Will the 49ers splash the cash this offseason?

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 Strength in America's Health Care. It's time, it's time, it's time to bring the 49ers to the four frauds. Let's go, Ty. This is the best team that they can put on the field this year. Welcome to Niners Nightly. You guys are going to hear it. The latest from the locker room, the latest from the podium, the latest scuttle from the players on your proud home of 49ers football. KNPR, the sports leader, your faithful fix with your host Larry Kruger begins. Take phone calls, we'll talk Niners for a full hour, fired up, really excited.

1:03No, no, no, no, no. Let's do it. Niners nightly Friday, March 6th, the beautiful city by the bay. Whatever city by the bay, you might be in. You might not even be proximate to the bay. You could be listening anywhere worldwide via the power of the connected series of tubes called the internet, but whether you're listening in more traditional manners or surfing the world wide web, happy to have you here this evening for Niners. Nightly, we're going to do one hour before 49ers talking and we're just going to roll right in to sports phone KNPR. Of course, number to call in is the same whether we're talking giants and warriors and sharks a little bit later on if we're talking Niners right now, 415 808 KNPR is the number looking forward to talking to you over the course of the evening. You can text in as well.

2:03I prefer phone calls, but you can text as well. I'm kind of sick of texts. If I'm being honest, if I'm being blunt, I'm kind of sick of text. I send a thousand texts every day. And you know, sometimes you just, you just want to hear the voice of another person on the other line. Sometimes it gets a little impersonal when you're constantly texting, hey, what you're hearing about Mac Jones? Hey, what's going on with Brandon? Are you cool? Kind of market to see. Have sometimes you just want to hear the voice to sometimes I'll just call guys up and be like, what's up? And typically they actually don't pick up because no one actually picks up the phone anymore. We're off to a Rick Rollins start here on Niners nightly, but there's a lot of stuff to get to here as we enter the final hours of what was the 2025, 26 season entering the new league year next week with a legal tampering period, holy oxymoron, what the hell's a legal tampering period? Oh, you mean free agency, which by the way is already happening ahead of the legal tampering period. And the Niners got a lot of needs. I don't always agree with Mr. Larry Krueger, and I don't want to come and besmirch his

3:05reputation on this show, but I, apparently unlike Larry, do listen to the station. And I was riding my bike around Alameda today, because what a gorgeous day. I was getting my Friday sushi going down to the safe, we're getting that $5 sushi. If you haven't tried it yet, highly recommended. It's my favorite thing I do every Friday, riding around going get my hair cut. And I got, I got the leader going into an earphone, running off the Apple watch. Again, technology, incredible stuff. And earlier today, I hear the great and esteemed Larry Krueger suggest, and I'm not going to say it was anything more than a suggestion, but suggest that the San Francisco 49ers trade Trent Williams for a second round pick in this draft and that that should be the first move of many to tear it down and get younger. And I almost swerved off the road. Thank goodness I didn't, because I was on my bicycle.

4:06Thank goodness I didn't, but here I thought the 49ers had just taken their gap here. Here I thought that the entire point of the 2025 season was to reset the books and restart the Super Bowl window. Here I thought that if you were to move on from Trent Williams, you'd still be hit with a massive cap number down the line. And here I thought that we, going, oh, well, you can't compete with the Seahawks. You can't compete with the Rams. Name another team the Niners can't compete with in the NFC. And by the way, as much as I agree that the Rams are above the Niners in the pecking order, and as no one can deny that the Seahawks are above the Niners in the pecking order, the Seahawks are coming down a notch. As great as that defense is, look at all the free agents on that defense. It's not going to be the same next year. That doesn't mean it's going to be a massive downfall for the Seattle Seahawks, but they're

5:10not going to have Kenneth Walker. They might not have Rick Wolland. They might not have Boya Maffek. They might not have love or joke. That's a pretty big deal. I know they draft very well, but they don't draft that well. They might not have Rashid Shaheed. Just just fun to say, even if I get caught up on it every now and again. And oh, yeah, you're still going to have Sam Darnold as your quarterback. And I know, again, not to besmirch the good name of Sam Darnold, but you're putting more on his shoulders. I mean, how that work out for you? You won the title. You won the title. And Sam Darnold is now a Super Bowl winning quarterback. But you know, so is Joe Flacco and Trent Dilford. And did Sam Darnold win that Superbowl or he'd simply not lose it. Well now you might be asking Sam Darnold to go win new games. And it could turn out like the Thursday night football game or the NFC championship game.

