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Speaker 1: It's time to bring the 49ers to the forefront.
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Speaker 2: It's go time. This is the best team that they can put on the field this year.
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Speaker 1: Welcome to Niners Nightly.
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Speaker 2: You guys are going to hear the latest from the locker room, the latest from the podium, the latest scuttle from the players.
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Speaker 1: On your proud home of 49ers football.
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Speaker 2: KNBR, the sports leaders.
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Speaker 1: Your faithful fix with your host, Larry Krueger, begins.
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Speaker 2: Take phone calls, talk Niners for a full hour. Fired up, really excited.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Now.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: And welcome. It's Niners Nightly. Larry Krueger back with you. Happy Wednesday, September 30th. They said we would never get to the end of September, but we're here. Actually, nobody ever said that. But Chips McCarthy Productions tonight, the great Ryan McCarthy. Behind the controls, and man, we got a great hour. John Chapman's going to stop by, who does one of the most successful 49er podcasts out there. We'll get his thoughts on the first three games of the season. Interesting day in Santa Clara. Warm day.
00:01:12
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: I mean, it was like, I know my kids are probably, my kids are, Dad, stop talking weather. No, yes, but it was a warm day in Santa Clara. And unseasonably warm, like 90s, like 90 in October. I thought we were kind of beyond the 90. Last week, I thought, oh, yeah, it's getting kind of crisp. It's going to be Thanksgiving before we know it. This week, it's like, I think I may need to get some extra right guard. It was hot in Santa Clara, but a great day covering the 49ers today. Brock Purdy voted FedEx Air Player of the Week for his performance against the Cardinals. How great is Brock Purdy playing right now? It is unbelievable watching him do his thing. We always start with today in Niner News and today at practice. You know who's back? Mikel Williams. Great to see him back. What a monster he is. Really, he's a mismatch. He's a good first and second down player as defensive end. He's a really good interior rusher on passing downs. God, they need him. They need him so bad. Um, and he actually broke down the Niners post-practice huddle today, or maybe it was pre-practice huddle, but he broke down the huddle and it was great to see he's out there wearing his number 98, feeling good, looking good. Uh, Matthew Judon, the veteran was out there wearing number 43 today. Dante Pettis made his Reese Niner stint. Number two debut at practice wearing number 15, by the way, Mikkel cannot play this week. Um, Wasn't sure about that, actually. I saw him out there. I'm like, I think maybe he can go. No, he can't go. He cannot go until after the Seattle game or four until the Seattle game, I should say, in week five. So he can't go this week against Denver, but he can go next week against Seattle. And hopefully he will. And hopefully he'll make a huge impact. As far as today at practice, who is out? Mike Evans out. I don't think he's going to practice this week. I'm not sure about his status for Sunday, to be completely honest, because we really don't know the status of the Ribs. Kyle Shanahan was very, quite evasive when Matt Barrows was asking the questions. So it's a rib? Yes, it's a rib. Is it a broken rib? Is it a, it's a rib. Fuck, we were at a barbecue place. I mean, is it a spare rib or is it a baby back rib? Is it a St. Louis rib? There are lots of different kinds of ribs, by the way. So Shanahan, it's a rib. Like, don't push it, man. It's a rib. We're very secretive over here. We're not telling you. I think it's cracked ribs. Somebody told me, a pretty good source I have, told me that they heard some kind of crack. So I think it's a cracked rib. He's not practicing. If it's really painful, he may not go Sunday. But we'll see. We haven't gotten any kind of update there. Trent Williams did not practice today. CMC did not practice today, given a veteran's rest day. He gets Wednesday off. Key on white with a hamstring did not practice. And that's a big one because he's a huge, huge key now for them with all the guys going down. He's versatile. He can play inside. He can play outside. He's he's he plays a lot and he's really important. He's got a hamstring. Did not practice today. Romello height was limited. He broke the hand, had surgery last week, and then Mikel was limited. Niners look good, though. Three games in, they are looking good.
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Good.
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Speaker 2: No question about that. They lead the NFL with a plus 48 point differential Jacksonville's number two, a plus 46 and the Niners just look incredible. Um, the three and oh, man, it's like we could sit there and be critical, but why bother the three and oh, and they can leave the league and point differential, um, Brock Purdy. And I was talking to Greg Cosell today and just so many of the great, you know, talking points that came up. Um, He thinks Brock Purdy has never looked so consistent. And, you know, I kind of agree. And the one thing that you're seeing in this game against Arizona, Kyle Shanahan made a point in the offseason. We need to get better at explosive play ratio. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year on basically explosive play ratio. What does that mean? That means you're producing explosives on offense and you're basically eliminating or limiting explosives. on defense. 49ers are number three in most explosives on offense in the NFL three weeks in, and they are number one in least explosives allowed on defense. They are doing this year in a lot of ways what Seattle did last year, which is great to see. Great to see. How about this game against Arizona? Their defense was on the field for 80 snaps. That's not good. But guess how many explosive plays they allowed in the 80 snaps? None. None.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: Not one.
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Speaker 2: So that's impressive. And that's the way this thing has gone in the early part of the year. The Niners have been impressive, is the word I would use. But it starts with Purdy. And, I mean, it really starts with the way they play. The Niners, you know, that whole hook and ladder thing. Shanahan understands they need to get a lead, you know, because of the structure of this defense right now, they need to play with a lead. That was a very aggressive play on the third play of the game, but that's the way Shanahan is going to be because he knows how much better his team's going to be with a lead. So that's one. Two, Brock Purdy, you know, one of the points that Greg made today was that he thinks Brock Purdy and Joe Burrow are the NFL's two best post-snap operators. You know, post-snap, that's the thing in the NFL these days is you're going to see one thing pre-snap, and then also they're going to rotate into something else post-snap. And you've got to, in milliseconds, you've got to know. And Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy innately see that defensive shift and feel it. And the precision in the passing game with Purdy right now is so fun to watch. And it's hilarious that the college scouts missed on this guy. Because everybody in college is looking for the big arm, power arm quarterback who's an awesome athlete. Lenora Sellers, South Carolina. I watched Mississippi State last week. They got a quarterback that looks awesome, but he's a big, strong, power arm kid. He's a great athlete. But those aren't necessarily the tools that make you a great NFL quarterback. It goes so much beyond arm strength and foot speed. And Brock Purdy is just playing at an incredible level right now. I mean, it's just, it's something to watch. And then the addition of Mike Evans with Christian McCaffrey, you see it if you watch the All-22 film, the spacing in the passing game is off the charts right now. It's really the key to offensive football. It's not that different than NBA basketball where the Warriors won a title playing, you know, pace and space. I know it's frustrating, but In the NBA, you see guys step out of bounds all the time. Why? Because they're trying to spread the floor as much as possible. And so they're getting too close to the sideline. They step out. It's annoying to watch, but it's the way the game's played. It's the same thing in football. Space is at a premium on the football field. When you have Mike Evans and you have Christian McCaffrey, they create space. The guy who, though, has to be shouted out.
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Speaker 3: Is Raheem Morris.
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Speaker 2: Nothing against Robert Sala. Robert Sala was damn good. But Raheem Morris, I mean, what he's doing right now is unbelievable. The Niners have 40 pressures in three games despite losing Bosa. I mean, Brissette on Sunday did not have a pass play over 19 yards all day. They gave up no explosives. Their primary defensive front had Okoronkwo and Khalid Kareem at defensive end with Keyon White and Oso Digizua inside. That was their rush plan last week because that's what they got. Kocerek played nine different defensive linemen, at least 13 snaps. And they're getting pressure. They're getting pressure. They sacked the quarterback. They got some pressure. Now, they didn't get off the field. They give up too many. They were out there way too long. But it was impressive to watch. And what did Raheem do? Well, guess what? He does something different every week. This week against Arizona, he played a ton of zone, didn't play a lot of man-to-man. He played multiple zone coverages. They rushed four. They barely ever rushed five. And they eliminated all the explosives. Arizona had none. Not one in the run game, not one in the pass game. So, man, I mean... Give it to Raheem Morris. Guys are going down, and he's still just doing it. I mean, his defense is doing it. To get it done with the makeshift line, and then Chris has nine different linemen. He's just kind of rotating in and out throughout the game. When they get McHale and Bosa and they get full, you know, complete up front, wow, watch out. The other interesting kind of wrinkle that Greg pointed out is that Purdy is– You're playing under center a lot more. 57% of the snaps, he's been under center in the first three games of the year. And, you know, the thinking is maybe it helps the play-action game. You know, maybe Brock prefers it. I mean, maybe that's a question tomorrow I'll ask Brock. Are you under center 57% of the time, which is up from past years, as opposed to in the gun, because you prefer it? Maybe it is. Might be something that he prefers. You know, sometimes quarterbacks do have preferences. But we talked about a number of different things, and Niners have had some really great things happen for them in the first three weeks of the season. Grayson Halton played 30 incredible snaps, and he's playing 30 snaps per game. And I mean, that's a lot for a rookie defensive tackle. And it's not like he's it's like they're losing because of it. I mean, it's like he's playing great. This guy lined up outside. They stun him inside. He's a complete player. He can play the pass. He can play the run. He is really good. The other great revelation in the first three weeks is 49ers offensive line is playing ball. Why? Well, individually, they're stepping up. And Connor Colby, if you watch the film, he's exceeding expectations. And he's been pretty good in the run game. Trent Williams is having a great start. Colt McKivitts looks great. Brendel's super motivated. Pooney's one of the highest graded guards in all of pro football. So they're doing a nice job. Now they haven't given up any sacks. I think that's more Brock than them to be completely honest. But one of the points that Greg made today, and it's a great point. If you think about it, you close your eyes, you think about what makes Brock Purdy so special. Why is he special? He's special because he's got quick everything. He's quick with his feet and he's quick with his processing and He's got to make, you know, set decisions in milliseconds and he can do it because his preparation, his preparation is so thorough that come Sunday, he's ready to roll. Brock Purdy embraces the process of pro football. He's good Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, their days on Thursdays. And he makes us wait for like a half hour waiting on him.
