Speaker 1: As you were listening to V Sports Leader in middays,
Speaker 1: here is Larry Krueger.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to These Sports Leader. Larry Krueger with you
Speaker 2: on this beautiful Friday. I hope everybody's having a great one.
Speaker 2: Joining us on the Yuma guest line this segment is
Speaker 2: Mark Adams from forty nine or web Zone, and I'm
Speaker 2: super excited to have Mark on in this segment. He is,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, one of the reasons that Roger Craig
Speaker 2: is in the Hall of Fame class of twenty twenty six,
Speaker 2: and he's with.
Speaker 3: Us on These Sports Leader. Mark.
Speaker 4: How are you, hey, Larry, how's it going?
Speaker 2: Oh man, it's going so good. And I'm just you know,
Speaker 2: I'm so happy, so happy today.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: Yes, I'm part of it is that I hit my
Speaker 2: three team parlay last night in baseball, but that has nothing.
Speaker 3: To do with it.
Speaker 2: It's really more My happiness has to do with the
Speaker 2: fact that Roger Craig taking his spot, his long awaited
Speaker 2: spot in pro Football's hallowed ground and he is the
Speaker 2: part of the Hall of Fame class at twenty twenty six.
Speaker 3: It's an amazing class.
Speaker 2: Drew Brees, Larry Fitzgerald Luke Keigley, Adam Vinatieri, and Roger Craig.
Speaker 2: And I just wanted to say not only congratulations to Roger,
Speaker 2: his family, his friends, his teammates, and everybody who loves him,
Speaker 2: but I also want to say congratulations to you, Mark,
Speaker 2: because you you had a hand in this, You had
Speaker 2: a role in this, and I'm so proud to say that.
Speaker 2: You know, I was maybe had a little small part
Speaker 2: in this as well, and I'm so excited. I know
Speaker 2: you are as well. It's not about you, it's not
Speaker 2: about me, but it's about Roger. But tell us a
Speaker 2: little bit about what you did to try to make
Speaker 2: this a reality, because this is a long road and
Speaker 2: this is this is not the first time you and
Speaker 2: I have talked about Roger for the fame, and you've
Speaker 2: spent a lot of hours invested in this.
Speaker 3: Tell us a little bit about it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it has been along road about thirty years that
Speaker 4: he's been waiting to get in and it's long overdue,
Speaker 4: it's well deserved. But you are one of the big
Speaker 4: reasons why he's in. Because when I reached out to
Speaker 4: you and said, hey, I heard in that pregame show,
Speaker 4: I heard the stats, the case that you made. Can
Speaker 4: I get a copy of that because I want to
Speaker 4: write an article on it? And you gave me, you know,
Speaker 4: you called me and said, here's here's the case, and
Speaker 4: then you kind of challenged me, Hey, don't just write
Speaker 4: an article. See if you can get some guys on board,
Speaker 4: because you know, you're writer, you're a fan, that's great.
Speaker 4: But if you can get some guys like Joe Montana
Speaker 4: and Steve Young and Ronnie Lott, if you can get
Speaker 4: those kinds of guys behind you, then this this could
Speaker 4: go a long way. And you know, I said, okay,
Speaker 4: I'll give that a shot, thinking how in the world
Speaker 4: am I going to get, you know, in touch with
Speaker 4: these guys. But I ended up had a contact with
Speaker 4: the team who put me in contact with somebody else
Speaker 4: that was with the team back from the glory days.
Speaker 4: And then that individual just said, hey, who do you want?
Speaker 4: And I said, I just started naming names, and I
Speaker 4: started with Joe and Jerry and and Ronnie and all
Speaker 4: these guys, and next thing I know, I'm reaching out
Speaker 4: to him. And because it was Roger Craig, they they
Speaker 4: all reached back out to me. And so it really
Speaker 4: is a testament to the kind of person that that
Speaker 4: Roger is because these these guys were all willing to
Speaker 4: talk to somebody that they didn't know, just just just
Speaker 4: for a chance that he might make it into the Hall.
Speaker 4: And so it was definitely a collective effort. Couldn't have
Speaker 4: done that on my own. So I appreciate you. And
Speaker 4: Matt Mayoko gave me a lot of guidance. Being that
Speaker 4: he's a Hall Hall of Fame voter, he was able
Speaker 4: to tell me, Okay, here's how they think, here's what
Speaker 4: you need to to speak to as far as the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame voters. But you know, some of it
Speaker 4: I had to do on my own. Like I got
Speaker 4: Mike Singletary. Didn't have anybody get his information for me,
Speaker 4: but he has a charity. I went to that charity
Speaker 4: website and just filled out this little contact for him
Speaker 4: and said who I was and why I was wanting
Speaker 4: to talk to to Coach Singletary. And he called me
Speaker 4: the next day. And so that that shows you how
Speaker 4: great of a person Roger Craig is because so many
Speaker 4: people were willing to help. I mean, when we were
Speaker 4: making this big push the last time that we were
Speaker 4: doing it, I think I remember right, Joe Montana was
Speaker 4: out of the country, and so there were some people
Speaker 4: Eddie de Barbelow's office, they were getting some of the
Speaker 4: some of the guys like Lott and Singletary and Steve
Speaker 4: Young and different guys. They were getting them together to
Speaker 4: call Hall of Fame voters and say, hey, he needs
Speaker 4: to get he needs to be selected. And Montana was
Speaker 4: in another country and he took time out of his
Speaker 4: schedule to call some Hall of Fame voters while he
Speaker 4: was overseas. And so I think that just shows you
Speaker 4: how great of a person Roger Craig is.