6:11Sam Darnold was fantastic in those. It could also look a lot like the first half of a lot of Seattle Seahawks games going down the stretch. And in many ways, the week 18 game where the Seahawks with competent or even above average quarterback play would have gotten 30 points in that contest and aren't looking off wide open touchdowns. Susanne Charbonne on their opening drive things of this nature. Then there's the Rams and the Rams made a hell of a move unquestionably. They said, if them picks again, less need can only be held in check for so long. And they go get Trent McDuffie, who's a wonderful football player and anyone who doesn't believe that I have a 2023 Superbowl take to show you. Wonderful player, great pickup for them. They were in desperate need of a corner. The Rams are a hell of an operation. No question about it. Do you trust Matt Stafford's body? I know that that might be a strange question to ask here on a Friday night.

7:15But like, may I remind you Matt Stafford spent the entirety of training camp in a converted air stream with a hyperbaric chamber and a red light therapy table. And that was just so that he could play a credit to Matt Stafford, NFL MVP, magnificent football player, one of the all time greats. And yes, I remember everyone who told me when the Niners were interested in Matt Stafford that he was no good and that he would never win because he never won in Detroit. I remember those people who said that their card of ball knowing was revoked. And they get to live in that knowledge that they were wrong in perpetuity. But I'm not talking about Matt Stafford and his abilities. I'm talking about his body and the ultimate ability, which is can you play football? And I'm not wishing ill upon Matt Stafford, but I would not terribly excited to roll the dice on Matt Stafford's body holding up again.

8:16This is the NFL. Nothing is static, not a thing. So the idea that the San Francisco 49ers third in their division, but perhaps even third in the NFC are not a team that's in a position to compete for a championship is laughable to me. Now as it stands, I'll agree on this. This roster, if nothing is really done to it, other than a couple of low and bargain bin free agents and some draft picks at their typical hit rate in the draft, yeah, then they're not competing for the Super Bowl. They're probably not. But if they want to toss a little bit of money around, if they have a good draft, then they're absolutely in it again, who stands out as a superior team to the San Francisco 49ers? Other than a Seahawks team, which is going to take a step back next year, talk about nothing being static, defense generally isn't sticky year to year. Now Seattle has a long way to fall to become mortal again, but I don't think that they're

9:20going to be one of the great defenses of all time again next year, not with the attrition that's coming their way, even with all their salary cap space, they can't keep them all. Not with the Rams constantly walking on the tightrope of canned Matt Stafford player or not. The 49ers were in a great position. Brock Purti does not play full seasons when he does season MVP candidate. When he doesn't, the 49ers seasons go off the rails. This past year, they invested in really high quality backup quarterback, a guy who could be a starter, maybe not should, but could be a starter in the league again. They were able to win 12 games in the regular one 12 games. They were competing for the one seed. Think about all that went wrong with the San Francisco 49ers last year, and yes, they had an easy schedule, at least as it was drawn up, but it turned out to be a relatively average schedule, the exact equivalent statistically to the Seattle Seahawks schedule. I didn't hear anyone saying, oh, Seattle had a cakewalk.

10:22No, that would have been the Patriots who got dog walked in the Super Bowl by a superior Seattle team. Seattle and the Rams can come down very easily. The San Francisco 49ers are in a spot where they can come up very easily. Again, they do have to, you know, do the work to get there. They do have to sign some guys who are of quality, middle class, maybe even lower upper class players. Toss a little cash around, Jed. I don't care about your soccer teams. I care about your football team. Where do you think the money's coming from? Invest in the source. And yes, they have to draft well, but a draft should not make or break your upcoming season, unless you're treating it like 2025 when you don't sign any damn free agents. And so your draft is your only way of filling out your roster. You can't do that again. You want to try that again. You're going to end up with a very similar result, which is pretty good. By the way, I think most teams in the NFL would love that. Not good enough for the San Francisco 49ers, at least it shouldn't be good enough for

11:22this fan base, and it shouldn't be good enough for this organization. But again, I repeat, who are these other dynamo teams in the NFC that the San Francisco 49ers can't go toe to toe with? If the Rams come back and the Seahawks come back, or hell, if only one of them comes back, who's the next best team? The Bears? Okay, they don't have a left tackle. They just got a center who's pretty me. Are you betting on Caleb Williams to just keep progressing forever? I know I'm not. They got some questions at wide receiver now, though I think that they feel they answer the questions at wide receiver, not having DJ more there. Now might add more questions to the matter. Their defense is not good. Their defense, which had mostly healthy players when they played the 49ers in week 17, going up against the Niners defense, which was fourth string, looked effectively the same. And it's not like the Bears have a tremendous amount of cash to go flash around, even though

12:23with the loss of Drew Dalman and now trading DJ more, there's a little bit of money to spend. But just as much as the Niners have to spend, again, if they want to, there's a difference between having cap space and having the cash. Now the Niners have the cash, do they want to spend it? Are we talking about the Detroit Lions? Are we talking about the Green Bay Packers? Are we talking about a single team out of the NFC East? What about the South? Anyone really concerned about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Anyone really worried about the Philadelphia Eagles? No one wanted to be their offensive coordinator for like a month and a half. Are we terribly concerned about them? The Niners were able to beat the Eagles with Garrett, Wallow and Eric Hendrix playing linebacker for them. And they looked great because the Eagles quarterback is kind of a fraud. The Niners are absolutely in this. And it doesn't mean that you have to look at the Niners and say, wow, what an operation.

