Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up, faithful, Welcome to the forty nine Ers First
and Time podcast presented by Cisco.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
It's Draft week.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
And today we've got forty nine Ers team reporter Lindsay
Polares and special guest from our forty nine Ers En
Espanol team, his Zadatta. Thanks guys for joining me today.
How excited are you for this Thursday? I'm ready to
get this going.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I feel like we've been talking about the draft for
so long and now it's finally, finally the big week.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (00:29):
Yeah, you have a lot of weeks of just looking
at MAC drafts week after week, but now is finally here,
the week of the NFL Draft.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
I thought it would be fun, since it's now draft week,
to start us off with a little ice breaker. At
the forty nine Ers office in Santa Clara, there's a
whiteboard right in the front right when all the employees
come in. And today the question of the day was
who is your all time favorite forty nine Ers draft pick?
What do you guys think who is your favorite draft
pick of all time?
Speaker 2 (00:56):
And what are some reasons why I.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Love the story of Rock Party. I think you know,
a long time from now, I think we're too close
to when it happened in twenty twenty two, but being
the final pick of the draft round seven to sixty
two and then going on to lead an NFL franchise,
playing a super Bowl in your second year as a
starting QB. I just think that it like deserves some
(01:20):
kind of movie. At some point, we'll see, you know,
where Rock Party's career takes him. But I think we've
got the makings of something really cool. And I think
I always look back on that and being part of
the organization as it happened. So I think that's probably
my favorite draft pick.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
I love it, he's your favorite.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I'll go defense. I'll go with Patrick Willis back in
two thousand and seven because I'm usually kind of like
defensive kind of guy, Like I love defense, and obviously
I love the way Patrick Willis play. And that was
actually a pretty good first round for the forty nine
ers because that same year in the first round they
got Patrick Willis and later in that version they got
Joe Stated, So it was actually pretty good.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Okay, this you staw my pick. It was also Patrick
will I think also with him just recently entering the
Pro Football Hall of Fame, so iconic and he was
also number eleventh overall, so I think that has a
good tone going into this year. But now with that
being said, I feel like that ice breaker in of
itself shows a great reason of the forty nine ers
success in the draft. Lindsay, you put together a pretty
(02:19):
cool feature on how the team has been able to
find draft gems throughout the John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan
era on forty nine ers dot Com. Tell us a
little bit more about that and how it sets itself
up for this year.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
Yeah, and when we talked draft gems, I'm going to
focus on or I did focus on basically third round
and beyond. And that's not to say that the forty
nine ers have not hit in rounds one and two.
You know, you think of Nick Bosa and Brandon Ayu
as first rounders that are still with the team, still contributing,
obviously Brandon Ayu coming back from an injury. But this
team has been able to continue to perform year in
(02:53):
and year out with a draft position that you know
reflects those many NFC championship games and Super Bowl runs
that this team has been on in recent years. But
because they have had success in rounds three to seven,
they've found all pro players and then also Pro Bowl
caliber players, and they've been able to just continue to
(03:13):
revamp the talent. So, I mean, you guys are in
twenty seventeen with George Kittle, DJ Jones, Fred Warner, Mitch
w Weshanowski, Colton mckivitz, Juwan Jennings, Yamador Leonor Talanoa Hufunga,
Elijah Mitchell. I mean, these are all guys that were
able to contribute. We're mid to late round guys and
have earned league recognition and have been able to replenish
(03:35):
this roster, and that I think has really been the
big key for success, sustaining performing well year over year
during this Kyle Shanahan, John lynch Era and then also
finding talent later in the draft so that you can
just keep the ball rolling.
Speaker 1 (03:49):
Yeah, definitely. Well from there, let's open it up. The
forty nine Ers currently own eleven picks this year, technically
four picks in the top one hundred. With that number
eleven pick, that's a.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Lot to work with.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
What kind of players are the forty nine ers front
office looking for? And from what you guys know, how
does the forty nine Ers personnel, prioritize on specific players
and what's really the mindset for this year.
