How the 49ers can improve their defense this off-season

0:00Every day, excessive delays and denials from big insurers keep patients from accessing the care they need. And when care is urgent, these delays can be disastrous. These practices cost billions in wasteful spending, driving up costs for American families. But while big insurers put up barriers, America's hospitals and health systems are in your corner, navigating endless reviews and appeals to get you the care you need when you need it most. It's time to curb these harmful practices and put the focus back on patients. Brought to you by the coalition to strengthen America's health care. Man, I'm high as a kite and I got a five team parlay. This is Larry Krueger for betyourass.com. And that's take sandwich Tim Webb dropping some Larry Krueger classics as he joins me in our two of dirty work. I got some fun ones loaded, by the way. Oh, wow. We all know the classics. I fell in a bush.

1:00Uh, what else you got? He's going to break it down. But let me give you a sample. Okay. All right. Here you go. That Tim's working on. He's got sounds like the story I told my parents when I was five years old. They said, Larry, did you just pull your pants? And I looked at my brother. I said, no, Chris did. The best thing is I don't want any context to any of these drugs. No context. No. I just, we just finished up talking to Eric Crocker of the lockdown 49ers podcast. You can hear that interview on these sports leader.com or these sports leader app. And I was asking him about Tyrick Wollin. And that's a name that Matt Barrow's evict tape erode about in the athletic. It's a guy that the 49ers know very well. Just your quick thoughts, Krueger, and potentially getting him and free agency this off season. Well, it's a really, really tough position to fill. And, um, this is a guy who I think is, is, uh, his career has made sense to this point from the standpoint of he's been inconsistent. Some people would look at that and be like, oh my god, he's been inconsistent.

2:01Don't go, you know, steer clear of that guy. But if you know his story, he played wide receiver at University of Texas, San Antonio for like most of his career. I mean, only played corner like at the very end. So he came into the NFL as just a very raw athlete. And credit John Schneider, who found him took him in the mid rounds. As a rookie, he picked off six passes. And they thought, wow, this guy's going to be a mega star. And then his lack of experience over the last couple of years has, you know, come to the surface, you know, at the wrong time. He commits too many penalties. His instincts are not great for a guy with that kind of length and size and speed. I mean, this guy read four, two, six coming out. So he's a burner at almost six foot five. So when you factor in that length and that speed, I mean, he can really suffocate these receivers. And he's a hard guy to get off the line of scrimmage against. But he's also been maddening to watch.

3:02I'm sure for them because he's been inconsistent. But you know what? That's what happens when you step into the pinnacle of your profession. And you have only nominal experience at doing the job you're being asked to do. So he's just one of those guys. He's been inconsistent. But I think that he will smooth out his edges. My guess is whoever gets him right now is going to get his best football for the next three or four years. And he's such a big physical dominant player that yes. I think you got to pick off some of Seattle's players to kind of slow them down a little bit. And he would be I'd be all over him. Speaking of Seattle's players, they're going to hit a free agency. We know the Kenneth Walker is maybe going to leave right now. And I mean, that would be fantastic because he killed the 49ers of the postseason. You're not going to add in and free. You're not going to add him in free agency. Just real quick. Well, back to the wide receiver discussion. What do you think about Rashid Shaheed? I don't think you need to overpay for him because I think he's good for one explosive play a game. He's not a type of guy that should get a ton of money. He's a good special teams player and a good guy you can use like a Swiss Army knife.

4:03But should that be a guy that 49ers look at this off season as well crew? Well, you know, here's the thing. I mean, explosives have become the new thing in the NFL. You got to have them right that the team that that wins the explosives ratio wins the game 61% of the time. And that's why Seattle. If there's one word to describe the Seattle championship, it's explosives. They dominate in that area. They don't give you any. And then they have a bunch of guys who give them lots of explosives. They walkers got tremendous speed at tight end. They've got tremendous speed at or at what right running back. They get tremendous speed at tight end with Barner and a rollo. You know, JSN, you know, now you've got Shaheed. So I mean, they've got they've got a lot of speed. I don't think I would sign him. Because I just don't think he does enough to guarantee the kind of money he's going to get. So I bet I, but I definitely think the Niners, you know, Jordan Addison is a is a receiver that, you know, is probably going to be a trade target Brian Thomas Jr.

5:07For Jacksonville. It's a guy that I think he's kind of like Ricky Pierce. I think he's a good receiver that kind of needs a change of scenery. So there's a number of receivers out there. You know, Christian Kirk, Mike Evans. Uh, two to out well. If you're looking for guys that can run Shahan Dotson, one Dale Robinson. I mentioned Brandon cooks Romeo dobs. I think it's probably the best fit receiver was in the market. What about Jalen Nailer? His name was brought up the other day and he's an explosive player. You know, he's never had more than 30 receptions in a season. But I think he would fit this couch in a hands game. Well, I mean, I just, I think that they need guys. I mean, that would be great if you had like a couple receivers or if you had weapons. Yeah, everywhere and you're just looking for that one kind of unique weapon. That's not going to touch the ball a lot. They need guys who can catch, you know, like I saw Romeo dobs and Jalen Nailer. Well, dobs is a way better option for them because without JJ, they can have somebody who can move the chains.