13:24They can be flawed too. But there's a hell of a lot of flawed teams. I think some flaws are coming the way of the two top teams and the idea of dropping Trent Williams because well, you know, why bother? Like you're an NBA team in 2016 and the Warriors just got Kevin Durant, it just sounds ludicrous to me. It sounds absurd to me because it's not like the Niners schedule gets any harder. At least when it comes to opponents, they are getting the short end of the stick when it comes to travel. It looks like it's going to be the most difficult travel season in the history of NFL football with the trip to Australia and then Mexico City that we'll see if Mexico City goes down. So they get that. That's the NFL getting even. But that's a third-play schedule now. Third-play schedule. It's not fourth, but it's not number one. I think they wish it was number one that would have meant that they one week 18. We wouldn't be having this conversation. Would we think there would be a lot more optimism and it's fair.

14:28Seattle kicked their teeth in twice and the Rams gave Mac Jones all he could handle before Brock came back in week 10. Is that what we're hanging our hat on? That's why the Niners should tear it down. Again, I was going to ride my bike off the road that God, I was wearing a helmet. Wear a helmet, people, by the way, both on a football field and on your bike. This Trent thing has to get resolved. It has to get resolved because neither party can afford for it not to be resolved. There will not be a free agent market for Trent Williams. The 49ers won't allow it. If they had already, if they had decided that they needed to cut him, they have to cut him before the league year begins because they have to designate him a post June one cut. In order for there to be any positive salary cap ramifications and even then they're not that great. They really aren't. You're only mitigating it by like 30, 40%.

15:29So you still have him on the books for a nice big number, but now you don't have Trent Williams and again, you would have to have those wheels in motion right now because the league year ends next week. I have no indication as it stands right now that the 49ers are going to cut Trent Williams with the post June one designation, which means they're not going to cut him. Now maybe Trent Williams knows that and this is a game of chicken, but there is also just the possibility that they play out the contract that's already on the books. It's not great for the 49ers because it is a large salary cap hit for this season. But it's already on the books. They already have cap space with it on the books. They can work around it. They can manage and it doesn't sound to me again as we sit here today, hope I'm wrong about this by the way, that the Niners are going to be terribly active and free agency as it stands, really making some big bids going for the big time players doesn't sound

16:31like that. Things can change and the Niners work in mysterious ways. So they're not going to cut them. They do want to resign him, extend him, push those void years a little bit down the line to when the salary cap goes up another 15 another 20 another 30 million. And by the way, it continuously goes up 10 million more than expected, which is already about 20 million more every year. So it's going up 30 million a year and guess which league has their TV contracts up at the end of the year. Oh right, the NFL. And guess which league dominates 90% of the most a lot of viewed audiences in television, the NFL. So they're about to get all the money, all the money. You thought the salary cap was going up like gangbusters before that the NFL is legitimately going to have to come up with ways between now in 2030 to make sure that this calendar salary cap doesn't spike so much that teams go out and do reckless stuff. They're going to have to create mechanisms to hold back spending.

17:34And the NBA didn't do when Kevin Durant went to the lawyers. Everyone just got 23 million dollars. Guess what? You created a super team. So if you push Trent Williams void years where he is still counting against the cap, but is not actually on the roster because he's retired or he's just no longer under contract with you, whichever one those might be. It's a lot easier to manage. Just push it down the line. And you don't do that with everybody, but for Trent Williams, yeah, you do it. Sorry. I know he's not the same player. He was two years ago, 10 years ago, but he's still one of the preeminent left tackles in football. He still wants to play when he's on the field. He is absolutely fantastic. He was absolutely fantastic in a lot of cases when he wasn't even remotely close to healthy. How about a wild idea? You invest some of the money that you're going to save on a new Trent Williams deal and give him a left guard that he can play next to all year. In theory, of course, it is football after all.

18:37But you negate a little bit of the salary cap concern this year, you guarantee next year and you push the void year down the line two years, maybe even three. It's pretty straightforward. And yes, there will be differences in what Trent wants versus what the Niners want to give him. Of course, there. But Trent has no recourse here. He really doesn't because he does have a $10 million bonus coming up, but that bonus is set for March 20th. So if things really do go to hell, and again, there is no indication that they have gone to hell, the Niners can just say, you know what? Yeah, you know, we're going to cut you. And it's not going to be great on the salary cap, but we're going to save the $10 million and we're going to cut you. And if they do that, now Trent Williams has a market, but he's not getting paid. He's not getting paid what he thought he would because who still has money come March 20th.