00:12:56
Speaker 3: Why?
00:12:56
Speaker 2: Cause he's in meetings. Cause this guy takes his job really seriously. But Greg's point was, The one thing you never see with Purdy and you haven't seen it in the first three games, he doesn't get stuck in the pocket. He has an ability to make plays from the pocket, but then if it breaks down, he can extend plays and get out of there. How many times do guys get stuck in the pocket? They just can't. They can't do it. Also, there's no way out. They didn't anticipate it. And all of a sudden, two guys are collapsing on him. It happens to everybody. But the best ones anticipate and get out of there. Purdy's playing the position very decisively. It's there, it's there, it's there, it's not there, we're going. And he's not getting stuck in the pocket, which eliminates negative plays, eliminates sacks, and obviously sacks are part of the way that you lose. You fall behind the chains. They're staying out of third and long. They're dominating on first and second down. They're staying out of third and long. You stay out of third and long, you're going to win a lot of games. Greg also made some good points on Denver. You know, Bo Nix against the Blitz is much more like a young quarterback. He's got zero touchdowns this year against the Blitz. He's got a pick. He's got a passer rating of forty four point six against the Blitz. So guess what? I think you may see Raheem Morris with the Blitz. And in Greg, which comment was just like, there's just not a lot of continuity in Denver's offense. You know, Davis Webb, the former Cal Bear, he took over the play calling for Sean Payton. And Denver's offense wasn't good against the Rams. They don't look like they're in great rhythm. You know, Greg's comment was there's not a lot of clean pass plays. But they have good weapons, and they have a line that's considered maybe the best, maybe the best in all of pro football. So that should be interesting. And then, you know, the marquee matchup is the Niners O, Kyle Shanahan, against Vance Joseph, the defensive coordinator, former head coach. And Denver's got, you know, some serious special players. Sertan's a number one corner. DJ Jones is a monster in the middle. He's very strong, functionally strong and quick. Benito's a true, Nick Benito's a true number one edge rusher off the outside. Zach Allen was a great free agent signing. Kind of reminds me, like for some of you old heads of like a Keith Millard back in the day. I mean, just a beast inside, you know, quick, fast. I mean, you get, you know, Brock Purdy meets Zach Allen on Sunday. That'll be a bad thing for the Niners. And then they had this kid, Jake one, McMillan, who's their corner nickel corner blitzer. And he's one of the best in the league at doing that. So a lot of interesting stuff in Niner land. And this game's going to be good. I saw some rankings, power rankings. They had Miami ranked like 31st or 30th. They had, they had the Rams at like 13 and, And they had Arizona at like 26. They had Denver at like 6. So there's reason to believe this is the best team the Niners have played all year. And if they're not ready, they're going to get beat. But they're prepping to win, and there's a good vibe down in Santa Clara. I can tell you that for sure. All right, let's do this. Let's take a timeout. Let's welcome in the great John Chapman, who's got a lot of insights. We'll talk about these things and other things as well as we continue. It's Niners Nightly. On a Wednesday, Larry Kruger with you on the Sports Leader.
00:16:22
Speaker 1: Faithfully Niners Nightly with Larry Kruger now continues on your proud home of 49ers football. KNBR, the Sports Leader.
00:16:34
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Larry Kruger with you. It's Niners Nightly on a Wednesday. And joining us this hour is going to be the great John Chapman. We're making a connection now with Johnny. He does one of the better sports. 49er podcasts out there, the 49er Rush podcast. And he travels on the road to all the games and has a lot of insights into what the 49ers are doing. And it's always good to catch up with him. He's a wealth of knowledge. A couple notes that I wanted to mention that I did not mention previously. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler says it doesn't make sense for the 49ers to trade Mac Jones. And I know Mac Jones' name comes up every time Somebody wants a different player here or there. They're like, well, just trade Mac Jones. Hey, we'll move Mac Jones. And Mac Jones has a lot of value. But, you know, I think 49ers have established a pretty high price tag. And I think they value him more than the league. And when that's the case, you're going to stay. He's a free. He can walk at the end of the year and likely will.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: But.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: He saved their season last year. They needed him to play eight games. He did, and he won five of them. And without him, they wouldn't have had that great performance in Philadelphia because they never would have been there to begin with. So I'm in favor of trying to explore all your avenues trade-wise for all the different players that could potentially help you. But I'd like to keep Mac Jones at the end of the day. I'd also like to keep John Chapman, and he's with us on the UMA guest line to talk some Niner ball. 49er Rush podcast is his thing, and he's back with us. Johnny, how are you?
00:18:20
Speaker 3: I'm doing well, about as well as Matt Jones did last year. So I'm just glad to be on with you, Larry.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Well, hey, we're glad to have you. You know, a great start for the 49ers. They're 3-0. The offensive line's playing well. The defense lost Bosa recently. up front, and yet Raheem's keeping it together. It's a miracle. I mean, seriously, the way this defense has played in the first three games, it's been incredible. Is it going to continue Sunday against Denver, or is the bottom going to fall out and we're going to be complaining?
00:18:54
Speaker 3: Man, Denver's kind of a rough one to watch, you know, through the first three weeks. They played some really serious talent. The teams that they played against, some great offenses, Jags, Chiefs and the Rams but they haven't looked very good and you know they're two in one with two quality wins but their offense the identity is just not present and they are not committed to running the football one of the most pass happy teams in the NFL through the first month of the season and so like it's just a weird matchup from the jump because you have the Broncos whose identity is kind of they're still trying to figure it out even with the play caller switch and all those things And then you look at the 49ers, and it's just like, who is going to be playing out there? There was series where you had Naquan Jones, Sebastian Valdez, and Kevin Givens as three of your four defensive linemen at the same time. So... it's really two quality teams with winning records that have playoff aspirations. But at the same time, there's a lot of question marks surrounding both teams. and it's who's going to be the most prepared. The coaching, which is crazy having said this with Sean Payton, but I think the coaching kind of checkmark or approval is probably on the 49ers side. I think they're kind of doing some of the best coaching in the NFL from an offense, defense, and special team standpoint so far.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I definitely would agree. I think this is the best top-to-bottom coaching staff of the Shanahan era for sure. And maybe the best since Mike Shanahan was here in 94. I mean, nothing against the Harbaugh years. Um, there were some really good coaches on Harbaugh staff, including Brad Seeley and, um, and others. I mean, he, he had a number of good coaches. Uh, I don't want to, you know, maybe we should consider more of that, those guys as well, but definitely in the Shanahan era, because you got Boyer as the special teams coach that he's been a tremendous addition, uh, Had a conversation today with Luke Gifford in the locker room about special teams. And, you know, there's just a belief that they're doing it right. And there's a lot of confidence in the plan that Boyer's put out there. And then Raheem has done an amazing job. And Kubiak, I think, is an absolute lock to be hired as an NFL head coach in the next cycle. So, you know, I think this might be the best staff they've had. What do you think?
00:21:21
Speaker 3: I agree with you completely. I mean, special teams has been the albatross around shanahan's neck for um this is year 10 for eight years um had you know high tower his buddy from texas for the first several years did not work out then he went with schneider from seattle did not work out and as soon as brant boyer showed up everything changed almost immediately it was a rough three weeks to the start uh special teams wise last season but since then it's just clicked And, you know, Gifford Pro Bowl season last year and Darryl Hodge is balling out. Ashton Davis is playing incredible football. Luke Farrell, he's just been stellar on offense and special teams. And so you're getting a lot of these special team ace type players and Braden Willis. Like it is just turned into just kind of. this strength in so many different ways and the hidden yardage that brand Boyer gives to the offense that they average one less first down needed to get into scoring range. Whereas the defense, they get an extra first down and a half before the opponent's team is ready to kick a field goal. So you're getting a lot of just extra juice because the kickoff team is incredible. The punt return team is incredible. I'll be at that one play where Sierra nail fell down. and didn't clear out whatever his teammate told him as a short kick, but this special teams unit is awesome. And it just makes everything easier for the offense and defense repeatedly, every possession, just a free first down that you don't have to worry about.
00:22:58
Speaker 2: You know, everything starts with Brock Purdy and he's having a tremendous year and he's, you know, they're staying out of third and long, they're getting it done on first and second down. You stay out of third and long, you know, you're never sacked and good things are going to happen. But, Within that has been kind of a little bit of a shift back to what Shanahan used to do. Purdy played 26 snaps under center against Arizona. 57% of his snaps have been under center in the first three games. That's higher than what we've seen in the last couple years. It almost goes back to the early Shanahan days here. And I wonder why exactly. I know it helps the play-action game. I wonder, you know, we'll ask Brock about this at some point, but I feel like it almost has to do with the you know, he's a rhythm player and maybe playing under center helps him get into a better passing rhythm. I'm not really sure exactly why we're seeing it, but this is the way Shanahan ran things early. Then they went more into the gun. But 57 percent behind center in three games is one of the higher. I think it might be the highest or one of the highest percentages in the NFL.