6:07I mean, Jalen Nailer is a nice little specialty item, but you don't even have a receiver that can move the chains that can, that you can go to on third and sixth. So I would say I like dobs a whole lot more than Nailer. Now, I know that you heard that maybe they can move on from Ricky Pearce all this off season. And as far as the guy that can move the chains, that should be Ricky Pearce all. But where are you at right now with your confidence level on him? I know he's been injured. I know he's been dealing with a lot in his short career right now. But if he is healthy, do you think you do you think he can be that guy that can move the chains? Or are you pretty low on him right now, crew? Well, I mean, I just, you know, it's like the the trait that nobody ever talks about with receivers. That is the key trait. It's the toughness. Yeah. How tough are you? And all these people, oh, he's Julian Edelman. What? You just took like the toughest receiver ever. And you just said that Ricky Pearce calls him. And my first thought was, you know, I doubt it. You know, I really doubt that he's his toughest has Julian Edelman.

7:09I mean, you know, Julian Edelman is tough. And I just, you know, John Taylor, tough, Jerry Rice, tough. I mean, you know, what made me and Juan Bolden was tough. I mean, you got the best receivers in football are really, really tough. And, you know, what's John Jennings great is prevailing trade tough. So I just think that you got to be really, really tough to play the perimeter in the NFL. It's a hand fight. And you got to have swagger and toughness and physical dominant traits. And I don't see that with Ricky. I see a guy who has, you know, you, I'm not worried about the injuries he's had. He's worried about the fact that he can't get out there with any consistency. And he's had different injuries. So it's, to me, it's more about a pain threshold thing. I think he's definitely proven that he could do it, right? He can separate against man coverage. He's got good ball skills. He's got a good catch radius. He's got a great attitude. You know, there's, there's a lot of good traits about Ricky. But men, you know, at some point, you got to get it out of him.

8:12And I don't know if they can. He's a bit of problem right now, Ricky Pierce. So I think the problem that a lot of 49ers fans look at is he was wrapped in the first round. And he's not going to be that true number one wide receiver. And we talked about a crew when you joined me in copes where he's not going to be a red zone guy. It's not going to be a guy that scores a lot of touchdowns. He didn't do it in college. But can he be that guy that beats man coverage? I mean, that's the reason why they drafted him. I bring it up at nauseam. But the reason Kyle went after him was because right now you could Debo Samuel cannot get, you know, you're not getting separation of man-to-man coverage against the chiefs. Can he be that guy? Can he show more toughness? I hope that's the case. And I hope they don't move on from this quickly. But yeah, right now you need a little bit more from Ricky Pierce. So as far as other wide receivers they can look at, I know you like Wondell Robinson. And last year you had a pretty good season with the New York Giants getting 92 receptions over a thousand yards. He needs more touchdowns himself. There's another name we can throw out there where you had a Wondell Robinson. I think that his name was brought up with John Dickinson. And I think that you were glowing about him. Well, I mean, you know, it's funny. Deater.

9:12I mean, Deater cracks me up. He's like, you know, he doesn't, he doesn't fit the Niners scheme. And it's like, well, what? I've never even heard of fitting receivers to schemes. Personally, this guy, he's got the ball skills. He didn't run that he's not playing in the same scheme in the pros that he played it and in a Kentucky. This guy said, this guy is, you know, volume receiver. And that's what they need right now. They need a volume receiver. They need somebody who's going to catch 10 to 12 balls again and, you know, catch 80 to 90 to 100 balls in the season. And with this guy, this guy has played on some horrible Giants teams with Daniel Jones and Jackson Dart. Those those guys stink. I mean, Jackson Dart really stinks. Yeah. And to catch 90 plus balls on those Giants teams that had Malik neighbors and in bad quarterback play. Yeah, I'd be all interested in one day for sure. I mean, he was an awesome player at Kentucky. And, you know, he's just, he's just one of those guys.

10:13He's going to, he just gets open. He's kind of like a poor man's JSN. He's going to get open and make catches. He's not the biggest guy. Not the strongest guy. Not the fastest guy. But you look up and he's got, you know, 12 catches on 14 targets for 105 yards. So I think he could be really good. And as far as tied end, we know that George Kittles could be out for the majority of the season. Possibly. We'll see what happens with his Achilles recovery. But is that a position you want to see them address in free agency where there's names out there. You could, you know, go for high price free agents like Isaiah likely or David and Joku. There's other guys that could be more lower level like Tyler Higby that's, you know, in the same type of scheme with the Rams back in the day. Do you want to see them address that in free agency? Wait till the draft or are you comfortable with Jake Tonjes? Well, I love Jake Tonjes. I mean, I mean, Jake Tonjes, a tremendous receiver. But, you know, the night has only had one full complete tight end. Farrell's not a receiver. Tonjes is not a blocker. Willis.

11:13I don't know what Willis does. So you got what you got. You've got basically Kittles, the only guy on your of your what of your tight ends that can really do it all. So they need a, they need they could use a tight end that can do it all. I mean, there's a, it's a good tight end draft and I would definitely look to the draft, but I would also look towards free agency. I mean, there's talk today that if TJ Hawkinson does not take a pay cut that he's going to wind up as a cap casualty. You know, there's an Iowa guy. Maybe you bring in another Iowa guy like Hawkinson. If you want, I mean, he would be nice to have a significant player here because Brock pretty uses the tight end a lot. Throws the ball in the middle of the field. I'll give you a couple names. I mean, you know, David and a joke who's going to get his money. K dot and I think it's going to get paid. Likely is going to get paid. But the two guys I think make the most sense for the Niners, Charlie Kohler, who was Brock birdies college tight end. And he kind of emerged last year with Baltimore behind Isaiah likely and and Mark Andrews. And he's a pretty good player.

