel is the receiver that beats zone coverage for the 49ers.
09:27I know it doesn't always work out that way, but that's a very general way to think about
09:32it.
09:34So with teams playing more man coverage, that is not Debo Samuel's specialty.
09:40So getting open or just the chemistry between Brock Purdy and Samuel on those routes probably
09:48isn't as good as it is between Brock Purdy and Ayoub last year versus those types of
09:56defenses.
09:57So yeah, that's a large kind of theme with which to look at the 49ers this year.
10:07Matt, I know there's a long way to go, but as we sit here today, the IUK injury, what
10:14you just said about Debo, Pearsall's rookie year, how do you see the 49ers addressing
10:21the wide receiver room in the offseason?
10:27I think I'm going to be part of your, that's a great question, montage.
10:31Yeah!
10:32Woo!
10:33Woo!
10:34That's big!
10:36I've been thinking about that too.
10:39When you have a healthy Brandon Iyuk, I don't think it's an issue.
10:45Obviously it wasn't last year.
10:46The 49ers had a great passing attack last year.
10:50He was productive, Debo Samuel was productive, George Kittle, Juan Jennings.
10:56However, Brandon Iyuk is going to be coming off an ACL injury this year, and you're not
11:04sure if he's going to be at full speed to begin the season.
11:08So in an offseason where you're going to be paying Brock Purdy, presumably, a lot of money,
11:15do you want to go into the regular season not quite knowing when Brandon Iyuk is going
11:21to be back to 2023 Brandon Iyuk, or do you want to address that position?
11:28Right now they've got the 14th overall pick in the draft, do they use it on a wide receiver,
11:33do they use it on a defensive end, do they use it on an offensive tackle?
11:37I don't know.
11:38I think any of those three are probably good choices at this point.
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11:55You mentioned an offensive tackle.
11:57It doesn't seem like they have been, you know, Shanahan and Lynch, they've been that aggressive
12:02about using a high pick unless they love the player.
12:06Are they of the mindset looking for best available or do you think that they would go into this
12:10year as maybe drafting for need?
12:13It's interesting because the last time they drafted an offensive tackle was in 2018 when
12:20they drafted Mike McGlinchey.
12:22They did that with a top 10 pick.
12:27Like I said, right now they're at pick number 14.
12:29If the season ended today, they'd have the 14th pick.
12:32That puts them in striking distance of a top 10 pick.
12:38You know, this is a team that expects to be picking at the end of the first round every
12:42year.
12:43If they got up close to that point, would they use that opportunity to go get the tackle?
12:51That's I think a question for the offseason.
12:53It's not a great tackle draft, however.
12:56So that may be what kind of persuades them as well.
13:00Matt, can we circle back to wide receiver for a minute and just sort of go with this?
13:05Like leading into the draft and afterward, there was sort of what felt like a final idea
13:12that either Brandon wasn't going to be signed or Debo would be traded.
13:16Bottom line, the thought was this was the last year with both of them on the team.
13:21Is that still the case after the Debo restructure?
13:24Do you think Debo Samuels is going to be on this team after this year?
13:28Yeah, I don't know the answer to that because as you pointed out, there's a restructure
13:32there that makes parting ways with him not easy.
13:37Trading him, you would incur a big penalty.
13:41Cutting him, you would incur a big penalty as well.
13:44The penalty is so big that you might conclude that you're better off keeping him.
13:48He's still Debo Samuels.
13:50He's still capable of running over defenders.
13:54More to the point, he's probably a better version of himself when he has Brandon Aiyuk
14:00out there.
14:01That's the point that I've been trying to make all along is that they really work well
14:05together.
14:06So, it's a good question.
14:09I don't know the answer to it.
14:11There are a lot of moving parts to this, but Brandon Aiyuk's injury complicates it even
14:18more.
14:19Is Debo still the same player, Matt?
14:21I heard you say that and Mark and I have been going back and forth on this notion and
14:26whether or not he's lost a step or what, is he really still the same player in your eyes?
14:31He had a big play in Seattle earlier this year, big 75-yard touchdown, and he reached
14:41almost 21 miles per hour according to all the GPS stuff.
14:46So he still can move out there.
14:49Like I said, I think it has a lot to do with the other wide receivers playing around him.
14:55Matty, great stuff as always.
14:57We appreciate it.
14:58By the way, on the way out the door, when people go, hey, win the last five and you
15:03go to the playoffs, does that sound ridiculous to you?
15:06Yeah, it does because they just have not shown much fight at all these last two games.
15:14And that, I think, is probably the most disturbing part of it.
15:18These have been blowouts.
15:20And I think the Bears, not a very good team.
15:23Bears have all sorts of issues up and down their lineup.
15:26They're a rebuilding team with a rookie quarterback.
15:31I think that this will be a really good litmus test to see whether the 49ers in fact can
15:36run the table.
15:39The 49ers have not been able to beat even middle-of-the-road teams in the second half
15:44of the season.
15:45Matty, have fun with a couple of home games.
15:48Get back used to your own bed and thank you very much.
15:51All right.
15:52Anytime, guys.
15:53Talk to you soon.
15:54All right.
15:55There he goes.
15:56Matt Barrows, The Athletic, with us on the 49ers.