00:24:07
Speaker 3: And I also think that it is a testament to Brock Purdy and just understanding where he's going with the ball based on the pre-snap read. You know, he gets under center play action. They're averaging about, you know, 20% of the time. So that's one out of five pass plays where his back's to the defense and he'll whip his hand around on that three, five, seven, you know, whatever the drop is. he's so decisive. There was a play week one that I thought was incredible where, you know, he boots out back to the defense. As soon as his head is around, he's already in throwing motion before checking where the flat defender is and hit CMC and stride. And it's just a 15 yard game with these, like you, when you can have play action and the quarterback turns his back to the defense and They have to react to the run. Shanahan's scheme and Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, everything. You have to respect the run. But whenever you also do that and the linebackers and the safeties and everybody kind of creeps up to respect the run, then you're just giving better passing windows to Brock Purdy on the other end. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't against this offense. And I think that's one of the main reasons why, you know, the 49ers are leading the NFL in so many categories. but net yards per pass attempt, which is always a Shanahan staple. And if it's up around seven yards, you know, net yards per pass attempt, that's great. They're at nine and a half yards. Like this is record breaking type efficiency from a passing standpoint. And you're doing it under center. You're doing it with play action. They did a seven step play action drop from the one inch line. The amount of composure they have is just incredible.
00:25:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what's you know, the 49ers are so fortunate that they fell into Brock Purdy. I mean, and they did. They fell into him.
00:25:59
Speaker 3: Right.
00:25:59
Speaker 2: It was the last pick of the draft. I mean, I'm not not that they don't deserve credit for drafting him. They definitely do. But that's somewhat fortunate move. I mean, because this guy right now is so quick. He's so quick in the pocket. You can't sack him. He's so quick going through his process progressions that he can go from one to two to three to four, like, like nobody's business. His processing is incredible. And I, you know, I was talking to Greg Cosell earlier today, John, and Greg made the point that he thinks that Purdy and Joe Burrow are the NFL's two best post snap operators that they just innately see the trend, which is in the NFL right now. The trend is that defense to show you that one look before the snap. And then they, At the snap, everybody's going to shift into something else. And you're going to have to, in just milliseconds, as you're dropping back, you've got to know what they're moving from and to and where's your one, your two, your three, and how you want to attack the play. And it seems like Purdy and Burrow, at least according to Greg, who watches tons of film, he thinks those two guys post-snap figure it out quickly. And then the precision that Purdy operates with, you know, he's processing, he's athletic, but then the precision of some of these, of the ball placement on some of these throws. I know it sounds like we're just gushing, but it's like the guy's playing off the charts football right now.
00:27:37
Speaker 3: We don't get to see this often. And, you know, especially whenever the label that got put on Brock Purdy is a system quarterback and blah, blah.
00:27:44
Speaker 2: Blah, blah, blah. Captain check down and all that.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: Exactly. He throws to the first read the least amount of any quarterback who started the game so far this year. The least amount he goes to his first read. Brock Purdy's superpower is his processing. and getting from the first read, second read, third read, and then the fourth read. And so, man, check down's not a bad word. System quarterbacks now turned into kind of a derogatory remark, but he fits exactly what Kyle Shanahan wants to do. And whenever you have these defenses that give a pre-snap, post-snap look, Brock Purdy's one of the best to go against that. Now, the caveat, which we're about to find out in two weeks, the Seattle Seahawks do that better than any other team in the NFL. Brock Purdy has struggled with them since, you know, they brought over the new head coach. Obviously, they won the Super Bowl last year. So it's like Brock Purdy has checked off every single mark to this test so far this season. The Denver Broncos, on paper, have a great defense. They haven't put up great statistical numbers this season, but Tolano Funga, DJ Jones, there's the best cornerback in the NFL. There's a lot of things there. Vance Joseph back with the Niners whenever you mentioned, you know, one of the better coaching staff. And so... Denver's going to be a test, but in two weeks, the Seattle Seahawks at Seattle, if Brockton can continue to perform this over the next two weeks, he's going to be the MVP front runner for a little while after that, because the rest of the season, because then you start looking at the defenses and it's almost comical what he's playing against. So if Brockton continue against the Broncos and Seahawks, then it's time to start figuring out, okay, post-season awards, all this stuff, it's on the cuff.
00:29:33
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes you have a great idea and sometimes you steal from other people who had a great idea. I was driving down six down to the Niner Complex listening to my friend John Lund doing the 10-2 show. Good plug for Johnny.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: 10-2.
00:29:46
Speaker 2: Check out John Lund. He was making a point about the explosives. The 49ers, They're number three in most explosives on offense in the league, and they're number one in least explosives allowed on defense. 80 snaps this week. They had a makeshift line up front. They still didn't blitz. They played a lot of zone. They rushed four, and they didn't give up any explosives to the Cardinals, like not one. The longest pass play was 19 yards all day. And to me, it's like that's that's what Seattle did to the Niners last year is they were so dominant and explosive. But John John made the point that, you know, the Niners lucked out because they could have resigned Kenneth Walker. And instead, they they threw that money on, you know, Shahid Rashid Shahid, who's a nice special teamer, but he's nothing. Can't you could have Kenneth Walker? Instead, they paid that money to Shahid. That was a gaffe. I mean, John Schneider's a terrific GM. He's built that thing up. He found E-Man Worry. He's made several great moves. But getting rid of Kenneth Walker and paying that money to a special team receiver and a guy who does some go patterns. And, I mean, look at what Walker is in Kansas City right now. In some ways, I feel like Seattle looks just as good as they did last year. They don't have Kenneth Walker.
00:31:26
Speaker 3: And I think it goes back to this idea. If you can control two different categories, you're going to win a lot of games, turnovers and explosives. And whenever your defense is not allowing explosives, your offense is among the league best and the offense isn't turning it over. The offense has one turnover on the year one. That's it. And so you're forcing teams to march up and down the field. And you saw it in the Cardinals game where, yeah, there's a lot of third and one conversions, a lot of third and two conversions that you allowed, but you weren't giving up touchdowns to the very end and they were playing catch up. And so whenever you make it that hard on an offense to execute time and time and time and time again on this drive, and by the way, you've got to do that five drives in a row. A lot of teams can't do that. And so I like that. You look at the Seattle team, man, they've had some injuries with their rookies. I do agree with you on, you know, they made a very, very poor choice with where to allocate their money to Darian price. I think he's going to be a good player eventually, but definitely not Kenneth Walker ability. Now they've had the quarterback shuffling and you saw like the 49ers were able to beat the Cardinals, even though they made a run late, you stayed ahead. You can't say that for the Rams, and you can't say that for the Seahawks. This was the week in the NFL where good teams got tested by mediocre to bad teams, and the elite teams showed, hey, they can take that best hit and still win. Explosives and controlling the turnover battle, that's how they did it. Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker 2: No, I mean, it's amazing, too, because, you know, I looked at that, and I thought, well, how are the Niners going to come up with the explosions? Didn't they lose Stribling? Evans gets banged up and still they found a way to come up with explosives on offense. Um, and, and some are by design and then they've totally taken away the explosive factor. At least they did last week against Arizona. Um, if, if, if Mike Evans can't go on Sunday, we don't know his status. Exactly. Niners have cowing. They've got Debo. They've got Darrell Hodge. They've Jordan Watkins, who I talked to today. They also have Brandon cooks waiting in the wings and, They signed Dante Pettis to the practice squad. Grimes and Pauling are there as well on the practice squad. What do you think? If Evans were out an extended period of time and you had to feed a lot of touches to a receiver that they have right now on their roster, who do you believe in?
00:33:53
Speaker 3: Man, it's going to be a platoon-style attack. Darryl Hodge has taken a lot of the X-wide receiver snaps. Brandon books would be my ideal fit because he can do everything and run the full route tree and all those things. But man, you, you've got to hats off to you. I mean, you were the Jordan walk-ins truther. He came out there, didn't play a lot, 15 snaps, but in those 15 snaps made two huge explosive plays that both led to points. So if you can allow Watkins to keep getting work on a limited basis because the blocking film was pretty rough, but allow him to go out there and do what he does. Those deep end breakers, he might be the best on the entire 49ers roster at that. And you saw those two huge plays, deep end breakers. That's what they said they liked whenever he came out of the combine. You remember the post-draft press conference? They're like, we really like that gauntlet drill. He looked really good on that. That's what that measures. So I prefer Brandon Cooks to Darryl Hodge to get the bulk of those snaps because of the blocking and versatility. But you've got to factor in Jordan Watkins because of the explosives. You just got to use him appropriately. And back to coaching, I think Shanahan did a master class with Jordan Watkins. What can you do? Not what can you not do? We're going to highlight the things that Jordan Watkins is great at. You saw that in those two plays, and we're going to take him off the field. If he can't run block and do all those things, we're not going to put him out there on those plays. Just don't do it. Kind of best of both worlds.
00:35:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'd just like to see him get a little bit more run. 30 snaps for Hodge, 15 snaps for Watkins. I wouldn't mind to see that reversed, to be completely honest. Another one of the shares that I kind of question, 45 touches or 45 snaps for CMC. and only eight for Kalon Black. And I don't know, maybe they're trying to nurse him through the groin strain. He did have a adductor pole of some kind in the last couple of weeks. So maybe that's part of it. But I mean, Shanahan overplays with his favorite toy. It's like, it's like that kid at Christmas that he gets that, he gets that, you know, whatever toy. And he's just, you know, before new year's morning, the head's ripped off and it's all broken. What a Jimmy, what happened to your toy? Oh, you know, I play, he played with it too much. Christian McCaffrey is the toy that Shanahan plays with too much. I'd love to see a bit more of Kalon Black, a little bit more of Jordan James. I mean, these guys, CMC last week with the larynx and the, you know, he got hit in the throat and he's got bloody lip and he's got the week before he's got a big old gouge out of his shoulder. I mean, you want to grow up to be a running back in the NFL. You might want to think that over.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been weird because after week one, everybody was like, wow, we finally are going to get a timeshare with Christian McCaffrey, and this is best for everybody. And you hear Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan, everybody talk about how great this is because it's going to keep Christian McCaffrey healthy. Week two, Kalen Black has a little injury issue. I get that. But, man, even this week, they could have snapped even more. And so I think he was out there for like eight snaps. Maybe because the game got so close at the end and they were throwing the ball so effectively. There's no doubt how great Christian McCaffrey is. That's not what's in debate here. It's the longevity of a 30-year-old running back who led the NFL in touches last year. At some point, you have to kind of protect him from himself. And it's the same old thing where Christian McCaffrey is dictating how many snaps he gets. He is the one that looks to the sideline and says, okay, I need one play. He is the one that looks whenever he's on the sideline that takes Kalen Black out. It's not Bobby Turner. It's not Kyle Shanahan. Christian McCaffrey is in charge of his own usage. I think that's a little bit of a problem. Kalen Black has demonstrated he loves to play.