12:13I mean, he's a pretty good player. He's a, he's not awesome, but you know what? He's solid. Um, and that would be a guy I think I'd be interested in. The other name is Greg Dulcich. She was just an awesome receiver at UCLA. He was. And then, and then he got he's had a bunch of injuries. He had a bunch of injuries at UCLA. So he might just might be one of these glass guys. So he may be a steer state, you know, steer clear of him. But I mean, Greg Dulcich is talent as a receiver is really, really intriguing. So that would be a guy. Right in the draft Russell Maryland's kid RJ Maryland from SMU is going to be a day three sleeper. Um, I really like Marlon Klein a lot from Michigan. There's some really good tight ends in the draft for sure. Um, but Charlie Kohler and Greg Dulcich I think at free agency. I could see them knocking on that door. We covered a lot of the offensive names available in free agency. Let's go the defensive side of the ball and what Matt Barrows had to say about potentially going after Trey Hendrixson. And even Max Crosby also your phone calls next big LSC on the line.

13:15Hank Tide, it's Larry Krueger, it's Derek Papa, it's dirty work on these sports leaders. When you really need care, you need 24 seven access to a care team. Not a maze of paperwork from a third party. Every day, America's hospitals and health systems show up for you. Navigating healthcare can feel overwhelming. But you can count on real doctors, real nurses, real people providing quality around the clock care when you need it most. They're in your corner in communities across America. Your neighbors, your lifelines, right beside you holding your hand and helping find answers. That's what putting patients first actually means. Learn more at strengthinhealthcare.org. Brought to you by the Coalition to Strength in America's Healthcare. Need parts fast? Oh, Riley auto parts as fast. Need them now? We've got now. No matter what you need, we have thousands of professional parts people doing their part to make sure you have it. We're O'Reilly fast. Just one part that makes O'Reilly stand apart. The professional parts people.

14:25Every day the world gets a little weirder. And a lot more awesome. Cool stuff daily takes a look at everything from mining in space to the latest in the fight against cancer to how AI is basically changing everything. It's all the cool stuff you didn't know you needed to know. Join us for cool stuff daily as we take a quick look at science, tech and the wait what stories that make you sound way smarter at dinner. Subscribe to cool stuff daily now because the future is happening fast and it's way too fun to miss. Larry Krueger or Pat the Patriot. Whatever you want to call him today, he's with me until six o'clock for a little dirty work. And we'll be joined by F.P. Santangelo at 450 talking about the giants in Scottsdale with spring training. But let's go to the phone lines as we're talking 49ers off season for agency move. Let's go out to Big Al and Chico Big Al. You're on with Derek and Larry Krueger. What's going on?

15:25Hey, how's it going guys? Great show by the way. Thank you. I'll make this quick. If I was again, I do do these following moves. Definitely, I keep Mac, of course, with his salary. Definitely resigned print. And then in the draft draft a cadence proctor from Alabama. And then in the free agent side. I love that collar call crew, by the way. Charlie Kohler. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Kohler, Kohler. And a teeter. That was a teeter call from a couple weeks ago on a stream. But go ahead. Okay. That's good. And then what about Linda bomb? Maybe catch him. Yeah. And then a sneaky, sneaky free agent pick, which I think would be kind of on the cheaper side would be a. He may be from Seattle.

16:25He's a free agent. Um, and then, and then draft, as far as the graph goes, I go. Um, after, you know, um, getting an old line, and maybe, uh, get the best edge out there or that, or a bad ass safety. And then finally, I love that, uh, lineman, some Iowa with a red mullet. Jennings Dunker. He does have an amazing head of hair. I mean, that is nice. Let us. I mean, it is just, I mean, that guy would be, now he may be a guard. But I love him too, man. I'd have a hard time passing Jennings Dunker. I don't know if I could take him in the first round, but he might be worth trading back into the top of the second round and just plugging that guy in a guard. Absolutely. Absolutely. So I'm really fired up for this off season. It's critical because, you know, it seems like the last three, four, maybe in five years, Seattle and Rams have just been just working us in the draft.

17:27So we'll see, we'll see, we'll see. Thanks a lot, guys. I really appreciate that. Appreciate you, Bigel. Thanks for the call. And yeah, I mean, everything that he hit on there, you know, as far as Trent Williams, we'll get to that a little later on the show. Tell Linda bombs a name that you could address in the off season. And the future of Mac Jones, me and Krueger have talked about it during the season when he had, when he had his success filling in for eight games. But I don't hear your thoughts right now. Krueger on the defensive side of the ball and guys that they can add. And Matt Barrow's just joined silver and JD and was asked about Trey Hendrickson. And he said, as far as Trey Hendrickson, they're, they are going to be one of the teams that are, that are the very least in the conversation. They're monitoring the situation. He's only one year removed from lean the league in sex and his market will be pretty good. So when it comes to Trey Hendrickson Krueger, he's a name that you brought up as far as guys available this off season. And he was a name that was brought up at the trade deadline, you know, trying to fill the void for Nick Bosa out with the tornado CL. Would you be willing to give him, he's on the older side, would you want to give him like a two year, 60 million dollar deal? Is he that type of player still?