Speaker 4 (04:11):
Well, especially it's good that you mentioned that, right, they
have those four picks on the top one hundred begins.
Even gohn Lynchall remember saying that, So they have to
take advantage of that. And I think they're gonna look
for players that fit the forty nine ers philosophy. For
example on the defensive side, where they have a lot
of a lot of holes with all the departners in
(04:33):
free agency, it's good to have a guy like Rover
Salad back because obviously he had Even Fred Warner mentioned
that he had a lot of contributions to get to
get Fred Warner in twenty eighteen in the third round.
So I think he's if they look for a linebacker,
they're gonna look for that those type of linebackers that
are a type of like safety hybrid type of linebacker
(04:56):
like Fred Warner was. You know, he had that background
be in a safety in in college, and those linebackers
that play fast. And obviously if it's a defensive line,
it's like they would have a coach like Chris Kusrek
and with what always like what Robert Sally is emphasize
and all gas, no no breaks. So that type of
(05:17):
defensive alignment with a very quick step who is very athletic.
I think you look for those type of players in
this year's draft.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I think also to one of the things that John
Lynch and Kyle Shanahan always reference, or they reference a
good amount, is that twenty nineteen defensive line. Robert Sala
had a huge hand in helping build that line, put
them together. Now he's back in the building his second
go around with the Niners, So definitely, as you said,
Robert Sala likely going to have a decent amount of
(05:46):
influence on the players coming in on the defensive side
of the ball in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
Okay, I'm going to throw something new in the mix. Now,
what are the odds of a trade?
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Why might it be smart to move up or back
or even just stay put?
Speaker 4 (06:00):
Well, moving up, it depends if they really like like
a guy like maybe like Att Carter. Of course, go
ahead and do it. But the only issue with with that,
in my opinion, is that you're gonna have to give
up like very valuable picks in the third round the
fore round, like like Lindsay was explaining, like in the past,
you've been able to get guys there like Fred Warner,
(06:21):
George Kittle's or yeah, those type of guys. So you
have to be very very careful about that and and
and think really truly if you're gonna move up, I
think what makes more sense is moved back because yeah,
because when you look at the draft, there's like obviously
(06:42):
you don't know who. There's just always people saying, oh,
this guy is gonna be a Hall of Famer, this
guy is gonna be this reminds me of so and so,
But you really never know, right sometimes they turn out
to be bossed, so you don't know. But basically what
they look now on paper, like guys like Abdul Carter,
they look pretty pretty good. Will Campbell, guys, guys in
(07:04):
the top five. But then when you look like at
the pick where the forty nine ers are sitting at
right now, at pick eleven, like a Walter Nolan, those
type of guys, maybe it's a more store. There's not
like a huge gap between them. They're pretty good players.
So I think it makes sense if you move like
maybe between fifteen and twenty pick to those places, and
(07:28):
then you acquire a bunch of other picks in later
round because a lot of esperts are saying that this
draft has a lot of talent in the second, in
the third, fourth, and fifth round, so I think it
will make sense to move down a few a few spots.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, set itself up for the forty nine ers sort
of mindset going into this draft, lindsay, is it more
of a numbers game and is it better to have
more draft capital rather than trading up?
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I think it all depends. I think I'm of the
thinking that moving back, if those are the options of
moving up or moving back, probably makes more sense for
all the reasons that Hazeus mentioned. But I do think
it also depends on what's being offered and who gets
missed in those first ten picks, Like is someone available
(08:11):
that is somebody you absolutely need to go get right
and then that there's no way of knowing right until
draft night. You see how the rest of the teams,
you know, either don't, don't trade up, or trade back.
It all depends on who they take as well. But yes,
I think that what we've seen in the Lynch Shanahan
era is that they do well with a lot of
(08:31):
draft capital. I think given the needs that you have,
especially on the defensive side of the ball. You want
as many picks as possible because this wasn't the free
agency that I think a lot of people expected. So
you want to bring in that new talent to fill
the needs, and there are quite a few this year,
and you need draft capital to do that. And also
(08:51):
the Niners are looking you know, obviously compensatory picks are
not calculated and won't be until next year, but they're
looking like they're gonna have a decent amount of draft
capital in twenty two twenty six as well. So to
have two years with a lot of draft picks, I
think that's setting yourself up for success in future years.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Awesome. Yeah, well, Hazeus you said it earlier.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
But there's plenty of mock drafts circulating online and on TV.