00:37:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, he loves to play. I mean, what more can you say? Yeah, I agree with you. Go ahead. You were finishing up. You said Kalen Black has demonstrated that he can do it, that he deserves some runs.
00:38:02
Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, one of my favorite parts of the game last week, Kalen Black gets this awesome six, seven-yard run down to the one-yard line. He's walking back to the huddle, and he's kind of signaling, dude, run me again, run me again. Looks over the sideline, and you can tell somebody, Christian McCaffrey, jogging on there telling him, dude, you got to come out. Kalen Black throws his hands down and is pissed off.
00:38:26
Speaker 2: Literally, he is.
00:38:28
Speaker 3: You can see the demonstrable anger that is coming out of the rookie, and I love that. Yeah, Christian McCaffrey, he's going after records, and he's that good. He deserves it. I totally understand. But on a second and one from the one-yard line, jumping over the pot, man, let the young guy go out there and take those hits. Let the young guy do that. Allow Kalen Black to facilitate and help the team. Christian McCaffrey's amazing. Nobody's disagreeing, but.
00:38:57
Speaker 3: You want 400-plus touches again for CMC? I don't think anybody does.
00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, 45-8? You know, I mean, if Kyle were standing there, he'd be like, hey, Kyle, how about 35-18? You know, that sounds a little better. But, you know, come on. He knows all. All right, let's jump to the defense before we say goodbye. There's been several really good performances from the 49ers defense. And there's any number of guys that could be, you know, highlighted and shouted out. I mean, just looking at their depth chart in front of me right now. It's like, I can think of six or seven guys that are really worthy of being shouted out. Go ahead, pick one. Give me a defensive player that you've been impressed with in the first three games.
00:39:43
Speaker 3: It's Broncos week, so I'm going to go with the player that they cut. Dre Greenlaw has been the biggest difference maker from 2025 to the 2026 49ers defense. And like, I hate that D winners is taking strays here, but that will linebacker position against running backs, tight ends. He has just completely shut down any type of passing game. Dre Greenlaw was targeted five times. this week against the Cardinals, and now understand, Jeremiah Love, top five pick, Tyler Algier, Trey McBride, right? Like three of the most very, very quality, some of the best players in their position. He's targeted five times, allowed seven total yards. Just shutting down those check down plays that would go for eight, nine, and not only is he shutting them down, he's making a statement and putting them in the ground. And so you return that physicality, the consistency that Drake Greenlaw plays with, having that a plus will linebacker has just changed everything. Fred Warner, we take them for granted. He's unbelievable, of course, but seeing the defense without Trey Greenlaw, you return 57 to this lineup. It is a completely different machine. It's not even close to the same thing. Run game, pass game. unbelievable uh Dre Greenlaw and I cannot wait I know he's got the thigh contusion Larry I understand he's day-to-day Dre Greenlaw's playing he's going to be out there they cut him for Nick Singleton Dre Greenlaw's going to be playing.
00:41:17
Speaker 2: I think he might have a few tackles on Sunday this I just got an inkling I just got an inkling he might be around the ball Luke Gifford um was you know we were joking today I'm like man I go Greenlaw and Warner I go how You guys, when you linebackers are watching that Arizona film, I go, I mean, what was that like? I mean, you got 17 tackles from Fred and you got Greenlaw. Just every single tackle was like he just brings the pain. You know, I mean, it's just like Jeremiah Love is like, ah, I don't know if I want to be a football player. I mean, some of those hits Greenlaw delivers me just savage and even Gifford. He's like, yeah, man, it's it's amazing watching watching some of the films. seeing what, you know, Fred just gets better, better, better Hall of Famer. And then you got Greenlaw just crushing hit after hit. And of course, every one of those crushing hits, these guys love. So that's a great one. That's a great one, John. Okay. I will see your Dre Greenlaw. I don't know if I can go with just one guy, you know, to match a Greenlaw, but the two that I'm thinking of one is Grayson Halton. He's a rookie defensive tackle. who's playing, I think he played like 32 snaps this week. I mean, that's a lot of snaps for a rookie defensive tackle. They're lining him up outside because he's that quick. At times, they're lining him up inside. And to me, he's probably their most complete defensive tackle. This guy can stack and shed and throw the running back down. And then other times, he can penetrate in the backfield like a pass rusher. we've seen a pursuit of the sideline you know when he when he when you know somehow he gets gets a little penetration he sees an avenue he's on his horse and he's just in the backfield i think halton is special man for a fourth round pick that was a steal and then the other guys.
00:43:08
Speaker 3: I think oh i'm sorry i gotta jump in no go ahead i got it i want to add more to this he's playing out of position Grayson Halton was drafted to be OSA 2.0 as the three tech. He's starting the plugger role in the one technique. Like that is not what he has done at any point in his career. Now he's starting playing out of position. You usually got to be bigger to play that role. And he's still succeeding. Like it is. I'm with you a hundred percent, Larry, what Grayson Halton is doing at this level in his rookie year. This was not the plan. But you adapt, you improvise, and he is just crushing it.
00:43:47
Speaker 2: He belongs. He belongs. Complete player. Complete player. Really fun to watch. And then the other guy on that defense, I mean, I can name four or five, but Upton Stout is just a savage nickel blitzer. He's just so good. And, you know, I mean, the strength, the power, this guy will strike you pound for pound. One of the best players in the league. The desire is off the charts, man. I mean, he'll be on one side of the field, and he sees it, and he's just going to go like his life depends on it. You know, like, I'm going to make this tackle because this is the most important thing there is. He's awesome, man. I mean, if you could clone him, if I could clone him, I'd clone him. He's awesome.
00:44:37
Speaker 3: I think he's the most realistic option for the most recent draft pick to be an all-pro. A lot of the critique is, man, when have the 49ers hit a home run? When was the last time they drafted an all-pro player? That was Colin O'Funger you're going to see this week. But I think Upton Stout is that next guy that has all-pro potential. I think he could be the best nickel corner in the NFL. That's the potential. He's making the highlight reel plays. Still some negatives. He's a young player. It's not perfect, yeah. Yeah, I am with you 100% on number 20. Upton Stout is worth a watch. And he jumps off the silent tape. You watch silent tape, there's no sound, you know, whatever else. But, man, there are personalities that go across and permeate that. And Upton Stout is that guy. When you turn on that tape and you're just like, man, I can't look away and watch anybody else because 20 is just so entertaining.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is. He's a dude out there right now. Hey, John, always great to have you. We'll do it again soon. Thanks again.
00:45:38
Speaker 3: Thanks, Larry. You're the man.
00:45:40
Speaker 2: John Chapman, 49er Rush Podcast. All right, we'll come back. A couple last thoughts and we'll wrap it up. It's Niners Nightly on a Wednesday on the Sports Leader.
00:45:49
Speaker 1: This is where you get your faithful fix. Niners Nightly with Larry Kruger keeps rolling on KNBR, the Sports Leader.
00:45:58
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Larry Kruger with you. It's Niners Nightly. One eye on the baseball playoffs. Contreras with a bomb. Yankees up 2-1 on the Bo Sox. Top six, now going to the bottom of the six. Game two of that series between Boston and New York. All right, it is time for our 49er stat of the day, and it's not really a 49er stat of the day. It's more of a Denver Broncos stat of the day, but we'll steal it. Bo Nix has not been good against the Blitz this year. No touchdowns, thrown a pick. He's got a passer rating of forty four point six. Maybe expect some Raheem Morris blitzes on Sunday when you get a forty four point six passer rating against the blitz. Maybe you should expect it. Maybe you should expect it. Davis Webb is had a rough first three weeks as the new offensive coordinator there in Denver. And it will be interesting to see if at some point Sean Payton says, you know what, Davis, I think I'll take over the play calling. Once again, Bo Nix, 44.6% passer rating against the Blitz. Expect the Blitz on Sunday. Maybe not. Raheem Morris mixes it up, and he didn't Blitz a lot this week. That's for sure. He got it done with his front four. And because you know what? You cannot block this 49er front four right now. Nobody's getting in the way of Khalid Kareem, Agbo Okoronkwo off the edges. and Odigizua and Keon White inside. I joke, but you know what? I talked to Kareem today at his locker. He's a really hardworking guy, and we know Odigizua's a monster inside. I'm a big fan of Okoronkwo, and Keon has been really versatile. So believe it or not, four guys that you don't think would get pressure, at least last week against Arizona, did exactly that. All right, we'll come back and wrap it up and hand it over to Todd Husek, who's got Sports Phone tonight on the Sports Leader.
Speaker 1: It's time to bring the 49ers to the forefront.
00:00:05
Speaker 2: It's go time. This is the best team that they can put on the field this year.
00:00:10
Speaker 1: Welcome to Niners Nightly.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: You guys are going to hear the latest from the locker room, the latest from the podium, the latest scuttle from the players.
00:00:18
Speaker 1: On your proud home of 49ers football.