18:28He's pretty awesome, man. He's pretty awesome. Now the question is, is he healthy? Because he wasn't healthy at the end of the year. So that would be my question is before I pay him anything, I need to know that he's healthy. If he's healthy, then the question is, can you afford to pay Nick Bosa and Trey Hendrickson to edge rushers? Just, you know, a huge percentage of your cap. It just doesn't seem likely. It just doesn't seem likely. I will see this though. He's the kind of player. I mean, he's bet. I'll say it right now. He's better than Bosa. He's been better than Bosa. I mean, he's been better than Bosa for three years in a row. This guy's better. He's more productive. He sacks the quarterback more often. More pressures. More sacks. He's better. I think he's better than Bosa. I think he's got more left. I'm not sure, you know, I love Bosa, but I mean, I think Hendrickson is even better. I mean, he's awesome. He's awesome. The question is, and I did this. I did a video on this today on my YouTube channel about

19:28if the Niners went all in and I just used Max Crosby as an example. Yeah. And let's just say they had to use all of their draft capital. In this case, Hendrickson's a free agent. So it's more about money. Right. But I mean, like I said, well, could you go after Max Crosby? And then if you did, and all you had left to fill out the rest of your dozen needs, or day three picks, and undrafted free agents. And, you know, what would your team look like? And I thought it would, it would be okay. I mean, it's, but it's not ideal. And you could wind up with, you know, not, you could wind up some, you know, two or three big holes on your team because you're gambling on undrafted free agents that just don't, don't quite, you know, hit the way you want them to hit. And so it's a risk to go all in on one asset, one direction. Even if it's a great player, it may not be enough to get the Niners over the top. Yeah. I mean, it's a gigantic risk. And Max Crosby's name's been brought up.

20:29I want to ask you about him a little bit here. But as far as Trey Hendrickson, I'm with you, Krug. At this point, yes, he is better than Nick Bosa. He's more consistent again to the quarterback. Like a couple of years ago, he got, it was back to back years. We had 17 and a half sacks. And that's playing without the best defensive line in the Cincinnati Bengals. He's playing opposite like Miles Murphy or anybody else on that defensive line that doesn't come to mind right now. But he was banged up a year ago. I don't know how long you're going to have him. It would be a short term deal. But I mean, yeah, Trey Hendrickson would be sweet to have the book ends of Nick Bosa and him. So if he's willing to come here, I think that more teams, more desperate teams. We willing to overpay for him, maybe like a Tampa Bay or maybe some bad teams out there, like Tennessee or the Raiders. But if he's willing to come for a reasonable offer, I will go after Trey Hendrickson. Here's the one reason that I'm super intrigued by him. When you're going to go sign these free agents from other teams, you got to know what you're getting. I mean, the Niners took a chance on D'avonderie Campbell.

21:29He was a dog with fleas. You know, I mean, they took a shot on Chase Young. He literally catalacted in the NFC title game. And I had to call him out on it. I mean, I literally had to call him out on it in the presser, because I'm like sitting there watching this going, you've got to be kidding me. Yeah. I'm watching the NFC title game against the Lions. And I got this guy catalacking it. I couldn't believe it. I was like, what in the hell is going on here? And so I waited and I asked Shanahan at the next presser. I'm like, Kyle. I mean, I think if there's one, I said it to him. I said, hey, look, I think your teams historically play very hard for you. You had guys catalacking it in the low thing on the backside in the, in the NFC title game. I go, did you see that when you watch the film? Is this your culture and credit to Kyle, man? Because Kyle could easily just thrown me under the bus. And been like, you know, you're wrong. You know, you didn't see that or whatever. You know, you know the way these guys play. Oh, yeah.

22:29But instead, Kyle's like a real one. And he's like, you know what? It's not our culture. And it's unacceptable. He did back him a little bit and say, you know, I don't think that was the overwhelming majority of the plays. But I did, there were a couple plays there that I didn't like. And he admitted it. And then the next day Lynch came out and said, we're not, you're not going to see that again. And then Steve Wilkes came out and was like, you know, you're not going to see that again. And then you've got, then you got, you know, chase young plane is with his hair on fire in the Super Bowl to try to make up for it. It wasn't enough, but, but what can you say? I mean, you know, you can't have that. The one thing about Hendrickson is he plays so hard. Yeah. And his motor is legendary. It's like notorious, notoriously high revving motor. So I think he's a guy that I'd be eager to, I'd be excited about paying him because I don't, I don't have to worry about, do I pay him? And he shows up and he turns it into a big vacation. No, he won't do that. He'll show up and play his butt off.

23:29And I'm surprised the Bengals are just letting him walk in free agency. I thought they would have tagged him and flipped him for teams to use some draft capital. But I'm with the crew. They definitely need more explosiveness in the defensive side of the ball as far as the past rushers, because we know the story only 26 years ago, a franchise low. This team was humming back in 2019 where they had de Ford and they're missing that guy opposite Nick Bosa right now. And Bosa is a step up his game. He's got a lot of pressure on him coming off a third 20 ACL in his football career. So they need to find that guy and a guy that a lot of 49 fans have been looking for for a long time now was Max Crosby. Your guy Brad Graham has been on social media all the time tweeting about him. And I also think it's going to happen. It sounds like he will be traded. It's things are heating up right now. I think Tray Wingo a couple of hours ago said that Dallas was really close to pulling off a deal last night. But the Raiders want two first round picks for him. And there's another team stepping up right now. Let's want to do that. It's just a matter of can they get another player involved with it? And it sounds like the Chicago Bears is where he wants to go.