Speaker 2: You know, it's so true somewhere in this path. I
Speaker 2: I did an event with Roger down in San Jose
Speaker 2: and and I told him, I said, hey, man, we're
Speaker 2: gonna we're gonna fight this fight. We're gonna get you
Speaker 2: in there. We're gonna we're gonna, you know, because he's
Speaker 2: he was too proud to do it on himself, do
Speaker 2: it for himself. He's just he's not the kind of
Speaker 2: guy who's gonna do that. He's just not He's not
Speaker 2: Drew Pearson. He's not gonna.
Speaker 3: I should have been in you know.
Speaker 2: And and yet you know what the squeaky Wheel gets
Speaker 2: the grease and I I promised him, I'm like, man,
Speaker 2: we are gonna fight this fight. We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 2: knock on every door, We're gonna remind people. But what
Speaker 2: you were and and and and we're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 2: get this done. And Roger was like, you know, very happy,
Speaker 2: you know, very gracious, But you know, this means so
Speaker 2: much to him, and it's meant so much to him,
Speaker 2: and to have to wait as long as he has,
Speaker 2: it's just it's not right. There are bigger injustices in
Speaker 2: the world. I'm not pretending that this is the greatest
Speaker 2: injustice of all time, but this is a guy who,
Speaker 2: if Walsh had not died early, Walsh would have led
Speaker 2: the charge. And unlike you or I, who don't maybe
Speaker 2: quite have the juice, if Bill had said Roger's a
Speaker 2: Hall of Famer and kept saying it, you know, he
Speaker 2: would have been in probably a decade ago. And instead
Speaker 2: he's had to wait, largely because Bill passed and he
Speaker 2: didn't have that advocate. But I'm just glad that that
Speaker 2: we could be that advocate and that and you talk
Speaker 2: to a lot of guys, I mean and you did
Speaker 2: a lot of interviews, So tell us a little bit
Speaker 2: about this, because I know you put together a video,
Speaker 2: like an extensive video, and then what happened with that video?
Speaker 3: Where did that video go?
Speaker 4: So first I did I wrote a story on forty
Speaker 4: nine ers web Zone, and then I took that once
Speaker 4: we finished it, I took that and sent it to
Speaker 4: all the guys involved, so Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice,
Speaker 4: Eddie de Bartolow, Ronnie Lott, Brent Jones, Carmen Policy, George Seyffert.
Speaker 4: All of these guys got a copy of that article
Speaker 4: so they could send it off to whoever they wanted
Speaker 4: to send it off to. I then sent it to
Speaker 4: every Hall of Fame senior voter that I had received.
Speaker 4: I don't remember who it was, but somebody had given
Speaker 4: me all of those names. I think it was somebody
Speaker 4: from Eddie D's office. So I sent it all to
Speaker 4: them and some of them responded said thank to you,
Speaker 4: and some of them didn't respond. So then about a
Speaker 4: year so later, we did that podcast series that you
Speaker 4: were a part of, and that was you making the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame case. That was some media people like
Speaker 4: Matt Mayoko and some Hall of Fame voters. And then
Speaker 4: that was the players, you know, Steve Young and Ronnie
Speaker 4: Lott and some of those guys. And so once we
Speaker 4: finished that, we sent that to the Hall of Fame
Speaker 4: voters as well. But there was also an article in
Speaker 4: there that I did that had Mike Singletary and Harry
Speaker 4: Carson and John Robinson, who interestingly, interestingly enough, John Robinson
Speaker 4: and Dan Reeves both at two different times during the eighties,
Speaker 4: one of them in eighty five, one of them in
Speaker 4: eighty eight said Roger Craig is the best running back
Speaker 4: we have in the NFL. I'll remind you that John
Speaker 4: Robinson coached Eric Dickerson, so those are big words, you know.
Speaker 4: And then Mike Singletary to say, I put Roger Craig
Speaker 4: right up there with Walter Payton. Those are huge birds.
Speaker 4: So and so then Matt and Mayoko did a similar article.