00:00:22
Speaker 2: KNBR, the sports leaders.
00:00:26
Speaker 1: Your faithful fix with your host, Larry Krueger, begins.
00:00:29
Speaker 2: Take phone calls, talk Niners for a full hour. Fired up, really excited.
00:00:33
Speaker 1: Now.
00:00:37
Speaker 2: And welcome. It's Niners Nightly. Larry Krueger back with you. Happy Wednesday, September 30th. They said we would never get to the end of September, but we're here. Actually, nobody ever said that. But Chips McCarthy Productions tonight, the great Ryan McCarthy. Behind the controls, and man, we got a great hour. John Chapman's going to stop by, who does one of the most successful 49er podcasts out there. We'll get his thoughts on the first three games of the season. Interesting day in Santa Clara. Warm day.
00:01:12
Speaker 3: Wow.
00:01:13
Speaker 2: I mean, it was like, I know my kids are probably, my kids are, Dad, stop talking weather. No, yes, but it was a warm day in Santa Clara. And unseasonably warm, like 90s, like 90 in October. I thought we were kind of beyond the 90. Last week, I thought, oh, yeah, it's getting kind of crisp. It's going to be Thanksgiving before we know it. This week, it's like, I think I may need to get some extra right guard. It was hot in Santa Clara, but a great day covering the 49ers today. Brock Purdy voted FedEx Air Player of the Week for his performance against the Cardinals. How great is Brock Purdy playing right now? It is unbelievable watching him do his thing. We always start with today in Niner News and today at practice. You know who's back? Mikel Williams. Great to see him back. What a monster he is. Really, he's a mismatch. He's a good first and second down player as defensive end. He's a really good interior rusher on passing downs. God, they need him. They need him so bad. Um, and he actually broke down the Niners post-practice huddle today, or maybe it was pre-practice huddle, but he broke down the huddle and it was great to see he's out there wearing his number 98, feeling good, looking good. Uh, Matthew Judon, the veteran was out there wearing number 43 today. Dante Pettis made his Reese Niner stint. Number two debut at practice wearing number 15, by the way, Mikkel cannot play this week. Um, Wasn't sure about that, actually. I saw him out there. I'm like, I think maybe he can go. No, he can't go. He cannot go until after the Seattle game or four until the Seattle game, I should say, in week five. So he can't go this week against Denver, but he can go next week against Seattle. And hopefully he will. And hopefully he'll make a huge impact. As far as today at practice, who is out? Mike Evans out. I don't think he's going to practice this week. I'm not sure about his status for Sunday, to be completely honest, because we really don't know the status of the Ribs. Kyle Shanahan was very, quite evasive when Matt Barrows was asking the questions. So it's a rib? Yes, it's a rib. Is it a broken rib? Is it a, it's a rib. Fuck, we were at a barbecue place. I mean, is it a spare rib or is it a baby back rib? Is it a St. Louis rib? There are lots of different kinds of ribs, by the way. So Shanahan, it's a rib. Like, don't push it, man. It's a rib. We're very secretive over here. We're not telling you. I think it's cracked ribs. Somebody told me, a pretty good source I have, told me that they heard some kind of crack. So I think it's a cracked rib. He's not practicing. If it's really painful, he may not go Sunday. But we'll see. We haven't gotten any kind of update there. Trent Williams did not practice today. CMC did not practice today, given a veteran's rest day. He gets Wednesday off. Key on white with a hamstring did not practice. And that's a big one because he's a huge, huge key now for them with all the guys going down. He's versatile. He can play inside. He can play outside. He's he's he plays a lot and he's really important. He's got a hamstring. Did not practice today. Romello height was limited. He broke the hand, had surgery last week, and then Mikel was limited. Niners look good, though. Three games in, they are looking good.
00:04:43
Speaker 3: Good.
00:04:45
Speaker 2: No question about that. They lead the NFL with a plus 48 point differential Jacksonville's number two, a plus 46 and the Niners just look incredible. Um, the three and oh, man, it's like we could sit there and be critical, but why bother the three and oh, and they can leave the league and point differential, um, Brock Purdy. And I was talking to Greg Cosell today and just so many of the great, you know, talking points that came up. Um, He thinks Brock Purdy has never looked so consistent. And, you know, I kind of agree. And the one thing that you're seeing in this game against Arizona, Kyle Shanahan made a point in the offseason. We need to get better at explosive play ratio. The Seahawks won the Super Bowl last year on basically explosive play ratio. What does that mean? That means you're producing explosives on offense and you're basically eliminating or limiting explosives. on defense. 49ers are number three in most explosives on offense in the NFL three weeks in, and they are number one in least explosives allowed on defense. They are doing this year in a lot of ways what Seattle did last year, which is great to see. Great to see. How about this game against Arizona? Their defense was on the field for 80 snaps. That's not good. But guess how many explosive plays they allowed in the 80 snaps? None. None.
00:06:18
Speaker 3: Not one.
00:06:19
Speaker 2: So that's impressive. And that's the way this thing has gone in the early part of the year. The Niners have been impressive, is the word I would use. But it starts with Purdy. And, I mean, it really starts with the way they play. The Niners, you know, that whole hook and ladder thing. Shanahan understands they need to get a lead, you know, because of the structure of this defense right now, they need to play with a lead. That was a very aggressive play on the third play of the game, but that's the way Shanahan is going to be because he knows how much better his team's going to be with a lead. So that's one. Two, Brock Purdy, you know, one of the points that Greg made today was that he thinks Brock Purdy and Joe Burrow are the NFL's two best post-snap operators. You know, post-snap, that's the thing in the NFL these days is you're going to see one thing pre-snap, and then also they're going to rotate into something else post-snap. And you've got to, in milliseconds, you've got to know. And Joe Burrow and Brock Purdy innately see that defensive shift and feel it. And the precision in the passing game with Purdy right now is so fun to watch. And it's hilarious that the college scouts missed on this guy. Because everybody in college is looking for the big arm, power arm quarterback who's an awesome athlete. Lenora Sellers, South Carolina. I watched Mississippi State last week. They got a quarterback that looks awesome, but he's a big, strong, power arm kid. He's a great athlete. But those aren't necessarily the tools that make you a great NFL quarterback. It goes so much beyond arm strength and foot speed. And Brock Purdy is just playing at an incredible level right now. I mean, it's just, it's something to watch. And then the addition of Mike Evans with Christian McCaffrey, you see it if you watch the All-22 film, the spacing in the passing game is off the charts right now. It's really the key to offensive football. It's not that different than NBA basketball where the Warriors won a title playing, you know, pace and space. I know it's frustrating, but In the NBA, you see guys step out of bounds all the time. Why? Because they're trying to spread the floor as much as possible. And so they're getting too close to the sideline. They step out. It's annoying to watch, but it's the way the game's played. It's the same thing in football. Space is at a premium on the football field. When you have Mike Evans and you have Christian McCaffrey, they create space. The guy who, though, has to be shouted out.
00:08:50
Speaker 3: Is Raheem Morris.
00:08:51
Speaker 2: Nothing against Robert Sala. Robert Sala was damn good. But Raheem Morris, I mean, what he's doing right now is unbelievable. The Niners have 40 pressures in three games despite losing Bosa. I mean, Brissette on Sunday did not have a pass play over 19 yards all day. They gave up no explosives. Their primary defensive front had Okoronkwo and Khalid Kareem at defensive end with Keyon White and Oso Digizua inside. That was their rush plan last week because that's what they got. Kocerek played nine different defensive linemen, at least 13 snaps. And they're getting pressure. They're getting pressure. They sacked the quarterback. They got some pressure. Now, they didn't get off the field. They give up too many. They were out there way too long. But it was impressive to watch. And what did Raheem do? Well, guess what? He does something different every week. This week against Arizona, he played a ton of zone, didn't play a lot of man-to-man. He played multiple zone coverages. They rushed four. They barely ever rushed five. And they eliminated all the explosives. Arizona had none. Not one in the run game, not one in the pass game. So, man, I mean... Give it to Raheem Morris. Guys are going down, and he's still just doing it. I mean, his defense is doing it. To get it done with the makeshift line, and then Chris has nine different linemen. He's just kind of rotating in and out throughout the game. When they get McHale and Bosa and they get full, you know, complete up front, wow, watch out. The other interesting kind of wrinkle that Greg pointed out is that Purdy is– You're playing under center a lot more. 57% of the snaps, he's been under center in the first three games of the year. And, you know, the thinking is maybe it helps the play-action game. You know, maybe Brock prefers it. I mean, maybe that's a question tomorrow I'll ask Brock. Are you under center 57% of the time, which is up from past years, as opposed to in the gun, because you prefer it? Maybe it is. Might be something that he prefers. You know, sometimes quarterbacks do have preferences. But we talked about a number of different things, and Niners have had some really great things happen for them in the first three weeks of the season. Grayson Halton played 30 incredible snaps, and he's playing 30 snaps per game. And I mean, that's a lot for a rookie defensive tackle. And it's not like he's it's like they're losing because of it. I mean, it's like he's playing great. This guy lined up outside. They stun him inside. He's a complete player. He can play the pass. He can play the run. He is really good. The other great revelation in the first three weeks is 49ers offensive line is playing ball. Why? Well, individually, they're stepping up. And Connor Colby, if you watch the film, he's exceeding expectations. And he's been pretty good in the run game. Trent Williams is having a great start. Colt McKivitts looks great. Brendel's super motivated. Pooney's one of the highest graded guards in all of pro football. So they're doing a nice job. Now they haven't given up any sacks. I think that's more Brock than them to be completely honest. But one of the points that Greg made today, and it's a great point. If you think about it, you close your eyes, you think about what makes Brock Purdy so special. Why is he special? He's special because he's got quick everything. He's quick with his feet and he's quick with his processing and He's got to make, you know, set decisions in milliseconds and he can do it because his preparation, his preparation is so thorough that come Sunday, he's ready to roll. Brock Purdy embraces the process of pro football. He's good Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, their days on Thursdays. And he makes us wait for like a half hour waiting on him.