24:32If I'm the 49ers, of course, I'm in on this and I'm making calls. But I'm with the crew. I don't know if I could just move so much draft capital for one guy where you need to get younger at the position. And Max Crosby, I mean, if Tray Hendrix has burned the Nick Bosa right now, Max Crosby is better than the Nick Bosa as well. But I don't think you need to go all in on him. And I don't think they have the draft capital to pull that off right now. No, I mean, you know, I kind of, I mean, I just, I love Max Crosby. And I get it. And I hear these people would be like, well, the Niners have screwed up the draft so bad. You know, they should just trade all their picks. Well, you know, that's not smart business. I mean, first of all, it's just not sustainable. You can't do that. There's too many holes, too many needs. You can't, you don't only have so many day one and day two picks. You can't trade them all for one, you know, you can't go all in on one guy. Like they did on Tray Lance, like they did on Javon Hargrave every year. And if you miss when you go all in, you really can't go all in again.

25:32So I don't think they're in an all in spot right now. I think if anything, they got to take 27 and trade down to 39, trade down from 39 to 53. Start their draft at 53 with, you know, three more or four more selections. And, you know, do it that route. I think that's the, every mock that I've done, the best looking results are when you trade down from 27. Into the 30s, 40s or 50s and start your draft there. Because then, then you got to read, they got 13 needs. They got seven picks and they don't have a ton of money to spend in free agency. You would think so. I think, I think you got to trade back, get a couple more day two picks. I think if you, when you look at this draft, I think the first round looks really good in top dozen picks. And then I really think if you could get volume in the second and third round, I'll tell you the thing that I saw yesterday that was pretty intriguing to me. Deep up. Yeah. Was a lot of talk about Mac Jones that the team that wants Mac Jones being the dolphins.

26:34Yeah. I'm all over that, man. That is intriguing to me. Why? Because the dolphins have a fire sale going on where you could probably get any number of their guys. Yep. You want Minka? You want, they get all kinds of guys. Jalen Waddle, Malik, Washington. I think Devon H&N would be an awesome Niner. And so they have players. Then they also have the 11th pick, which they're not giving you. And the Niner say they want to number one, they're not getting it. No, they have the 43rd pick in the second round, which would be a very nice pick. But the kicker here is the dolphins have three picks. That's the key in the third round. And if you're the 49ers and you're looking at this draft, if I'm moving Mac Jones, I want those picks. I want those three third round picks. Because I might be able to build my football team up with those picks. I'd be very intrigued by, you know, Niner said they want to first. Dolphin say screw you. We're not giving you a first. Right. Dolphin say, how about a second? Niner say, well, you know what? How about how about some of those third round picks in a player?

27:37And to me, if you could get, you know, Malik Washington is a nice little receiver. We played at Virginia. And two or two of the three third round picks, something like that. I think that's the route I'd like to go. I like to see you, you know, get a couple of those day two picks and see if you could fill some of your needs because all the mock drafts show. There's all kinds of great players in the second and third rounds. I'm with your crew. I like the way you think because that's the team I've been circling for Mac Jones. And you and I have been talking about it where would you trade him this off season? Is it doesn't make more sense to hang on to him when you need to back up quarterback in this league? And Brock pretty has shown sometimes that he could get banged up. And you know, I do trust Kyle Shanahan to find that next backup quarterback, whether it's another Reclamation project in a Zach Wilson or somebody else, or maybe Curtis work is that guy. But I cousins. Yeah, I mean, I mean, Cursons, you may have options to be a starter, but I think the Miami Dolphins is the team from Mac Jones. Talk about that next. And also a name I want to float out there to you Krueger. It's a splashy name, but maybe it doesn't cost that much to get as far as a trade.

28:39We'll talk about the next Larry Krueger Derek Poppads dirty work on these sports leader. Hi, this is Alex Cantrowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology podcast a long time reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it. Asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices and meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

29:39Here is the future of the NFL takes center stage. The NFL draft starts April 23rd, register for free entry at NFL.com slash draft access today. I got no problem with some nuts in my sandwich. Now back to dirty work. Adam Copeland and Derek Papa in the KNB art casino matrix progressive jackpot studios. Casino matrix progressive jackpots are here. Where are you? Let's drop in. Please play responsibly called one eight hundred gambler. Jury work on a Thursday, Larry Krueger. The man loves nuts in his sandwich. No problem with some nuts in my sandwich and Derek Papa. I got you until six o'clock. Tim, who's who's feeling in the night for a little Krueger and Niners nightly? Oh, it's car ram, my friend. Oh, Coach Ramirez has got you on some Niners nightly and JD for some dubzo team. And JD for some dubzo team. He'll got you, he'll get you after the warriors without Christos Persingas and Steph Curry take on the Oklahoma City Thunder yikes. We're talking 49ers the offseason.

30:41Note to self wager against the warriors. Yeah. I mean, actually, no tonight's against Houston Rockets, my bad. And then the next game is against OKC, but still a pretty safe wager. Yeah, both games right now. Don't look great for the shorthanded Golden State Warriors, but we're talking 49ers football. We're talking Giants baseball at the, at the end of the hour here with F P Santangelo. But Krueger, you talked about Mac Jones. That's a conversation you and I had months ago when Brock Purti came back and a lot of talk about, you know, from Tom Pelicero and Ian Rappaport saying that he's going to have a robust market in the offseason. And lately, it's kind of tippered off a little bit where Matt Barrows evict taper at the combine, cut up with some GMs. And some people believe that right now Mac Jones doesn't have that robust market that once was there. And I think one GM was on record saying on the 49ers going to throw in Kyle Shadehane in the deal too. Now that's, you know, kind of poo-pooing the accomplishments of Mac Jones this season with a 5 and 3 record and, you know, having a, you know, I researched in his career, having