19:38Really bad teams that aren't looking to spend any money. So both sides need this deal to happen. The contract that Trent signed before the 2024 season, one that he said, here's my number, call me when you meet it. The Niners danced around it, danced around it, danced around it, and then the seasons are right on the precipice and they go, fine, here's your number and here's a little bit more. The way that Trent Williams has negotiated every contract that he has had in the NFL up to this point, this past contract was made to be extended in this manner. And that $10 million guarantee date, it's almost a poison pill for Trent Williams. Now you can get really hairy for the Niners to don't get me wrong, it works both ways. But it is a much clearer detriment to Trent Williams than it is to the Niners. It gives the Niners a bit of leverage in a situation where typically they don't have it. And I think that it behooves both parties to understand that they both have leverage.

20:42And let's get this thing done. And while the reports are out there, they're not very far apart. This thing can get done fast because it's a pretty clear contract that a don't like myself can figure out and of course cross check with people who know this stuff. And they'll go, yeah, that makes sense. There is a consensus that just adding a year or two, maybe half guaranteeing the second year is what makes sense universally. Now we're just getting into the nitty gritty of probably a difference of $5 million. It can be hammered out, it can be worked out and there is an effective deadline here this weekend. It wouldn't shock me at all if come Monday as you get a string, just a string of signings even though they're only supposed to be talking starting Monday as you just get a litany of contracts coming across your timelines and ESPN dot com tickers and all that.

21:44That the Niners don't stick in their Trent Williams signs to your contract extension trading him for a second. What the hell is that going to do you if you're getting rid of Trent Williams, you might as well get rid of everybody and getting rid of everybody. When you look to me at least like the third best team in the NFC as things stand now with all of your flaws would be complete malpractice, complete malpractice and I don't think John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan for all their flaws are willing to commit that kind of malpractice. I don't think Jed York is interested in that kind of a long rebuild. If you're willing to get rid of Trent Williams over small stuff and while $5 million to you and me is nothing small, when we're talking about a guy who's made of a quarter of a billion dollars to this point in his career, it's the small stuff. When you're talking about one of the richest franchises and all of sports, one that can sustain two soccer teams off of their revenues, we're talking about small stuff.

22:45If we're going to sweat the small stuff to the point where you're going to make catastrophic decisions, rash decisions, a decision that would take you from a team that can compete for the Super Bowl in earnest to a team that's either running out a first round pick at number 27 at left tackle or Austin Pleasants. If that's what the 49ers are interested in, then they're not interested in winning and I have to take them at their word that they are. Now they can really show it next week by acting beyond this Trent Williams situation. We'll get into that on the other side 808 K MBR is the number 415 808 K MBR call in texted want to hear from you. I got some targets for the 49ers and free agency, reasonable targets. None of this pie in the sky crap, none of this wishful thinking crap. We're going to talk real football on the other side curtain box hanging out with you

23:45until nine and Niners nightly's ended at seven on these sports. 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 Strengthen America's Healthcare. For a summer camp where kids run the show, at the California Historical Radio Society in Alameda, students in grades six to ten learn from professionals to create real radio shows, podcasts, and STEM electronic projects. Learn more at chrsradio.org slash camp. Hey, Adam Divine here. Looking for a way to make a big change for all kids in your community? Just look for the balloon. When you see the children's miracle that were balloon at your local store, restaurant,

24:45or gas station, your donation provides crucial funds for local children. Children's hospitals, hospitals that provide life-changing care for all kids. Children's Miracle Network, hospitals, partners, programs, and donors. Like you. Learn more at cmn.org. Be full. Time to make some Niners noise. On Niners Nightly with Larry Krueger on your proud home of 40 Niners football, K-N-B-R-V-Sports leader. We're back with you on the sports leader. It's Niners Nightly, Dieter Kertnbach filling in for Larry Krueger. We have movement, folks. And our long national nightmare is over. You don't, you don't have to listen to anybody out here, spouting their nonsense about the Niners going and getting Max Crosby anymore. You don't have to worry about it.