00:12:56
Speaker 3: Why?
00:12:56
Speaker 2: Cause he's in meetings. Cause this guy takes his job really seriously. But Greg's point was, The one thing you never see with Purdy and you haven't seen it in the first three games, he doesn't get stuck in the pocket. He has an ability to make plays from the pocket, but then if it breaks down, he can extend plays and get out of there. How many times do guys get stuck in the pocket? They just can't. They can't do it. Also, there's no way out. They didn't anticipate it. And all of a sudden, two guys are collapsing on him. It happens to everybody. But the best ones anticipate and get out of there. Purdy's playing the position very decisively. It's there, it's there, it's there, it's not there, we're going. And he's not getting stuck in the pocket, which eliminates negative plays, eliminates sacks, and obviously sacks are part of the way that you lose. You fall behind the chains. They're staying out of third and long. They're dominating on first and second down. They're staying out of third and long. You stay out of third and long, you're going to win a lot of games. Greg also made some good points on Denver. You know, Bo Nix against the Blitz is much more like a young quarterback. He's got zero touchdowns this year against the Blitz. He's got a pick. He's got a passer rating of forty four point six against the Blitz. So guess what? I think you may see Raheem Morris with the Blitz. And in Greg, which comment was just like, there's just not a lot of continuity in Denver's offense. You know, Davis Webb, the former Cal Bear, he took over the play calling for Sean Payton. And Denver's offense wasn't good against the Rams. They don't look like they're in great rhythm. You know, Greg's comment was there's not a lot of clean pass plays. But they have good weapons, and they have a line that's considered maybe the best, maybe the best in all of pro football. So that should be interesting. And then, you know, the marquee matchup is the Niners O, Kyle Shanahan, against Vance Joseph, the defensive coordinator, former head coach. And Denver's got, you know, some serious special players. Sertan's a number one corner. DJ Jones is a monster in the middle. He's very strong, functionally strong and quick. Benito's a true, Nick Benito's a true number one edge rusher off the outside. Zach Allen was a great free agent signing. Kind of reminds me, like for some of you old heads of like a Keith Millard back in the day. I mean, just a beast inside, you know, quick, fast. I mean, you get, you know, Brock Purdy meets Zach Allen on Sunday. That'll be a bad thing for the Niners. And then they had this kid, Jake one, McMillan, who's their corner nickel corner blitzer. And he's one of the best in the league at doing that. So a lot of interesting stuff in Niner land. And this game's going to be good. I saw some rankings, power rankings. They had Miami ranked like 31st or 30th. They had, they had the Rams at like 13 and, And they had Arizona at like 26. They had Denver at like 6. So there's reason to believe this is the best team the Niners have played all year. And if they're not ready, they're going to get beat. But they're prepping to win, and there's a good vibe down in Santa Clara. I can tell you that for sure. All right, let's do this. Let's take a timeout. Let's welcome in the great John Chapman, who's got a lot of insights. We'll talk about these things and other things as well as we continue. It's Niners Nightly. On a Wednesday, Larry Kruger with you on the Sports Leader.
00:16:22
Speaker 1: Faithfully Niners Nightly with Larry Kruger now continues on your proud home of 49ers football. KNBR, the Sports Leader.
00:16:34
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Larry Kruger with you. It's Niners Nightly on a Wednesday. And joining us this hour is going to be the great John Chapman. We're making a connection now with Johnny. He does one of the better sports. 49er podcasts out there, the 49er Rush podcast. And he travels on the road to all the games and has a lot of insights into what the 49ers are doing. And it's always good to catch up with him. He's a wealth of knowledge. A couple notes that I wanted to mention that I did not mention previously. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler says it doesn't make sense for the 49ers to trade Mac Jones. And I know Mac Jones' name comes up every time Somebody wants a different player here or there. They're like, well, just trade Mac Jones. Hey, we'll move Mac Jones. And Mac Jones has a lot of value. But, you know, I think 49ers have established a pretty high price tag. And I think they value him more than the league. And when that's the case, you're going to stay. He's a free. He can walk at the end of the year and likely will.
00:17:43
Speaker 3: But.
00:17:44
Speaker 2: He saved their season last year. They needed him to play eight games. He did, and he won five of them. And without him, they wouldn't have had that great performance in Philadelphia because they never would have been there to begin with. So I'm in favor of trying to explore all your avenues trade-wise for all the different players that could potentially help you. But I'd like to keep Mac Jones at the end of the day. I'd also like to keep John Chapman, and he's with us on the UMA guest line to talk some Niner ball. 49er Rush podcast is his thing, and he's back with us. Johnny, how are you?
00:18:20
Speaker 3: I'm doing well, about as well as Matt Jones did last year. So I'm just glad to be on with you, Larry.
00:18:26
Speaker 2: Well, hey, we're glad to have you. You know, a great start for the 49ers. They're 3-0. The offensive line's playing well. The defense lost Bosa recently. up front, and yet Raheem's keeping it together. It's a miracle. I mean, seriously, the way this defense has played in the first three games, it's been incredible. Is it going to continue Sunday against Denver, or is the bottom going to fall out and we're going to be complaining?
00:18:54
Speaker 3: Man, Denver's kind of a rough one to watch, you know, through the first three weeks. They played some really serious talent. The teams that they played against, some great offenses, Jags, Chiefs and the Rams but they haven't looked very good and you know they're two in one with two quality wins but their offense the identity is just not present and they are not committed to running the football one of the most pass happy teams in the NFL through the first month of the season and so like it's just a weird matchup from the jump because you have the Broncos whose identity is kind of they're still trying to figure it out even with the play caller switch and all those things And then you look at the 49ers, and it's just like, who is going to be playing out there? There was series where you had Naquan Jones, Sebastian Valdez, and Kevin Givens as three of your four defensive linemen at the same time. So... it's really two quality teams with winning records that have playoff aspirations. But at the same time, there's a lot of question marks surrounding both teams. and it's who's going to be the most prepared. The coaching, which is crazy having said this with Sean Payton, but I think the coaching kind of checkmark or approval is probably on the 49ers side. I think they're kind of doing some of the best coaching in the NFL from an offense, defense, and special team standpoint so far.
00:20:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I definitely would agree. I think this is the best top-to-bottom coaching staff of the Shanahan era for sure. And maybe the best since Mike Shanahan was here in 94. I mean, nothing against the Harbaugh years. Um, there were some really good coaches on Harbaugh staff, including Brad Seeley and, um, and others. I mean, he, he had a number of good coaches. Uh, I don't want to, you know, maybe we should consider more of that, those guys as well, but definitely in the Shanahan era, because you got Boyer as the special teams coach that he's been a tremendous addition, uh, Had a conversation today with Luke Gifford in the locker room about special teams. And, you know, there's just a belief that they're doing it right. And there's a lot of confidence in the plan that Boyer's put out there. And then Raheem has done an amazing job. And Kubiak, I think, is an absolute lock to be hired as an NFL head coach in the next cycle. So, you know, I think this might be the best staff they've had. What do you think?
00:21:21
Speaker 3: I agree with you completely. I mean, special teams has been the albatross around shanahan's neck for um this is year 10 for eight years um had you know high tower his buddy from texas for the first several years did not work out then he went with schneider from seattle did not work out and as soon as brant boyer showed up everything changed almost immediately it was a rough three weeks to the start uh special teams wise last season but since then it's just clicked And, you know, Gifford Pro Bowl season last year and Darryl Hodge is balling out. Ashton Davis is playing incredible football. Luke Farrell, he's just been stellar on offense and special teams. And so you're getting a lot of these special team ace type players and Braden Willis. Like it is just turned into just kind of. this strength in so many different ways and the hidden yardage that brand Boyer gives to the offense that they average one less first down needed to get into scoring range. Whereas the defense, they get an extra first down and a half before the opponent's team is ready to kick a field goal. So you're getting a lot of just extra juice because the kickoff team is incredible. The punt return team is incredible. I'll be at that one play where Sierra nail fell down. and didn't clear out whatever his teammate told him as a short kick, but this special teams unit is awesome. And it just makes everything easier for the offense and defense repeatedly, every possession, just a free first down that you don't have to worry about.
00:22:58
Speaker 2: You know, everything starts with Brock Purdy and he's having a tremendous year and he's, you know, they're staying out of third and long, they're getting it done on first and second down. You stay out of third and long, you know, you're never sacked and good things are going to happen. But, Within that has been kind of a little bit of a shift back to what Shanahan used to do. Purdy played 26 snaps under center against Arizona. 57% of his snaps have been under center in the first three games. That's higher than what we've seen in the last couple years. It almost goes back to the early Shanahan days here. And I wonder why exactly. I know it helps the play-action game. I wonder, you know, we'll ask Brock about this at some point, but I feel like it almost has to do with the you know, he's a rhythm player and maybe playing under center helps him get into a better passing rhythm. I'm not really sure exactly why we're seeing it, but this is the way Shanahan ran things early. Then they went more into the gun. But 57 percent behind center in three games is one of the higher. I think it might be the highest or one of the highest percentages in the NFL.