31:42a Sam Darnold effect. I do think a team's going to be desperate enough to trade him given the, the lack of quarterbacks in this upcoming draft and the QB market where Malik Willis is the best free agent option in a course of the other guys that will be cut here, Kyler Murray to, to a tongue of a viola. But you look around the Vikings, yes, I understand that that why probably wouldn't be a good situation for him because you're competing with JJ McCarthy and they may still have hope with him. The New York Jets are a dumpster fire. And that's not a good situation for Mac Jones and they're trying to lose as well. The Atlanta Falcons don't have a lot of draft capital right now from a year ago, which running away a first round pick to get James Pierce. The Miami Dolphins to me, Krug, I'm with you, make the most sense because it's the same scheme. Bobby Slowick comes over from Kyle Shanahan. He's the office coordinator there and I, you know, they're, they're right now they're going to be in a cap, a health situation with releasing to a tongue of a viola 99 million in dead cap. They can trade for him. They got multiple third rounders.

32:43And yeah, I think it makes a ton of sense where they can trade them. Maybe they have to give them a contract, but not a ton of money. So I'm with you, Krug. Mac Jones is a great thing with the Miami Dolphins when he's from Florida, right? He's a Florida kid and you're sending him kind of home sort of, I mean, he's from Jacksonville area, but still you're sending him to Florida and it's a total rebuild and dolphins, you know, I mean, a lot of players like to play in Miami, I think it would be a good fit. It's the other conference. They have assets. Once again, I was looking at those three third round picks and I think if you're the 49ers, I mean, you should drive a hard bargain, but I kind of look at the draft as it's like top 10, top 15, and then there's like, it's all kind of the same until about the fourth round. So I mean, to me, I'd want volume. If I could get a player from them, they got a bunch of, you know, I would love Achan and two of those third round picks. That's a lot. I'm with you. I mean, I'd be willing to throw in something else. I mean, you want, you want a you we can make that happen, you know, you want a, you want

33:47a receiver? I think we got some extra receivers laying around. I'm just saying, that's what I want because I think Achan is a perfect, you know, first of all, they're going to move off of Achan, supposedly there, you know, and Achan in this, I love the Achan at A&M, but he's really merged with the dolphins, man, and the Niners can't lean on Christian McCaffrey to be the guy. He's coming, coming off a year, he had 450 touches, you know, he's approaching his 30th day, he's naturally going to wind down even if he didn't have an enormous number of touches. To me, you get a guy like Achan, and then that would allow you to use McCaffrey out of the backfield and use him in a bunch of different ways, and Achan has got such unbelievable speed. The Niners, you know, I mean, they couldn't get to the edge, I mean, think about it, and they're got to have it moment against Seattle. They're going zone, read, you know, quarterback, pitch to their, from their full bat. I mean, it was just a disaster to the short side of the field.

34:49They have no speed to the edge, and Achan, I think, would be, would be fantastic. Achan and a couple picks, I think you got to get something for sure. Like, picks, there's a failure rate to picks. So you might get a couple picks, but, you know, I mean, that, that Herschel Walker trade was a great trade because Dallas turned those picks into something, right? But you know what? The Rams made a trade like that a year or two earlier with Eric Dickerson, and they turned that into Cleveland, Gary, and a bunch of nothing, Dan Hawkins and all these, and all of a sudden, it's like, well, the Rams still suck, and they traded, they traded Dickerson. So it's not about trading the peace. It's about what you do with the picks that you get in return. And I just think that if you could build with some picks, that's the route to go. I mean, that would be a hell of a backfield, a Christian McCaffery and Devon Achan, and that would be a great transition period going from McCaffery in a couple of seasons to Devon Achan, same skill set there. That would be fantastic. I don't know if the Miami Dolphins are willing to move off of him just yet, but, I mean,

35:50if they're willing to do that for multiple third rounders and Devon Achan from Mac Jones, yeah, I do that in a heartbeat. If you're the 49ers, I would take that in right now as far as the back of quarterback position. Are you confident that if they do, if they do move off of Mac Jones and they shouldn't be pressured into doing this because they're not going to get a first round pick as Jeff Howe is reporting, that's not going to happen. Second round pick. Okay, I can see that third round pick. Yeah, that's reasonable for most teams, but let's say they make this move with the free agents available and Kirk customs could be a guy, but I got to believe that he wants to be a starter again. Are you comfortable in Kyle Shanahan finding that next Mac Jones, that next guy available in free agency, whether that's Zach Wilson, or do they have that guy right now in Curtis work, are you are you comfortable in Kyle Shanahan finding that guy? Well, I mean, you know, it's yes and no. I mean, there's, I don't think you find guys. I mean, Mac Jones was a completed 74% of his passes at Alabama. He didn't just show up with the Niners and also and they'd say, hey, they got this high percentage guy.

36:51No, he did that. I mean, he that's who he was. But yeah, I mean, Justin Field's is looking for a new home. Zach Wilson's going to be looking for a new home. Marcus Mariotta's looking for a new home. I kind of would would disagree with you on Kirk Cousins. Yeah, think about it. Kirk Cousins has made $300 million. Does Kirk Cousins need to keep playing from cash? No, I think he's only playing for the chance to win the ring. So to me, it's like, hey, why don't you come here, back up Brock Pertie. Brock Pertie gets hurt from time to time. And you got a shot. I mean, if you're Kirk Cousins family, do you want him to go to New York or one of these crappy teams with a horrible offensive line and just get out there for 17 more starts and you know, you're getting your husband destroyed. You're getting your dad destroyed. I mean, he's old. As opposed to he comes here, he sits behind Pertie, plays four or five games in a Shanahan led system.