25:47If you were getting annoyed, get in line, but it's also done now. Shop's closed. Max Crosby even can't go official until the new league here. But the Raiders get number 14th pick in this upcoming draft by the way, Baltimore picking 14. Oh boy. And next year's first round pick, which we'll see what that is. I never thought I'd see Baltimore drafting 14th, so who knows what it might be. Max Crosby going to the Baltimore Ravens in the first big domino, I would argue, of free agency. This is something that has been rumored and talked about ad nauseam for months. The Raiders didn't play Max Crosby for one game and he's like, get me the hell up out of here. And one of the funny things about the whole Max Crosby situation, which, the defensive ends that their characters now, they're not wide receivers, but their characters

26:48now, most of them. And I don't want to paint with too broad of a brush, but you know what I'm talking about. Crosby, you know, very vocal throughout this entire process. And one of the things that kept getting reported by reputable folks who were doing, you know, good honest to God journalism on this on this front was that Max Crosby's really tight with Mark Davis. He really believes in Mark Davis. He just doesn't believe in the way the organization is going or how they handle this playing time or, you know, anything about the organization. He just wants out of the organization, but he really likes the owner. So either Mark Davis does nothing or you might not be that close to friends with Mark Davis. Not his problem anymore because again, he's going cross country, going from Vegas to Baltimore. And the Ravens are dropping first round picks. This is another first round pick on the move. And you see the Rams going for Trent McDuffey, given a first round pick to the chiefs. The second of their two, their first round pick. They still have Atlanta's great work there, Falcons.

27:52Now the Ravens are trading their first round pick this year. It does highlight something that as I have been digging deeper and deeper into this draft class. And I still have roughly 200 prospects to go, but we're about a buck 75 down terms of scouting reports. I don't know how I'm going to make it. We'll endeavor nevertheless. Not that great a draft class. Just isn't. And I could talk myself into a lot of the players in it. I think that it might be a surprisingly deep class, but it is not top heavy. You can make the argument that there's like three or four true blue chippers. And everybody else from, let's say pick 13 maybe 15 onwards. This is kind of in a big morass of you can take them whenever. And I'm talking like day one, day two, even some day three guys, looking at the defensive tackles, the mock drafts are typically ridiculous at this juncture.

28:53But you see some defensive tackles mock to the 49ers. This guy Lee Hunter out of Texas tech Lee Hunter is like a fourth or a fifth round graded prospect. My blog has no juice, no pass rush ability. He's a zero or one technique in a tight front, which the 49ers don't run by the way. They run a straight four man, even with a wide nine. Like doesn't have a pass rush. All he is is just a gap plugger, which is great. Listen, I'm not disparaging the great gap pluggers in our league. But there's a reason that the gap plugger is consistently signed one year contracts for like $3 million. No juice. They're not game changing players. That said, if you don't have one, it's pretty evident, but I'm not sure the 27th pick is the right spot or even the 15th or even the 50th pick is the right spot to get somebody whose number one attribute is he big. He did a big old boy.

29:54And he really pushes the blocking sled well. I would hope so. What else can he do? Oh, that's it. Okay. You have the Rams and the Ravens, typically two of the best run franchises in football. Both saying, yeah, we're good. We're good. We'll take the player. We'll take somebody who we know can make an impact for us at a position where we have needs. We'll take that. You can deal with your flyers. You can deal with the lower portion of the first round of this draft after all the really good blue chip players are gone off, which again, there's just not that many of them. It might be in the Niners best interest as much as I really like a lot of the options that would fall to them at 27 because again, there's just not that much difference between like 10 and 40. So you kind of get your pick of the litter and the positions that the Niners have a lot of needs at are actually kind of loaded up in this draft class, but they're non premium positions. So it's like first and second down defensive ends.

30:59Lime backer, safety, Z wide receivers, guards, a lot of good guards. I'm into it. I can see why the rest of the league or at least two of the sharper teams in the league aren't into it. Oh, we can get a guard or we can have Max Crosby. Now again, to be clear here, the Raiders did good business on this one. Getting the 27th first round, 2027 first round pick, which might be 27th overall. We'll see what Baltimore Ravens do this year. We'll be a good bit of business because again, another big takeaway that anyone I talk to about this upcoming draft class is. Yeah, but if you see 27th, I can't go five minutes trying to talk about the prospects of the 2026 NFL draft without someone being like, yeah, but next year it's loaded. So the Raiders get a second dip there. So that's good business, but Max Crosby is not going to be a 49er.

31:59It never made any sense. It never made an ounce of fiscal sense. The Niners have a needed defensive end to be sure, but not so pressing as to give up multiple first round picks. Much less, you know, the value of pick 14, which they couldn't have reached anyway. Not so much to where you bring Max Crosby and on his existing deal, which is not exactly cap friendly or give Max Crosby. Who's got some pretty good tread on the tire now and extension. I mean, Max Crosby was around when they were in Oakland. Does it make sense for Baltimore? Yeah, Baltimore's got to get right and they got to get right right now because they don't know how much longer they have of elite level Lamar Jackson. Which is a fair concern, a totally fair concern. You also have a first time head coach in Jesse Minter, who is going to build this thing again through defense. Baltimore Ravens football, all that jazz.