00:24:07
Speaker 3: And I also think that it is a testament to Brock Purdy and just understanding where he's going with the ball based on the pre-snap read. You know, he gets under center play action. They're averaging about, you know, 20% of the time. So that's one out of five pass plays where his back's to the defense and he'll whip his hand around on that three, five, seven, you know, whatever the drop is. he's so decisive. There was a play week one that I thought was incredible where, you know, he boots out back to the defense. As soon as his head is around, he's already in throwing motion before checking where the flat defender is and hit CMC and stride. And it's just a 15 yard game with these, like you, when you can have play action and the quarterback turns his back to the defense and They have to react to the run. Shanahan's scheme and Christian McCaffrey, Kyle Juszczyk, everything. You have to respect the run. But whenever you also do that and the linebackers and the safeties and everybody kind of creeps up to respect the run, then you're just giving better passing windows to Brock Purdy on the other end. It's damned if you do, damned if you don't against this offense. And I think that's one of the main reasons why, you know, the 49ers are leading the NFL in so many categories. but net yards per pass attempt, which is always a Shanahan staple. And if it's up around seven yards, you know, net yards per pass attempt, that's great. They're at nine and a half yards. Like this is record breaking type efficiency from a passing standpoint. And you're doing it under center. You're doing it with play action. They did a seven step play action drop from the one inch line. The amount of composure they have is just incredible.
00:25:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, what's you know, the 49ers are so fortunate that they fell into Brock Purdy. I mean, and they did. They fell into him.
00:25:59
Speaker 3: Right.
00:25:59
Speaker 2: It was the last pick of the draft. I mean, I'm not not that they don't deserve credit for drafting him. They definitely do. But that's somewhat fortunate move. I mean, because this guy right now is so quick. He's so quick in the pocket. You can't sack him. He's so quick going through his process progressions that he can go from one to two to three to four, like, like nobody's business. His processing is incredible. And I, you know, I was talking to Greg Cosell earlier today, John, and Greg made the point that he thinks that Purdy and Joe Burrow are the NFL's two best post snap operators that they just innately see the trend, which is in the NFL right now. The trend is that defense to show you that one look before the snap. And then they, At the snap, everybody's going to shift into something else. And you're going to have to, in just milliseconds, as you're dropping back, you've got to know what they're moving from and to and where's your one, your two, your three, and how you want to attack the play. And it seems like Purdy and Burrow, at least according to Greg, who watches tons of film, he thinks those two guys post-snap figure it out quickly. And then the precision that Purdy operates with, you know, he's processing, he's athletic, but then the precision of some of these, of the ball placement on some of these throws. I know it sounds like we're just gushing, but it's like the guy's playing off the charts football right now.
00:27:37
Speaker 3: We don't get to see this often. And, you know, especially whenever the label that got put on Brock Purdy is a system quarterback and blah, blah.
00:27:44
Speaker 2: Blah, blah, blah. Captain check down and all that.
00:27:49
Speaker 3: Exactly. He throws to the first read the least amount of any quarterback who started the game so far this year. The least amount he goes to his first read. Brock Purdy's superpower is his processing. and getting from the first read, second read, third read, and then the fourth read. And so, man, check down's not a bad word. System quarterbacks now turned into kind of a derogatory remark, but he fits exactly what Kyle Shanahan wants to do. And whenever you have these defenses that give a pre-snap, post-snap look, Brock Purdy's one of the best to go against that. Now, the caveat, which we're about to find out in two weeks, the Seattle Seahawks do that better than any other team in the NFL. Brock Purdy has struggled with them since, you know, they brought over the new head coach. Obviously, they won the Super Bowl last year. So it's like Brock Purdy has checked off every single mark to this test so far this season. The Denver Broncos, on paper, have a great defense. They haven't put up great statistical numbers this season, but Tolano Funga, DJ Jones, there's the best cornerback in the NFL. There's a lot of things there. Vance Joseph back with the Niners whenever you mentioned, you know, one of the better coaching staff. And so... Denver's going to be a test, but in two weeks, the Seattle Seahawks at Seattle, if Brockton can continue to perform this over the next two weeks, he's going to be the MVP front runner for a little while after that, because the rest of the season, because then you start looking at the defenses and it's almost comical what he's playing against. So if Brockton continue against the Broncos and Seahawks, then it's time to start figuring out, okay, post-season awards, all this stuff, it's on the cuff.
00:29:33
Speaker 2: You know, sometimes you have a great idea and sometimes you steal from other people who had a great idea. I was driving down six down to the Niner Complex listening to my friend John Lund doing the 10-2 show. Good plug for Johnny.
00:29:46
Speaker 3: 10-2.
00:29:46
Speaker 2: Check out John Lund. He was making a point about the explosives. The 49ers, They're number three in most explosives on offense in the league, and they're number one in least explosives allowed on defense. 80 snaps this week. They had a makeshift line up front. They still didn't blitz. They played a lot of zone. They rushed four, and they didn't give up any explosives to the Cardinals, like not one. The longest pass play was 19 yards all day. And to me, it's like that's that's what Seattle did to the Niners last year is they were so dominant and explosive. But John John made the point that, you know, the Niners lucked out because they could have resigned Kenneth Walker. And instead, they they threw that money on, you know, Shahid Rashid Shahid, who's a nice special teamer, but he's nothing. Can't you could have Kenneth Walker? Instead, they paid that money to Shahid. That was a gaffe. I mean, John Schneider's a terrific GM. He's built that thing up. He found E-Man Worry. He's made several great moves. But getting rid of Kenneth Walker and paying that money to a special team receiver and a guy who does some go patterns. And, I mean, look at what Walker is in Kansas City right now. In some ways, I feel like Seattle looks just as good as they did last year. They don't have Kenneth Walker.
00:31:26
Speaker 3: And I think it goes back to this idea. If you can control two different categories, you're going to win a lot of games, turnovers and explosives. And whenever your defense is not allowing explosives, your offense is among the league best and the offense isn't turning it over. The offense has one turnover on the year one. That's it. And so you're forcing teams to march up and down the field. And you saw it in the Cardinals game where, yeah, there's a lot of third and one conversions, a lot of third and two conversions that you allowed, but you weren't giving up touchdowns to the very end and they were playing catch up. And so whenever you make it that hard on an offense to execute time and time and time and time again on this drive, and by the way, you've got to do that five drives in a row. A lot of teams can't do that. And so I like that. You look at the Seattle team, man, they've had some injuries with their rookies. I do agree with you on, you know, they made a very, very poor choice with where to allocate their money to Darian price. I think he's going to be a good player eventually, but definitely not Kenneth Walker ability. Now they've had the quarterback shuffling and you saw like the 49ers were able to beat the Cardinals, even though they made a run late, you stayed ahead. You can't say that for the Rams, and you can't say that for the Seahawks. This was the week in the NFL where good teams got tested by mediocre to bad teams, and the elite teams showed, hey, they can take that best hit and still win. Explosives and controlling the turnover battle, that's how they did it. Yeah.
00:32:57
Speaker 2: No, I mean, it's amazing, too, because, you know, I looked at that, and I thought, well, how are the Niners going to come up with the explosions? Didn't they lose Stribling? Evans gets banged up and still they found a way to come up with explosives on offense. Um, and, and some are by design and then they've totally taken away the explosive factor. At least they did last week against Arizona. Um, if, if, if Mike Evans can't go on Sunday, we don't know his status. Exactly. Niners have cowing. They've got Debo. They've got Darrell Hodge. They've Jordan Watkins, who I talked to today. They also have Brandon cooks waiting in the wings and, They signed Dante Pettis to the practice squad. Grimes and Pauling are there as well on the practice squad. What do you think? If Evans were out an extended period of time and you had to feed a lot of touches to a receiver that they have right now on their roster, who do you believe in?
00:33:53
Speaker 3: Man, it's going to be a platoon-style attack. Darryl Hodge has taken a lot of the X-wide receiver snaps. Brandon books would be my ideal fit because he can do everything and run the full route tree and all those things. But man, you, you've got to hats off to you. I mean, you were the Jordan walk-ins truther. He came out there, didn't play a lot, 15 snaps, but in those 15 snaps made two huge explosive plays that both led to points. So if you can allow Watkins to keep getting work on a limited basis because the blocking film was pretty rough, but allow him to go out there and do what he does. Those deep end breakers, he might be the best on the entire 49ers roster at that. And you saw those two huge plays, deep end breakers. That's what they said they liked whenever he came out of the combine. You remember the post-draft press conference? They're like, we really like that gauntlet drill. He looked really good on that. That's what that measures. So I prefer Brandon Cooks to Darryl Hodge to get the bulk of those snaps because of the blocking and versatility. But you've got to factor in Jordan Watkins because of the explosives. You just got to use him appropriately. And back to coaching, I think Shanahan did a master class with Jordan Watkins. What can you do? Not what can you not do? We're going to highlight the things that Jordan Watkins is great at. You saw that in those two plays, and we're going to take him off the field. If he can't run block and do all those things, we're not going to put him out there on those plays. Just don't do it. Kind of best of both worlds.