37:52Maybe he gets a ring. I don't know. The guy's already made his money. I feel like he's going to choose the Niners backup job over a starting job somewhere because a starting job where the starting job he's going to get is just going to lead him to a wheelchair. If I was him, I'd take a little lesson and come here and maybe win a ring. I like Kruger thinking about Cooper Cousins, his son. What's best for Kirk Cousins? I'm with you, Kirk Cousins. I've met Kirk Cousins. I've interviewed Kirk Cousins. He's a decent guy. He's made more money. He doesn't need the money. So if you're at this point, if you've got $300 million in the bank or career earnings, you really want to play on the jets or do you want to play five games with the Niners and win a ring as the backup? I mean, Sam Donald almost won a ring as a backup to Brock Pertie. Maybe Cousins could do it. And I think it would be really nice for the four Niners if they kept work or if they found

38:54another young quarterback in the draft they like to have Kirk Cousins in that room with Brock and those young quarterbacks could be absolutely invaluable to their development. So I'm all in on the Kirk Cousins idea. It makes a ton of sense. And obviously Kirk Cousins knows Kyle Shinahan from the days with Washington back in the day. But I hear you, Kruger. And I think that he has the options to go to TV Matt Ryan left to be the president of football operations for the Lannifalcons. So there's an open seat there on the CBS pregame show and Kirk Cousins nailed it in the AFC championship game. So he could go into television. And yes, as far as options out there live in New York jets and these crappy teams, he doesn't want to do that. I just, I don't think that we could close the door yet on the Lannifalcons. I know they're going to release him. But he does know Kevin Stafansky from his days with the Minnesota Vikings. And it may just be that they want him to sign on a cheaper deal. It may take some time where he pulls like an Aaron Rogers and waits it out from the Jordy of the off season. I just think that Atlanta makes a ton of sense because we don't know about Michael Pentax right now.

39:59They don't know when he's coming back. Yeah, well, they could make sense for Mac Jones too. Yeah, no, totally. But they don't have a ton of draft capital because they trade away their first round pick and they need those picks and later rounds. But they do have hand pick guys that Raheem Morris hand picked. Right. And now he's moving on, you know, regime change. You want to get value in a trade in the NFL. Go knock on the door for some high pick when there's been regime change. Because the GM's not tied to those guys anymore. Isn't that how the Niners got Lakin Tomlinson? You know, they got him basically for a fifth round pick because the guy at the GM had drafted I think had moved on at that point. Right. So, um, so anyway, I just think that might that might be an idea. Just, you know, see if you could make a make a some kind of some kind of a good trade that brings you the player. I think that might be good. No, I, I totally get it. Yeah, Cricons will be a fantastic option this off season.

40:59I just think that we'll see what happens here. I think that when it comes to the Atlanta Falcons, it makes sense with that coach. But again, then again, I'm comfortable in caution and finding that next guy. If Mac Jones does leave this off season. Now, we were talking about big moves. The 49ers can make and they're not in the position right now to trade away a lot of draft cap on the first round or even the second round. But I want to throw a name out here, crew. And this could be a terrible idea. So let me know if I'm an idiot. But the Kansas City Chiefs want to get younger on the defensive side of the football. They just trade away. Tremick Duffy. They can't afford him. They're going through their own kind of semi competitive rebuild. And then we'll see when Patrick Mahomes comes back. And a name that I've thrown out there is Chris Jones. And he's on the older side. He's going to be 32 this year. He's still a pretty good player. But you do need presence on the defensive line. He's an interior past rusher. But a year ago with seven sacks, he's making a lot of money. He's do 31 million this year. But if you do cut him after next year, it's only a $19 million cap hit.

41:59So with the money he's making and you take on all that salary, I do think the 49ers could potentially get him for a third round pick, a fourth round pick. So you're not having to give up multiple first round picks for a Max Crosby. And he was a pain in the ass for you in both super balls. I know he's on the older side. It's going to be costly as far as the money he's making. But what do you think about potentially going for a Chris Jones as far as a splash? He moved this off season. Wow. I mean, first of all, I mean, you know, he's he is just one of the one of the guy. I mean, he's one of the reasons the Niners don't have the ring. Yeah, I mean, this is the guy. They couldn't block this guy in 54. They couldn't block this guy in 58. I mean, that's basically it. I mean, Jimmy G through a pick with Chris Jones's face mask plastered to his. That was a horrible decision. And then Chris Jones blew up party when Berford blew it. So I mean, I don't know. It's Chris Jones is great. They need they need a Chris Jones, for sure.

43:00But Chris Jones, you know, I don't know that you want this guy at the end. Because I don't know how well he's going to come to grips with his diminishing talent. And he's an absolute. What I love about Chris Jones is he is the engine. He's he's like a Charles Haley. It's like, you are going to play hard or I'm going to kill you. He's like that guy. I mean, it's like, have you seen some of those go back to the Niners first, those two Super Bowls where the Niners had some momentum going and look at Chris Jones just unleashing hate on his teammates on the sideline. He is like, he's the reason that these guys played so hard. Because they he they were going to get killed by by Chris Jones. He is such a tough guy. And I love everything about him except that he's can't really do it the way he used to do it. And I think you'd be paying way high of a price, higher price in a trade, higher price in a salary than he's worth.