33:01For the Raiders makes all the sense in the world. More bites at the apple for more young players to put around Fernando Mendoza. You don't need anybody who is going to be washed up by the time Mendoza gets to a second contract. You're not good enough. You're drafting one overall for a reason. This veteran players that you have on your team, if you're drafting one overall, you don't need them anymore. Because you've sucked for a while. You really sucked last year. Clearly, those guys are not the foundation of a Super Bowl team if you just bring in the right guy. So they're doing a full rebuild and they're going to be well suited to do that. So who I do believe fairly is the number one overall pick watches tape against Iowa. I mean, he was awesome. Now, I will admit to some bias here. I remember believe watching the first and second game of Cal's 2024 season. And going into the 49ers press box.

34:01And there was some conversation about archmaning and quarterbacks. And who do you like? Who do you like? And I remember telling Josh do both of the AP. I wouldn't be shocked if Fernando Mendoza turns out to be the best quarterback in the country, which was unquestionably a bold take. I do remember who laughed when I said that. And they will be getting a text message when he gets drafted one overall. He's really so there's some bias there. I'm a little bit anchored. I'm going to admit that. But watch in the tape on him. And I'm not spending a tremendous amount of time. But watch the Iowa tape and some of the shots that he was able to take down the field. Really threatened windows. That kids got it. That's a hell of a player. That's a hell of a football player. And while I route not for the Raiders or for really anybody. I think that if you're doing a rebuild, you could do a hell of a lot worse than Fernando Mendoza is your quarterback. I don't think the Niners are anywhere near that. Right. Again, if you have a max crossby on your team, but you drafted one overall.

35:01You should probably be getting rid of max crossby. If you have a bunch of veterans on your team and you're drafting 27th overall. That tells you that you're in a Super Bowl window. Even if you don't think that this is the greatest team because it isn't. It's not as good as 23. It's not as good as 19. It might not even be as good as 22. But ultimately. You are drafting 27 for a reason. You want a lot of football games. You have a hell of a program. And you do need to augment that. You should be in buy mode. If you're the San Francisco 49ers, otherwise what was last year all about. So give Trent Williams this contract. And then let's go out and let's go get some free agents. And I got I teased them, but then max crossby signs. So we're going to tease it to another segment. We'll talk about the free agents that I would like to see the 49ers getting. We'll toss a bunch of names around to be sure. But we'll plant some seeds on the other side of the break curtain back on Niners Nightly on the sports leader. I'm Adam Devine, chief fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network.

36:04We'll fund it up. It'd better be fun. Have you ever wondered how our network actually works? Oh, wonder no more. With the support of partnering businesses and individual donors, we help raise crucial funds for 170 children's hospitals across the United States and Canada. Hospitals that provide life-changing care for all kids. Visit us online at cmn.org. Discover a summer camp where kids run the show. At the California Historical Radio Society in Alameda, students in grades six to 10 learn from professionals to create real radio shows, podcasts, and STEM electronic projects. Learn more at chrsradio.org slash camp. The NFL draft presented by Bud Light is coming to Pittsburgh. And it's your chance to witness the future of the game for free. From April 23 to April 25, feel the energy of the NFL draft. See the Vince Lombardi trophy and Super Bowl rings. Meet NFL players and legends. Enjoy interactive games and live music performances.

37:05And be there as the future of the NFL takes center stage. The NFL draft starts April 23. Register for free entry at NFL.com slash draft access today. Now back to Niners Nightly with your host, Larry Krueger. On KNPR VB sports lead sports leader. Back with you, Dieter Kurtbach filling in for Larry Krueger here on Niners Nightly. We'll roll it right into sports phone KNBR at the top of the hour. I've been teasing it for too long. Let's get right to it. If the 49ers want to actually open up the checkbook, there's a lot of really solid players that could fit their general price points, which I mean, you're not setting market rates or anything like that. We're talking about middle class, maybe lower upper class, maybe upper lower class. Kind of the meaty middle. It's a lot of good players that the 49ers can get.

38:05And I expect them to sit out wave one of free agency Monday Tuesday. And it might be until Wednesday, Thursday and everyone will be freaking out. Everyone will be like, what are they doing? And we'll be freaking out about it. But that's where frankly, the players that you want to get are available because the guys who are going on Monday Tuesday, they're typically the ones that were part of bidding wars. They're typically the ones that get four or five year contracts. And they're typically the ones that two years later, every team that signs them's like, what have we done? This was a terrible decision. We are in hell. Meanwhile, you wait until Wednesday, Thursday, and you might be showing out a little bit of money. Don't get me wrong, but it's typically one or two year deals in truth. Sometimes they throw a third or a fourth year in there, but it's fake. Those are the deals that aren't going to break the bank. Aren't going to cause the owner to be like, how much do I have to put in escrow? Aren't going to have long term ramifications on your salary cap.