Speaker 4: I don't remember which year it was, but he did
Speaker 4: something very similar where he reached out to a lot
Speaker 4: of players that played against Roger and and so he
Speaker 4: put something together and I think through mister mister D's office,
Speaker 4: they reached out to some other players I don't remember
Speaker 4: who all that they reached out to but they had
Speaker 4: they had other players contacting the Hall of Fame voters,
Speaker 4: and so there was just this huge effort beyond what
Speaker 4: I was doing to kind of collectively, let's just inundate
Speaker 4: them with with with a passionate police and a passionate
Speaker 4: case on why we think Roger Craig belongs to the
Speaker 4: Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, statistically, there was no doubt he belonged
Speaker 2: in and anybody could see that. But it's also about
Speaker 2: what is the Hall of Fame? It's you know, and
Speaker 2: who are these Hall of Famers? What's their role? Well,
Speaker 2: they're ambassadors for the sport. Who's a better ambassador for
Speaker 2: pro football and the forty nine ers in NFL football
Speaker 2: than Roger Craig. I mean, seriously, the guy, the guys
Speaker 2: in you know, testament to hard work. You know, he
Speaker 2: was a workmanlike player. I mean the workouts that Jerry
Speaker 2: Rice is credited. You know, Jerry runs the Hill. You know,
Speaker 2: it's like that was Roger's workout. You know, Roger introduced
Speaker 2: Jerry to the Hill.
Speaker 3: You know, it's like and you know, there's no bitterness
Speaker 3: at all.
Speaker 2: But I do think it's interesting that Jerry is so
Speaker 2: great and I think Jerry's a big part of this,
Speaker 2: to be completely honest, and I told you that I
Speaker 2: really felt like the number one reason that Roger Craig
Speaker 2: belonged to the Hall of Fame was Jerry Rice. And
Speaker 2: people would say, well, what do you mean. I said, well,
Speaker 2: Jerry Rice is the greatest offensive statistical entity that the
Speaker 2: league has ever seen. He blew out the records by tons.
Speaker 2: The leagues have been a passing league for the last
Speaker 2: twenty years. People are still not even approaching Jerry's records.
Speaker 2: So he played in an era where there was less passing,
Speaker 2: and yet his numbers are so dominating. And it's just
Speaker 2: like anything else. It's like, if you have a two
Speaker 2: hundred yard receiver with four touchdowns, guess what you'rre running
Speaker 2: back probably had, you know, forty two yards and no touchdowns.
Speaker 2: And there were a lot of games like that where
Speaker 2: Roger Craig's numbers were suppressed because he played with Rice.
Speaker 2: And you could say the same thing about Waters, the
Speaker 2: same thing about John Taylor, the same thing about Brent Jones.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying they all belong in the Hall, because
Speaker 2: there are a little bit more borderline cases. But when
Speaker 2: you factor in the Jerry factor and how much he
Speaker 2: dominated the ball.
Speaker 3: And you look at Roger's numbers.
Speaker 2: There's just no doubt that Jerry, even though he's great
Speaker 2: and there was not you know, it wasn't doing anything
Speaker 2: to Roger, but just the presence of a dominant statistical
Speaker 2: force like Jerry suppressed Craig's Hall of Fame resume and
Speaker 2: and there's.
Speaker 3: Just no doubt about that.
Speaker 2: And it's I'm just so glad that the correction has
Speaker 2: been made, or that there were enough numbers out there,
Speaker 2: there were enough people that realized. Did you know by
Speaker 2: the way that salth pala Antonio was as passionate about
Speaker 2: Roger Craig's Hall of Fame candidacy as we were.
Speaker 4: Not until he started working, Because I think that somebody
Speaker 4: because he made the last He's the one this past
Speaker 4: year that made the presentation to the Hall of Fame
Speaker 4: voters on Roger's behalf. And before he did that, he
Speaker 4: reached out to me just because he wanted to collect
Speaker 4: as much information as he could. And that was really
Speaker 4: the first time that I'd ever heard that he had
Speaker 4: any kind of push, you know, in Roger's favor. But yeah,
Speaker 4: you're right, he really was passionate and he was pushing
Speaker 4: for that. And I agree with you on the Rice thing.
Speaker 4: Joe Montana said it. If Jerry Rice wasn't there, imagine
Speaker 4: the kind of numbers that Roger Craig would have put
Speaker 4: up because Roger had his thousand thousand season and eighty
Speaker 4: five that was Rice's rookie year. And so from that
Speaker 4: point on, I mean in nineteen eighty eight when they
Speaker 4: won Super Bowl twenty three, that was kind of when
Speaker 4: Rice was starting to be known as maybe the best
Speaker 4: wide receiver in football and Roger was still Roger was
Speaker 4: the NFC Offensive Player of the Year that year because
Speaker 4: people who were voting for that recognized, hey, this is
Speaker 4: He's not just a numbers guy. This guy means a
Speaker 4: lot to this Super Bowl winning team.
Speaker 2: No, no question, no question about it. Did mister D
Speaker 2: is such a leader of this franchise and so many
Speaker 2: of his words, I think he was a guy that
Speaker 2: motivated South Palantoni to lead this charge to some degree.