00:35:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I'd just like to see him get a little bit more run. 30 snaps for Hodge, 15 snaps for Watkins. I wouldn't mind to see that reversed, to be completely honest. Another one of the shares that I kind of question, 45 touches or 45 snaps for CMC. and only eight for Kalon Black. And I don't know, maybe they're trying to nurse him through the groin strain. He did have a adductor pole of some kind in the last couple of weeks. So maybe that's part of it. But I mean, Shanahan overplays with his favorite toy. It's like, it's like that kid at Christmas that he gets that, he gets that, you know, whatever toy. And he's just, you know, before new year's morning, the head's ripped off and it's all broken. What a Jimmy, what happened to your toy? Oh, you know, I play, he played with it too much. Christian McCaffrey is the toy that Shanahan plays with too much. I'd love to see a bit more of Kalon Black, a little bit more of Jordan James. I mean, these guys, CMC last week with the larynx and the, you know, he got hit in the throat and he's got bloody lip and he's got the week before he's got a big old gouge out of his shoulder. I mean, you want to grow up to be a running back in the NFL. You might want to think that over.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's been weird because after week one, everybody was like, wow, we finally are going to get a timeshare with Christian McCaffrey, and this is best for everybody. And you hear Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanahan, everybody talk about how great this is because it's going to keep Christian McCaffrey healthy. Week two, Kalen Black has a little injury issue. I get that. But, man, even this week, they could have snapped even more. And so I think he was out there for like eight snaps. Maybe because the game got so close at the end and they were throwing the ball so effectively. There's no doubt how great Christian McCaffrey is. That's not what's in debate here. It's the longevity of a 30-year-old running back who led the NFL in touches last year. At some point, you have to kind of protect him from himself. And it's the same old thing where Christian McCaffrey is dictating how many snaps he gets. He is the one that looks to the sideline and says, okay, I need one play. He is the one that looks whenever he's on the sideline that takes Kalen Black out. It's not Bobby Turner. It's not Kyle Shanahan. Christian McCaffrey is in charge of his own usage. I think that's a little bit of a problem. Kalen Black has demonstrated he loves to play.
00:37:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, he loves to play. I mean, what more can you say? Yeah, I agree with you. Go ahead. You were finishing up. You said Kalen Black has demonstrated that he can do it, that he deserves some runs.
00:38:02
Speaker 3: I think so. I mean, one of my favorite parts of the game last week, Kalen Black gets this awesome six, seven-yard run down to the one-yard line. He's walking back to the huddle, and he's kind of signaling, dude, run me again, run me again. Looks over the sideline, and you can tell somebody, Christian McCaffrey, jogging on there telling him, dude, you got to come out. Kalen Black throws his hands down and is pissed off.
00:38:26
Speaker 2: Literally, he is.
00:38:28
Speaker 3: You can see the demonstrable anger that is coming out of the rookie, and I love that. Yeah, Christian McCaffrey, he's going after records, and he's that good. He deserves it. I totally understand. But on a second and one from the one-yard line, jumping over the pot, man, let the young guy go out there and take those hits. Let the young guy do that. Allow Kalen Black to facilitate and help the team. Christian McCaffrey's amazing. Nobody's disagreeing, but.
00:38:57
Speaker 3: You want 400-plus touches again for CMC? I don't think anybody does.
00:39:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, 45-8? You know, I mean, if Kyle were standing there, he'd be like, hey, Kyle, how about 35-18? You know, that sounds a little better. But, you know, come on. He knows all. All right, let's jump to the defense before we say goodbye. There's been several really good performances from the 49ers defense. And there's any number of guys that could be, you know, highlighted and shouted out. I mean, just looking at their depth chart in front of me right now. It's like, I can think of six or seven guys that are really worthy of being shouted out. Go ahead, pick one. Give me a defensive player that you've been impressed with in the first three games.
00:39:43
Speaker 3: It's Broncos week, so I'm going to go with the player that they cut. Dre Greenlaw has been the biggest difference maker from 2025 to the 2026 49ers defense. And like, I hate that D winners is taking strays here, but that will linebacker position against running backs, tight ends. He has just completely shut down any type of passing game. Dre Greenlaw was targeted five times. this week against the Cardinals, and now understand, Jeremiah Love, top five pick, Tyler Algier, Trey McBride, right? Like three of the most very, very quality, some of the best players in their position. He's targeted five times, allowed seven total yards. Just shutting down those check down plays that would go for eight, nine, and not only is he shutting them down, he's making a statement and putting them in the ground. And so you return that physicality, the consistency that Drake Greenlaw plays with, having that a plus will linebacker has just changed everything. Fred Warner, we take them for granted. He's unbelievable, of course, but seeing the defense without Trey Greenlaw, you return 57 to this lineup. It is a completely different machine. It's not even close to the same thing. Run game, pass game. unbelievable uh Dre Greenlaw and I cannot wait I know he's got the thigh contusion Larry I understand he's day-to-day Dre Greenlaw's playing he's going to be out there they cut him for Nick Singleton Dre Greenlaw's going to be playing.
00:41:17
Speaker 2: I think he might have a few tackles on Sunday this I just got an inkling I just got an inkling he might be around the ball Luke Gifford um was you know we were joking today I'm like man I go Greenlaw and Warner I go how You guys, when you linebackers are watching that Arizona film, I go, I mean, what was that like? I mean, you got 17 tackles from Fred and you got Greenlaw. Just every single tackle was like he just brings the pain. You know, I mean, it's just like Jeremiah Love is like, ah, I don't know if I want to be a football player. I mean, some of those hits Greenlaw delivers me just savage and even Gifford. He's like, yeah, man, it's it's amazing watching watching some of the films. seeing what, you know, Fred just gets better, better, better Hall of Famer. And then you got Greenlaw just crushing hit after hit. And of course, every one of those crushing hits, these guys love. So that's a great one. That's a great one, John. Okay. I will see your Dre Greenlaw. I don't know if I can go with just one guy, you know, to match a Greenlaw, but the two that I'm thinking of one is Grayson Halton. He's a rookie defensive tackle. who's playing, I think he played like 32 snaps this week. I mean, that's a lot of snaps for a rookie defensive tackle. They're lining him up outside because he's that quick. At times, they're lining him up inside. And to me, he's probably their most complete defensive tackle. This guy can stack and shed and throw the running back down. And then other times, he can penetrate in the backfield like a pass rusher. we've seen a pursuit of the sideline you know when he when he when you know somehow he gets gets a little penetration he sees an avenue he's on his horse and he's just in the backfield i think halton is special man for a fourth round pick that was a steal and then the other guys.
00:43:08
Speaker 3: I think oh i'm sorry i gotta jump in no go ahead i got it i want to add more to this he's playing out of position Grayson Halton was drafted to be OSA 2.0 as the three tech. He's starting the plugger role in the one technique. Like that is not what he has done at any point in his career. Now he's starting playing out of position. You usually got to be bigger to play that role. And he's still succeeding. Like it is. I'm with you a hundred percent, Larry, what Grayson Halton is doing at this level in his rookie year. This was not the plan. But you adapt, you improvise, and he is just crushing it.
00:43:47
Speaker 2: He belongs. He belongs. Complete player. Complete player. Really fun to watch. And then the other guy on that defense, I mean, I can name four or five, but Upton Stout is just a savage nickel blitzer. He's just so good. And, you know, I mean, the strength, the power, this guy will strike you pound for pound. One of the best players in the league. The desire is off the charts, man. I mean, he'll be on one side of the field, and he sees it, and he's just going to go like his life depends on it. You know, like, I'm going to make this tackle because this is the most important thing there is. He's awesome, man. I mean, if you could clone him, if I could clone him, I'd clone him. He's awesome.
00:44:37
Speaker 3: I think he's the most realistic option for the most recent draft pick to be an all-pro. A lot of the critique is, man, when have the 49ers hit a home run? When was the last time they drafted an all-pro player? That was Colin O'Funger you're going to see this week. But I think Upton Stout is that next guy that has all-pro potential. I think he could be the best nickel corner in the NFL. That's the potential. He's making the highlight reel plays. Still some negatives. He's a young player. It's not perfect, yeah. Yeah, I am with you 100% on number 20. Upton Stout is worth a watch. And he jumps off the silent tape. You watch silent tape, there's no sound, you know, whatever else. But, man, there are personalities that go across and permeate that. And Upton Stout is that guy. When you turn on that tape and you're just like, man, I can't look away and watch anybody else because 20 is just so entertaining.
00:45:30
Speaker 2: Yeah, he is. He's a dude out there right now. Hey, John, always great to have you. We'll do it again soon. Thanks again.
00:45:38
Speaker 3: Thanks, Larry. You're the man.
00:45:40
Speaker 2: John Chapman, 49er Rush Podcast. All right, we'll come back. A couple last thoughts and we'll wrap it up. It's Niners Nightly on a Wednesday on the Sports Leader.
00:45:49
Speaker 1: This is where you get your faithful fix. Niners Nightly with Larry Kruger keeps rolling on KNBR, the Sports Leader.
00:45:58
Speaker 2: Welcome back. Larry Kruger with you. It's Niners Nightly. One eye on the baseball playoffs. Contreras with a bomb. Yankees up 2-1 on the Bo Sox. Top six, now going to the bottom of the six. Game two of that series between Boston and New York. All right, it is time for our 49er stat of the day, and it's not really a 49er stat of the day. It's more of a Denver Broncos stat of the day, but we'll steal it. Bo Nix has not been good against the Blitz this year. No touchdowns, thrown a pick. He's got a passer rating of forty four point six. Maybe expect some Raheem Morris blitzes on Sunday when you get a forty four point six passer rating against the blitz. Maybe you should expect it. Maybe you should expect it. Davis Webb is had a rough first three weeks as the new offensive coordinator there in Denver. And it will be interesting to see if at some point Sean Payton says, you know what, Davis, I think I'll take over the play calling. Once again, Bo Nix, 44.6% passer rating against the Blitz. Expect the Blitz on Sunday. Maybe not. Raheem Morris mixes it up, and he didn't Blitz a lot this week. That's for sure. He got it done with his front four. And because you know what? You cannot block this 49er front four right now. Nobody's getting in the way of Khalid Kareem, Agbo Okoronkwo off the edges. and Odigizua and Keon White inside. I joke, but you know what? I talked to Kareem today at his locker. He's a really hardworking guy, and we know Odigizua's a monster inside. I'm a big fan of Okoronkwo, and Keon has been really versatile. So believe it or not, four guys that you don't think would get pressure, at least last week against Arizona, did exactly that. All right, we'll come back and wrap it up and hand it over to Todd Husek, who's got Sports Phone tonight on the Sports Leader.