39:07And can help you in the here and now. Those are the ones. So maybe Romeo dubs the wide receiver from the Green Bay Packers. Maybe he falls into that camp. Maybe he doesn't. I do believe that he would be great. The Niners, a lot of people will throw a lot of different wide receiver names at the San Francisco 49ers because wide receiver is a premier position. And because Debo Samuel is a free agent, the 49ers don't need another Z receiver. They're good at Z receiver. They're good at flank. They got enough of those. They need an X receiver. And if you don't know what I mean by X receiver, that's fine. But an X receiver typically lines up well outside the numbers. Certainly outside the, you know, the hash marks, not the tightest splits in the world. Line up on the line. And are typically hitting those 789 routes, the deep ones. Their job is to be able to beat press coverage off the line of scrimmage.

40:07And to force a safety to come and help over the top. That's their job as an X receiver. I think Alec Pierce can do it. He's better with a little bit of off coverage. And you can move him around. He could be really fun. He's like the actualized version of Ricky Pearson. It's so funny too. It only took him four years to turn into that. And yet here we are complaining that Ricky hasn't turned into it yet. So I do think that Pierce can play X. He's more of a Z. Dobs is an X. Maybe not the truest X, but he can run those routes. He can beat press coverage off the line. He'd be great. I am concerned. When I talk to folks around the league. That there are a lot of teams that know that Romeo dobs is good. And I do think that he'll price himself out and the Niners being priced out. Again, giving them the benefit of the doubt here, which I don't know if it's necessarily earned. Given that last year, they spent no money. And there's pretty clear indications that they're not looking to break the bank this year of free agency.

41:16Them not breaking the bank has more to do with the amount of money that they need to spend across the roster as opposed to their ability to spend on one player. It's just not good policy to spend a. 20 something million in cap. And I know that they can play with the funny money game, but to put that much. Money into one player when you need to sprinkle it around a little bit more, right? You need a guard. You need a backup running back. You need another tight end. You probably need another depth piece on the offensive line that isn't just somebody bringing it off the street. You need help on your defensive line, both outside and in. You need a weak side line backer to compete with the winters. You probably need to bring in another corner because Leonardo Green ate the most liked guy around the room. Though I do not think he's getting traded. You probably though not guaranteed need another safety. You might regret not getting another safety if you don't get one, but you should definitely be in the market, especially with that market. Because a couple guys go early, make good money. And then everyone else is sitting around wondering if they're going to have jobs next year. You can go pretty much anywhere on the 49ers roster and say, hey, that can be improved with money.

42:22So spending all of your money on one player, probably not the best policy. But Romeo Dubs might be the one guy who you push that limit a little bit where you take a little bit from somewhere else and you put it in that pile. Because he would be so clearly a fit for what the 49ers really need, which again is X receiver. But there's other guys that they should be looking at. And there's other guys that I think can fall to them if my reporting is correct. So take it with as much salt as you want. I think Kevin Zitler, the guard Detroit, then Tennessee is a really viable option for the 49ers to start to sign all that. I think he'd be great because if we learned one thing from the losses to Seattle, it's that the Niners need better anchor on their offensive line. Trent Williams didn't have enough of it because he was playing on a bad knee most of the year.

43:22Didn't matter who the hell was that left guard. They didn't have anchor. I like Spencer Burford. I think Spencer Burford's about to get paid some pretty good money. No anchor. No anchor. His ability is in movement. You know that Jake Brendel undersized doesn't have anchor. What he does have is the entire offense in his head and the ability to really displace people in the run game. Heaven forbid we actually look at any of Jake Brendel's good games down the stretch. We're only going to remember him for its worst. But it's true. He does not have great anchor. You want to put a nose guard on him. It's going to be a problem. And that's what Seattle did again and again and again. So you need to insulate that with more mallers in the middle. And I think Dominic Cooney coming off of the season where he was injured in the preseason and played through it the entire year. Perhaps even an entirely torn PCL. He wouldn't come all the way clean with me, but it sounded like it was pretty nasty. And it was swollen up real bad. He played on that all year. He was not the same player.