Speaker 2: Do you remember any of the things that mister D
Speaker 2: said about Roger, Because I know, you know Rod, you
Speaker 2: know Eddie understands that Roger needed to be in there,
Speaker 2: and you know, really champion this, you know, behind the scenes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm trying to think of what there was something
Speaker 4: that he had said. Don't remember exactly what it was,
Speaker 4: but I think that he talked about the fact that
Speaker 4: Roger Craig changed Bill Walsh's offense. And I mean, you
Speaker 4: look at today, there's whether it's Kyle Shanahan or whoever,
Speaker 4: there are so many teams that are using at least
Speaker 4: part of what Walsh did. And so I think that,
Speaker 4: you know, when you can save that player changed the
Speaker 4: offense of a guy like Bill Walsh, that's a huge statement.
Speaker 4: And so I think that, if I remember right the barbelow,
Speaker 4: one of his big things was that, you know a
Speaker 4: lot of people blame the fumble in the NFC Championship,
Speaker 4: and how many people in their life that are very
Speaker 4: successful have a miscue. You know, I judge somebody by
Speaker 4: one mistake. I mean, before there was the catch in
Speaker 4: that nineteen eighty one NFC Championship game, how many times
Speaker 4: did Joe Montana turn the ball over? It doesn't matter.
Speaker 4: I think that, Yeah, what matters is what happened in
Speaker 4: the end. And so I think that that, you know,
Speaker 4: you don't judge based off one play, but that just
Speaker 4: happened to be his final play with the forty nine ers,
Speaker 4: And so I even had some forty nine Ers fans
Speaker 4: reach out to me during this time and say, I
Speaker 4: don't think he belongs in the Hall of Fame because
Speaker 4: of that humble and my response ridiculous, Hey, maybe maybe
Speaker 4: you should get a new team. Then No, E's like.
Speaker 3: Bro, mistake, Yeah, Bro, check yourself.
Speaker 2: I mean, come on, so what Pablo Picasso, It's not
Speaker 2: it's not really art because there was a little yellow
Speaker 2: speck in the corner.
Speaker 3: It's like, what stop?
Speaker 2: Uh? A Niner fan sent this sent me a note
Speaker 2: a couple of weeks ago, saying that Roger's signature run
Speaker 2: is an example of his hall of fame.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: You know efforts and I and I thought, you know what,
Speaker 2: I can understand that he had that signature run against
Speaker 2: the Rams, and it's like everybody thought he was tackled,
Speaker 2: but he kept going and here comes the high knees
Speaker 2: and but every he thought he was tackle but no,
Speaker 2: he keeps going. And you know the effort and the
Speaker 2: energy and the determination and it's like, you know what
Speaker 2: it took all of that effort, all of that energy,
Speaker 2: all of that determination, to get him to Saturday in
Speaker 2: Canton and Mark, you had a huge hand in it, man,
Speaker 2: and I just wanted to say thank you for what
Speaker 2: you did. You went above and beyond, Man. You took
Speaker 2: the baton and you ran with it. And I really
Speaker 2: believe that this day doesn't happen without your efforts. And
Speaker 2: I just wanted to highlight you today on camb Are
Speaker 2: and let people know that story and know what you did.
Speaker 2: And I'm so proud of it, and I'm really I
Speaker 2: feel like we got something. We actually made a difference,
Speaker 2: and we got this guy to a place that he
Speaker 2: rightfully belongs. And I just want to say thank you
Speaker 2: from Niner fans everywhere for what you did. And I
Speaker 2: just want you to enjoy the speech on Saturday. I
Speaker 2: know I will. It's one of my favorite days of
Speaker 2: the year. Raddy and I used to talk about our
Speaker 2: favorite football days, and the one thing we agreed on
Speaker 2: is we both loved the Hall of Fame speeches because
Speaker 2: it's like that, you know, it's the end of a
Speaker 2: guy's football life and there's some great moments there and
Speaker 2: they're thanking people that help them and nobody gets there
Speaker 2: by themselves, and there's always somebody who helped you, a coach,
Speaker 2: a teacher, a mentor, or a wife, a girlfriend, whatever.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure Roger will shout out a lot.
Speaker 2: Of people that helped him, but if it was if
Speaker 2: everything was right in the world, he would shout out
Speaker 2: your name because you had a huge hand in it.
Speaker 3: Man. Congratulations man, and thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2: Camb are telling the story, giving a little background, and
Speaker 2: enjoy that stuff this weekend, and way to go.
Speaker 4: My pleasure.
Speaker 2: It was.
Speaker 4: It was my honor to be part of it. And
Speaker 4: I'm going to enjoy watching him, like watching him walk
Speaker 4: on the field last night when they when they introduced him,
Speaker 4: and you could just see on his joy, you know,
Speaker 4: the joy. And so tomorrow I think is going to
Speaker 4: be really special.