But NFL dot Com writer Adam Rank published one with
a twist. Instead of predicting what a team might do
with their first draft pick, he suggested with the forty
nine ers and what other teams should do with their
first draft pick. In that list, he said that the
forty nine ers should take Georgia linebacker Jaylon Walker, saying
(09:32):
he could be a great addition to the defense's pass rush.
I want to offer up the same take to you guys,
instead of predicting what the forty nine ers might do
with pick eleven, what do you think they should do?
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Maybe if I have to pick up player, like a
specific player, the only thing. Maybe he's not going to
be there at eleven, but but he has a higher
chance than other guys in front of him. So I'm
going to go with armand Mambo from Missouri. I think
it's a really good.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
I got to give you.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
The draft arm Arma Membo on offense, and if they
go defense, maybe a guy like like Walter Nolan from
from all from Mississippi, from from all mess because I
like his versatility. You can move him around like on
the interior of the defensive line, on the on the outside,
sort of like like Kansas City uses Chris Jones. I'm
(10:25):
not saying he's going to be Chris Jones, but you know,
you get what I'm saying. He's able to move around
the defensive line, and he's really good against the run
and against the past, So I think he has a
lot of potential.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
Yeah, going almost at number eleven, You know that reminds
me of yeah, Patrick willis number fifty.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I think I'm gonna go a little bit farther out.
I think the Niners should definitely look to address the
defensive line. And I think you really need that counterpart
to Nick Bosa on the outside. You need an edge rusher.
So I think that's like a need that needs to
be addressed first. And I think you've got Robert Sala,
You've got Chris Kaserk, Who're going to know who exactly
what they want. So let's get defensive line talent in.
(11:06):
And then I kind of after seeing the success of
Dominic Pooni in the third round last year, I think
maybe you can get that O line starter or soon
to be starter in those still top one hundred picks
like early, you know, third round, third and fourth round.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
All right, yeah, I love to see it.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Now to close this out, let's do a lightning round
of this or that. I'm gonna throw a few options
out on the table and you guys can make your pike.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
We'll go down the line. But are you guys ready ready?
Let's do it? All right? Hazy A c start first?
Trade up or trade back? I think you know what
you're gonna.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
Say, trade back, right, back.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
Yeah, I'll have fun. I'll say trade up. You never
know what's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
I'm gonna trade back, all right in Round one?
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Offense or defense?
Speaker 4 (11:48):
Offense the trenches, offensive line?
Speaker 2 (11:50):
All right, I'll go defense, Lindsay, defense, d line. What's
the bigger need? Corner or edge itch definitely.
Speaker 4 (11:58):
Yeah. We already cover Ronardo grein one side with diamather
Lein are on the other side, so you kind of
just have to look for that nickel corner, which is
also very important. But I think edge right now is
a number one priority.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Just what Lindsay said that bookend to Nick Bosam going.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Edge, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 1 (12:17):
Yes, I love it. Now, what's more likely to happen?
Drafting to receivers or drafting to offensive linemen?
Speaker 4 (12:24):
Drafting too? Offensive line? Definitely, yeah. I think you just
need like one more receiver.
Speaker 2 (12:29):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, I'm also going lineman. Lindsay also going lineman. I
think we're all on the same page here. And if
the draft was happening today in this room and we
happen to be GM, you guys kind of know how that.
Speaker 4 (12:39):
Would be all right?
Speaker 1 (12:42):
Well, his zeus, thank you so much for joining us.
Always a pleasure yes, it's definitely faithful. We'll be back
later this week, so stay tuned for next episode, Subscribe
on YouTube, Apple podcasts, and Spotify, turn on those notifications
for any breaking news. Move the Chains episodes, and we'll
see you next time.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Fo