44:03I mean, I'd be totally interested in him if I were the Raiders. If I had some nightmare culture and everybody's dogging it all the time and people come there for the check and it's just you're known as dog city. Yeah, then then go get Chris Jones, stop dogging it. You know, New World Order, this is how it's going down, you know, you got a culture change, but the Niners don't have that kind of a culture problem. So I think the overpay would be too much for them. I totally get that. I think also the knock on him is even though he is a nightmare. Some people do say he does take plays off and there was that one play in particular, the money night game against the Jacksonville Jaguars where Trevor Lawrence falls down, then gets up and rushes for the touchdown. Chris Jones just standing there and he has a force to be reckoned with. He still is a good player in this league. He is declining a little bit, but yeah, I mean, I haven't heard his name at all when it comes to trade talks. So maybe I'm just throwing this out there, but I think it would be interesting.

45:04I think if you're looking for an upgrade on the defensive line, I will look to this guy. He's a lot cheaper than a Max Crosby as far as trade compensation. But it could be where it's too rich for the 49ers blood and they want to make moves elsewhere. Now, as far as the guys they have right now, the younger players at CJ West and Alfred Collins on the defensive line, how do you see those guys going into your two crew? I didn't interview at the end of the year with Jordan Elliott, the defensive lineman, the veteran defensive lineman, and I was talking about the young guys and he made the point that he felt like by the end of the year, he felt like CJ West had taken it to another level. So I kind of was coming to him from the standpoint of, hey, these guys are, you know, Collins may have had the better year or maybe they were kind of, you know, kind of equal type rookie years. But after talking to Jordan Elliott, it was pretty clear that he views CJ West as the better of the two. And he was a locker made of Collins. So it's like he had some axe to grind with AC. But I just think that CJ West is so strong, functional

46:11strength. He stays square. He plays the run. He's got a lot of quickness to the quarterback, kind of like a DJ Jones. I think he's a really, really good player. I think Collins is also a really good player. He's big and long and needs to work on playing with a bend at knee and leverage. But, you know, just from interviewing AC a number of times this year, this guy, it matters to him, man. I mean, this guy is all about it. So, you know, he's going to get, those two guys are going to be really good. Now, what they aren't is they're not, there's no Aaron Donald there. You know, there's no pass rusher there. These are run defenders. That third guy's got to be an awesome mover. And that's why I keep bringing up guys like Zane Durant. There's another kid in this draft name Caleb Caleb, not K. Dinn Proctor who plays in Southeast Louisiana. But they got to get an interior rusher. Yeah. With some serious speed. And they, the kid Durant from Penn State ran 475 or 476 at 61290 pounds. To me, that, and he's projected to go in like the third or

47:19fourth round. If I were the Niners, I would take Zane Durant. I trade back in the round two and take Zane Durant in the second round. And he is the perfect interior rush guy to put inside next to Collins and West. So, you got one guy who can absolutely burn, you know, you know, basically hit a hit a hit an edge and get the quarterback. And then you got two guys can really move the run, you know, really move guys in the run game and play the run well. So, yeah, they need an interior rusher for sure. And they're hard to find. Michele Williams might be that guy to some degree. But I think they need a little bit more of a first and second down interior guy who can, who can get the quarterback. Real quick. This guy was mentioned as a possible addition for the 49ers this off season of free agent. We think about John Franklin Myers, who was with the Denver Broncos last few years. I think seven sacks each season. He's versatile where he could be a defensive end or an interior pass rusher at the defensive tackle position. We think about John Franklin Myers, crew. I love him. He's awesome. Barrow's suggested that the Niners are going to be

48:21in the mix for John Franklin Myers. So, you know, when the Niners practice against Denver this summer, there were two guys that just dominated. I mean, this guy was one of them. I mean, this guy just totally dominated. And the other was Benito. You know, every time you looked up, it was like, here's Nick Benito. And I'm sitting there going, man, this Nick Benito looks like like one of the best defensive players in the league. And then I'm like, well, he's not that good. Well, sure enough, he was one of the best defensive players in the league. And Franklin Myers is, I would say every bit of 290, 295, but he's got a pass rushing knack. He's really strong. He would be, he'd cost you, man. He'd really cost you. They'd have to pay some serious coin to get him to sign. But yeah, he would be, you know, Zane Durant's the cheaper version of what I'm talking about because you're getting him in the draft. But yeah, if you want to fill this need in free agency, John Franklin Myers would be ideal because he's he's a load. He's a tremendous pass rusher. He gets off the football.

49:23I mean, this guy gets off the ball. And that that's what they need. They got to have somebody in the interior right now when you're watching teams defend the Niners, they're not worried about the tackles. And they're kind of they're kind of sagging in the middle against the tackles, which means that anytime Bryce Huff or Boas or any of their edge pieces get home. Here's another guy just sitting there waiting for him because the tackles aren't really much of a threat as rusher. And I saw that at more than a few times on the film in the second half of the year. So they got to get that interior rusher. I think it's really one of the biggest keys of the off season. It's a key of the off season that he addressed their needs on the defensive line. And also, they need to address their needs on the offensive line. And we'll talk about that along with Trent Williams. And he wants to restructure his contract. He wants more guaranteed money. Would it ever get to the point where the 49ers remove off of Trent Williams? I find that hard to believe. But is this this off season? Is this the off season where they need to find his replacement? We'll talk about it next. Larry Krueger, Derek Poppads, dirty work on these sports

50:24leaders. Hi, this is Alex Cantrowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology podcast, a long time reporter and an on air contributor to CNBC. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it. Asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, and meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology podcast wherever you get your podcasts.