Speaker 2: No doubt, no doubt. Mark Adams from Fort Netter websone. Mark,
Speaker 2: thanks again, all right. We appreciate Mark for coming on.
Speaker 2: And what he did was really above and beyond, man.
Speaker 2: He really took the baton and ran with it and
Speaker 2: championed this cause and got his teammates and circled the
Speaker 2: wagons and got everybody together and did all the testimonials
Speaker 2: and the interviews and oh man, I mean, just a
Speaker 2: great respect for Mark Adams.
Speaker 3: From forty nine Er website. All Right, as we were talking.
Speaker 2: It came across the screen that the on ESPN they're
Speaker 2: saying the forty nine ers only have a seven percent
Speaker 2: chance of winning the Super Bowl.
Speaker 3: There seems to be.
Speaker 2: Two distinctly different camps when it comes to the Niners
Speaker 2: in this upcoming season. The people that are like, yeah,
Speaker 2: they're absolutely one of the best teams in Pro football,
Speaker 2: They're a Super Bowl contender. Perty's going to get one.
Speaker 2: Shanahan's going to get one and bring it on.
Speaker 3: Here we go.
Speaker 2: And then there's the other side of it going the
Speaker 2: Niners aren't legit super Bowl contenders. Chris Sims has said it.
Speaker 2: Colin Coward has said it. Are the Niners in a way,
Speaker 2: Cambi are What are the Niners this year? They legit
Speaker 2: Super Bowl contenders that have a real chance to win
Speaker 2: the Super Bowl at sofar in February? Or are they
Speaker 2: pretenders with nothing more than a puncher's chance? Aint away
Speaker 2: Cambi are. If you're driving around, where do you see
Speaker 2: the forty nine Ers as it pertains to their Super
Speaker 2: Bowl chances this upcoming year? Ain Away cambr If you
Speaker 2: want to bang the number and get in. We can
Speaker 2: take some of your calls. We're hopefully going to catch
Speaker 2: up with Ronnie Lott, Matt Mayoko, Andy Bagerley, a lot
Speaker 2: more straight ahead, so keep it locked right here.
Speaker 3: Larry Krueger with you on the sports Leader.
Speaker 1: Now back to the sports Leader Middays with your host
Speaker 1: Larry Krueger.
Speaker 2: Welcome back, Larry Kruger with you on a Friday on
Speaker 2: the sports Leader. Man, We're having a good time. I
Speaker 2: hope you guys are enjoying it today. And if you
Speaker 2: want John Cougar Mellencamp tickets for August twelfth at shore
Speaker 2: Line in Mountain View, right now, we're going to take
Speaker 2: one winner be caller number ten at four one, five
Speaker 2: eight nine six kmbr H. That person wins two tickets
Speaker 2: to see John Cougar Mellencamp at Shoreline Amphitheater August twelfth,
Speaker 2: furnished by Live Nation. Find official rules at thesports Leader
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Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: Two tickets to see John Cougar Mellencamp Wednesday, August twelfth.
Speaker 2: Shoreline Amphitheater tickets are on sale now at livenation dot com.
Speaker 2: Caller number ten gets them at four one, five eight
Speaker 2: nine six k nb R. All right, probably shouldn't have
Speaker 2: come back with some ac DC. Probably should have came
Speaker 2: back a little Jack and Diane. But whatever, whatever I mean,
Speaker 2: come on, Uh, we're not Picky. Blame Curly, Chips mccarthy'sys,
Speaker 2: blame John Curley. Curly's kicking butt today. Somebody's bucking for
Speaker 2: a promotion. Holder, it's probably Curly. Somebody's bucking for a promotion. Ah,
Speaker 2: let's talk a little forty nine ers a couple things.
Speaker 2: One today is Dwight Clark day eight seven six. Another
Speaker 2: guy left us way too early. I loved Dwight Clark,
Speaker 2: loved Dwight Clark, played golf with Dwight Clark, did his
Speaker 2: number of events with Dwight Clark through the years. And
Speaker 2: there's just never been a better guy. I mean, I'm seriously,
Speaker 2: has there ever been a better guy than Dwight Clark.
Speaker 2: I mean, and for me as a you know, I
Speaker 2: was a kid who grew up in the Sunset. I
Speaker 2: was eleven when the Niners won the Super Bowl and
Speaker 2: I was there at the parade, you know, standing outside
Speaker 2: my dad's office overlooking the celebration because my dad worked
Speaker 2: at City Hall.
Speaker 3: He was a City Attorney's office sky.
Speaker 2: So we stood on his on his deck and looked
Speaker 2: out and Dwight Clark standing right beneath me, wearing that
Speaker 2: wearing that I wasn't a mink coat.
Speaker 3: I don't think it was a mink coat.