44:24And Colt McIvitz is actually really good all year. You all want to keep crappy on Colt McIvitz knock yourself out. That's a damn good right tackle. You get a left guard with serious anchor. And Kevin Zitler has serious anchor. He gave up 16 pressures last year on his standards. That was awful. And that was with a rookie quarterback who stood back there for four or five seconds to snap. 16 pressures last year with a rookie quarterback and a line where everybody else was moving. And it was one of his worst seasons of his career. If not the worst. It's a benefit to the 49ers. They can probably get him cheaper than he should be. But he's older now guards age a lot better. I think Kevin Zitler would be a real fit. A name that I have been saying on these airwaves on the Dieter at Huck's podcast and my columns from two months now is Charlie Kohler. I was talking about Charlie Kohler so early. I thought I found him turns out. I'm not the only one who recognizes game. Because Charlie Kohler is the talk of the deep sick-minded NFL scouting community right now.

45:30I'm getting. It's a little bit of confirmation bias. I'm getting text left right in center. Oh, this color guy's good. This color guy's good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Charlie Kohler. Brock party's tight ended Iowa state would be perfect for San Francisco. Would be perfect because you do not have George Kiddell this upcoming season. He can say whatever he wants the Niners can say whatever he wants even if 85 is out on the field. That's not 85. He tore his Achilles in January. Anything you get from him is gravy. I'm not expecting a damn thing from George Kiddell in the same way that you shouldn't have expected anything from Dre Greenlaw in the 2024 season. Don't expect the thing from Kiddell doesn't take anything away from George Kiddell. It's just to say that 27 is when his career restarts. So you need a tight end because if they had any tight ends on the roster, Luke Farrell would be out of a job. Come the new league year, but they don't. So they're going to probably keep him around. So it's him and Jake Tonjes who can't block Luke Farrell who can't do it.

46:31You can't catch or block and Braden Willis who's still on the team because they can't find anybody better splash a little cash. Go get Charlie Kohler. He's going to be really, really good. Really good. If you don't need him to catch balls and I think he has the ability to catch you 40, 50 passes in a season with a really nice clip in a little bit of yak. The name that everyone's talking about as it pertains to the 49ers and I'm not sure if the price is going to be right. I think he might price himself out because his market will be so robust is John Franklin Myers, the defensive tackle for the Denver Broncos. I mean, just to a tee of fit for what the 49ers want to do. He's a three technique with crazy burst, but he can stand up in the run game. He's everything the 49ers thought they were getting in jave on hardgrave, but never did. Are they willing to go back to the well? Are they willing to put up that kind of money again? I don't think it will get all the way to jave on hardgrave, but it might get pretty close. He'd be perfect. Want to drop two other names on you and then we're going to get the hell up out of the way and switch it over sports phone.

47:35Al Quadin, Muhammad was wildly productive for the Detroit Lions as a situational pass rusher last year. I do believe that the Niners are going to be moving on from Bryce Huff. He's owed a very large bonus. He was not good enough to earn that bonus. We'll see what they do, but I get the I get the feeling that they're moving on from Bryce Huff. You're going to need to replace them. Al Quadin, Muhammad is a better option because even though he is also a situational pass rusher. He has the size and the strength to where if he does get stuck out on the field. If you do need to put him on the field on first and second down, he can hold up. It's not great, but he can hold up. He's not in every down player. But if he had to be, he's going to be better than Bryce Huff in that regard. So Al Quadin, Muhammad is a guy who I do not think is going to have a robust market is not going to cost you 10 million or more. And the Niners should absolutely be in on him because he is what the Niners need. They should still be banking on Michael Williams. And finally, Kobe Bryant, not the late great basketball player, but the Seattle Seahawks secondary Maestro.

48:36Kobe Bryant is really, really good. And for all the talk about Tyrick Wollin, I would rather have Kobe Bryant. Seven out of seven days. Kobe Bryant, you can play him at safety. You can play him a corner. You can play him in the slot. You can play him anywhere. And if the Niners want to improve their secondary and where he morse is a secondary guy, their new DC. Kobe Bryant is the kind of player that you bring in because he resets the toe. If you're tired of the. Safety is not really talking. If you're tired of Renardo Green, not really knowing the plays. If he can't really deal with all of the happen from De Amador, the North without any of the production. If you don't want to ride up and stout until the wheels come off again. Go get Kobe Bryant because he can solve every single one of those problems at every one of those positions. If you just throw him in that spot for a moment, Kobe Bryant is the player that probably doesn't get as much money as he should. And come November of next year, everyone's going to be saying, what did we miss here?

49:36How did we not throw the bag at that guy? Throw the bag at me, by the way, 808 KMBR is the number you can call in text in. I'll throw you my Venmo if you want to text in right now. We're going to switch it over because we got a lot of baseball basketball hockey. And yeah, some more 49ers to talk about on the other side. Sports phone KMBR on the other side curtain buck with you until 9 p.m. on the sports leader. Discover a summer camp where kids run the show at the California Historical Radio Society in Alameda. Students in grades six to 10 learn from professionals to create real radio shows, podcasts and STEM electronic projects learn more at chrsradio.org slash camp.