Speaker 2: It was, but it was definitely some animal, some collection,
Speaker 2: some animal perished for Dwight's coat that day. But then that,
Speaker 2: I mean, I was eleven this guy, you know, Montana
Speaker 2: to Clark in the corner of the end zone. He
Speaker 2: was my freaking hero. And then fast forward it's like
Speaker 2: the nineties and are you know and it's like Dwight's
Speaker 2: I met Dwight a few times and it's like then
Speaker 2: he came up to me. He's like, man, I'm a
Speaker 2: big fan of your show. Like what, you gotta be
Speaker 2: kidding me, even I don't like that terrible show. I'm
Speaker 2: just joking, but he did he I love the show Man,
Speaker 2: and I thought he was bising me. And then he
Speaker 2: starts talking about, yeah, the other night, this guy called
Speaker 2: in and you said this, and he said that, I'm like, dude, DC,
Speaker 2: you actually listen. And then we golfed a couple of times,
Speaker 2: and you know, every time he did a public appearance,
Speaker 2: he'd show up with.
Speaker 3: A box of his rings.
Speaker 2: I mean just not to show people he had him,
Speaker 2: but because he knew that made him happy. He was
Speaker 2: about making people happy. Man, Dwight Clark. Dwight Clark was
Speaker 2: special man, very special, very special, Gone way too soon.
Speaker 2: So today is Dwight Clark Day. Fist in the air
Speaker 2: for DC.
Speaker 3: Love him, love him. No better guy.
Speaker 2: I've been covering sports for a long time. As you
Speaker 2: guys know, there's no better guy. I mean, Chris Mullen
Speaker 2: is right there. There's some really good ones. Ned Colletti
Speaker 2: is a really good guy, sabes Dwight Clark in a
Speaker 2: in a category of his own. I mean that that's
Speaker 2: special of a guy. And to me, it's one of
Speaker 2: my great thrills to be able to say he was
Speaker 2: a friend of mine. It's like my hero as an
Speaker 2: eleven year old became a friend of mine. You gotta
Speaker 2: be kidding me, But that's the way, that's the way
Speaker 2: it came down. And d C was just such a
Speaker 2: great dude. So we miss your DC, love your brother.
Speaker 2: And I know you're gonna be happy for Roger Craig
Speaker 2: going to the Hall of Fame because he was a favorite.
Speaker 3: Of Dwight Clark's for sure. Let's talk a little Niners
Speaker 3: for a second. Here.
Speaker 2: Eight training camp practices into this camp. Today, they're doing
Speaker 2: a walk through, no media, no media availability. They'll be
Speaker 2: back on the practice field tomorrow. I'll be down there
Speaker 2: for that. Brock Perty is looking amazing, like he's like
Speaker 2: twenty six for his last twenty nine or something like that.
Speaker 3: He's just looking amazing. He looks really really good.
Speaker 2: Robert Jones has been running with the ones at left
Speaker 2: guard the last forty eight hours. The last couple of
Speaker 2: days out of the blue, Connor Colby had been running
Speaker 2: with ones at left guard, and Chris Furster told us
Speaker 2: that Coke Colby had an awesome offseason, but then he
Speaker 2: told us the other day that, you know, once they
Speaker 2: got to pads that you know, he regressed and he's
Speaker 2: not doing some things that they want him to do.
Speaker 2: And so they plugged Robert Jones and as the starter
Speaker 2: at left guarding. Now Connor Koby's running with the twos
Speaker 2: and the threes and he's playing some left guard, some
Speaker 2: right guard, and it looks like Jones is going to
Speaker 2: be that starter and Kobe is going to be the backup.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: Things could change, but that's what it's looking like right now.
Speaker 2: Another guy who's having a rough camp is Jacob Cowing.
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think he makes the team. Will
Speaker 2: Pauling the undrafted, he had a notre dame out shining him.
Speaker 2: Junior Bergen looks like he's going right by him, Jordan
Speaker 2: Watkins going right by him. All those guys are in
Speaker 2: front of Cowing. So Cowing, I don't know, man, I
Speaker 2: don't know if the Cowing may not make it. The
Speaker 2: one thing that's really great to every day at camp
Speaker 2: is the Niners have a ton more speed at receiver, Stribbling, Watkins,
Speaker 2: Crimes Pauling. These guy's all run in the four threes.
Speaker 2: The big story, of course, as you guys all know
Speaker 2: by now, Ricky Piersoll PCL surgery, he's out.
Speaker 3: Deebo Samuel has been brought in.
Speaker 2: Diebo looks good, he looks spry, he looks fast, he's
Speaker 2: in good shape. If there's one position group that's really awesome,
Speaker 2: it's the defensive tackle group. Osa odiggy Zuwa is killing it.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, he's just big time. He's twenty seven.
Speaker 2: He's just totally dominating I was talking to Brenda yesterday
Speaker 2: at the podium and I asked him, what about Osa
Speaker 2: what stands out?
Speaker 3: And he's like, I played with his brother at UCLA.
Speaker 2: And he's just strong, and he's fast, and he's smart
Speaker 2: and he's just you know, he's a handful. So you
Speaker 2: got Osa, and then you got West and Collins in
Speaker 2: year two, and then you got this kid, Gristin Halton.
Speaker 2: They drafted at Oklahoma, and he didn't look very good
Speaker 2: at the beginning of camp.
Speaker 3: Then he had the knee brews.
Speaker 2: He missed about a week to ten days whatever, it
Speaker 2: was not even that much, probably four or five days.
Speaker 3: But he's come.
Speaker 2: Back and he has been abusing offensive lineman in these
Speaker 2: one on one drills. Now, you don't want to overreact
Speaker 2: to the one on ones. They do favor the D tackles,
Speaker 2: they do favor the D lineman. But this kid has
Speaker 2: got a spin move, he's got speed, he's two ninety five.
Speaker 2: So you got Osa, you got West, you got Collins,
Speaker 2: you got Halton. Then they got these two undrafted guys
Speaker 2: that Chris Caseric told me, hey man, these guys would
Speaker 2: have been drafted. We had them as draftable players. Bryce
Speaker 2: and Easton is third and twenty pounds and quick. James
Speaker 2: Thompson Junior one of the strongest defensive tackles I've seen
Speaker 2: come into the league. Guy had thirty six reps at
Speaker 2: two twenty five. You know, that's about thirty more than
Speaker 2: I can do. And this guy's wrong. He might be
Speaker 2: one of the strongest defensive linemen in the league. This guy,
Speaker 2: this guy bull rush Brett Toath the other day and
Speaker 2: it was like he was pushing around like you know,
Speaker 2: some guy at target or something.
Speaker 3: I was like, who the heck? What is that?
Speaker 2: I mean, it was wild to watch James Thompson just
Speaker 2: bulldoze Brett Toath like seven yards back in just just
Speaker 2: the most vicious bull rush I think I've seen.
Speaker 3: So he looks good.
Speaker 2: There's still Sebastian val Does think there's a lot of
Speaker 2: bodies there at de tackle and then ogbo Ocuronquo.
Speaker 3: They just signed him. He's a veteran edge rusher.
Speaker 2: He looks like he's gonna give him little juice. The big,
Speaker 2: you know, mystery to look for in the in the
Speaker 2: preseason is what the young linebackers look like. Nick Martin,
Speaker 2: Jaden Duggar, Larry Wirth, the third. They're all guys to
Speaker 2: watch in the preseason. We'll talk more about them as well.
Speaker 2: But the Niners are deep at linebacker. They're deep at corner.
Speaker 2: Jack Jones, Ronardo Green, Drell Lutter have all looked really
Speaker 2: good playing more man coverage under Raheem Morris. The Niners
Speaker 2: have had a bunch of injuries. Twenty different guys have
Speaker 2: been dinged up, but Firster said that he thought that
Speaker 2: the Tennessee joint practices would still be a full go.
Speaker 2: The Niners did make a move yesterday. They signed Keon Smith,
Speaker 2: who played for Mike McDaniel. He's a guard and they
Speaker 2: wave Colton Dowell. So they're they're adding some more some
Speaker 2: more offensive linemen. But the real to me, the one
Speaker 2: story that's really fun to watch, Jade and Duggar. Niners
Speaker 2: have the six four, two and forty pounds linebacker with
Speaker 2: thirty five inch arms. This guy started as a safety
Speaker 2: at Georgetown and then went played for Louisiana for and
Speaker 2: he played, he played, he played, you know, stack backer,
Speaker 2: He played off the ball linebacker, he wore the green dot.
Speaker 2: He made one hundred and twenty five tackles and then
Speaker 2: they used him. They walked him up to the line
Speaker 2: of scrimmage and they used him in five man fronts,
Speaker 2: and you can see that Raheem is.
Speaker 3: Going to do exactly the same thing.
Speaker 2: And Dougar has been running with the first team defense
Speaker 2: at time this week, which is an enormously positive sign.
Speaker 2: This is the youngest guy on the team and Raheem
Speaker 2: has plans for kind of a new linebacker position, and
Speaker 2: it's gonna be one of the things to really look
Speaker 2: for when they hit the field in the preseason. This
Speaker 2: kind of fever linebacker, which is you know, it's a
Speaker 2: guy that you know. Greenlaw mentioned it to us at
Speaker 2: the presser the other day. It's a stand up linebacker
Speaker 2: that you know that brings, you know, the defense kind
Speaker 2: of some subtle changes. You know, guys who are kind
Speaker 2: of multiple can play multiple spots. You've heard terms like
Speaker 2: the starbacker before. That's just a word that describes somebody
Speaker 2: who can play the nickel or safety or outside linebacker.
Speaker 2: They can cover the slot receiver, they can tackle running
Speaker 2: backs in the box, and they can rush the passer.
Speaker 3: That's the star player. And it's like combo.
Speaker 2: It's like you're kind of an outside edge defender or
Speaker 2: It's almost like you could be a big nickel and
Speaker 2: Raheem can move up, move them up on the line
Speaker 2: of scrimmage and show you a four man look. I
Speaker 2: don't want to get two football esoteric, but walk that
Speaker 2: fifth linebacker up on the line of scrimmage and now
Speaker 2: you got a five man front and you've gone from
Speaker 2: a four to three wide nine to kind of like
Speaker 2: a five to two look, and it changes things. And
Speaker 2: Raheem said, man, we got some guys that have unique
Speaker 2: skill sets. He said, we got some guys here that
Speaker 2: have unique skill sets. And he's talking about Nick Martin,
Speaker 2: he's talking about Larry Wirth, the third, he's talking about
Speaker 2: Jaden Dugger. You know, try to use these guys as
Speaker 2: kind of like a spinner, which is another phrase to
Speaker 2: use kind of it's kind of like a hybrid defensive
Speaker 2: end linebacker. It's really just like you're a linebacker and
Speaker 2: you're moving around in on that second level like a
Speaker 2: off the ball linebacker, but you're really more like a
Speaker 2: Bruce Irvin, you know, think of him who played for
Speaker 2: Seattle for a while. He was kind of like that
Speaker 2: that spinner type, that DN linebacker hybrid that you put
Speaker 2: out there. As a linebacker. But you walk them up
Speaker 2: on the line of scrimmage and suddenly you're changing the
Speaker 2: defense without changing the personnel. And I think you're gonna
Speaker 2: see a lot more of that. You know, under Robert Sawa,
Speaker 2: what'd you see?
Speaker 3: You saw?
Speaker 2: You saw wide nine, four man rush wide nine. Rarely
Speaker 2: did he rush three, drop eight. He almost always rushed four.
Speaker 2: He rarely did he send extra guys. Five and six
Speaker 2: man rushes. You rarely saw that it was a four
Speaker 2: man rush, largely with zone played on the back end.
Speaker 2: That's what Robert solid did and does. That's what he does.
Speaker 2: Raheem does something different. Raheem has kind of a instead
Speaker 2: of a three to four, you know, two gap defense
Speaker 2: or a four to three wide nine one gap defense,
Speaker 2: he's got that five to two kind of one and
Speaker 2: a half gaps, and he's looking for those hybrid players
Speaker 2: that isn't a linebacker who's gonna drop or is it
Speaker 2: you know, is he covering the nickel?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: You know, the the nickel receiver. Is he a safety?
Speaker 2: Is he coming after the quarterback? Are we looking at
Speaker 2: big nickel? Are we looking at base? Are we looking
Speaker 2: at dime?
Speaker 3: Or you know?
Speaker 2: And this just different ways to disguise coverages and give offenses.
Speaker 2: Just more multiple looks which makes them pause, and if
Speaker 2: they pause, that's a good thing. So Jaden Duggar guy
Speaker 2: to watch for sure, because he's been running with the
Speaker 2: ones and he's he's made some really big plays.
Speaker 3: Got to pick six the other day.
Speaker 2: You know, he's long, he's rangy, he can rush the
Speaker 2: passer off the edge, but he can play the run
Speaker 2: like a you know, like a like a like a
Speaker 2: down like a second level linebacker who's off the ball.
Speaker 2: So interesting, gonna be very interesting. Different wrinkles, a lot
Speaker 2: of the same. There'll be a lot of continuity. Chris
Speaker 2: Chris Caseric still the d line coach. Still gonna be
Speaker 2: a lot of wide nine looks. But you're gonna see
Speaker 2: more five two. You're gonna see more five man fronts.
Speaker 2: You're gonna see more blitzing. You're gonna see more man
Speaker 2: coverage because of the blitzing, and that favors guys who
Speaker 2: can play man coverage. Darrell Louder, Jack Jones, Ronardo Green.
Speaker 2: And it's also are going to kind of be interesting
Speaker 2: to see how does he use the hybrid linebackers that
Speaker 2: he has. Doug er, Martin Worth, maybe a couple other
Speaker 2: guys could fit into that description as well, And to me,
Speaker 2: that's one of the wrinkles to look for starting, you know,
Speaker 2: game one of the preseason against the Titans. All right,
Speaker 2: let's do this, let's take a time out. We're going
Speaker 2: to come back with more we've got. We may we
Speaker 2: may talk a little bit with Ronnie Lott. We're going
Speaker 2: to try to chase down Ronnie. Andy Baggerly's going to
Speaker 2: join us. In the twelve o'clock hour, we'll talk a
Speaker 2: little bit about what the Giants have coming up with
Speaker 2: the Tigers this weekend. Matt Mayoko will give us his
Speaker 2: report from forty nine er camp in the one o'clock hour,
Speaker 2: And if you want to chime in, feel free bang
Speaker 2: out the number eight a week CAMBR Larry Krueger with
Speaker 2: you on these Sports Leader