Speaker 1: On a Tuesday, Greg Silver, John Dickinson live from Berkeley,
Speaker 1: and we are going to talk a little forty nine
Speaker 1: ers right now after focusing on the Giants and the
Speaker 1: trade deadline. Stay tuned for Susan Slusster coming up at
Speaker 1: about an hour. But before we get to that, it
Speaker 1: is time to welcome in our good friend, also of
Speaker 1: the San Francisco Chronicle, one Eric Branch, who joins us
Speaker 1: on the UMA guest line. Branch long time, at least
Speaker 1: as far as it goes on the show, although we
Speaker 1: like to communicate frequently.
Speaker 2: How's it going, happy new season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we've had a few stops and starts, so I
Speaker 3: apologize for previous cancellations, but the third time actually appears
Speaker 3: to be the charm.
Speaker 4: Well, every time, Branch that you're supposed to come on,
Speaker 4: it's some news breaks. So I I know your head
Speaker 4: is probably on a swivel right now as you talk
Speaker 4: to us, but are feverishly checking your messages and missed
Speaker 4: call logs.
Speaker 3: I would assume injury news is forth coming, right knowing
Speaker 3: this team having covered them for a while. Yeah, if
Speaker 3: we do breaking news today, it'll be that.
Speaker 1: But no, that's well, that's why I said, yeah, it
Speaker 1: was like, let's book him on the player's day off.
Speaker 2: Maybe maybe it'll be okay that way.
Speaker 1: But look, I mean, in all seriousness, when we had
Speaker 1: to postpone our last hit, it was for something that
Speaker 1: was unexpected, something that was really insightful and serious, and
Speaker 1: that was Kyle Shanahan calling the meeting with media to
Speaker 1: talk about the car accident, explained that there was a
Speaker 1: clerical error and that he was the one at fault.
Speaker 1: So just take us through that meeting where he was
Speaker 1: so emotional, feeling guilty for being at fault and how
Speaker 1: all of this has affected him as he's now making
Speaker 1: his way back to coaching.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, in thinking about that, it really was,
Speaker 3: you know, surreal, just in that obviously increasingly in modern
Speaker 3: day professional sports, everything it's not stage, you know, you know,
Speaker 3: all the major principles are at a podium, they have
Speaker 3: their talking points, and this was not that. It was
Speaker 3: it was Kyle Shanahan behind his desk. You know, seven
Speaker 3: beat writers kind of circle circled around, and you know
Speaker 3: there's a pair of person in the back of John
Speaker 3: Lynch in the back, But it was really Kyle Shanahan,
Speaker 3: raw and very emotional, just talking. You know, initially he
Speaker 3: spoke off the record. It wasn't because what he was
Speaker 3: saying off the record, you know, he didn't you know,
Speaker 3: end up saying on the record. It was just wanted
Speaker 3: to I think he just wanted to be able to speak,
Speaker 3: you know, really kind of more a manned men. There
Speaker 3: are plenty of f woods you know that you didn't
Speaker 3: get at the podium, but it was just speaking and
Speaker 3: you know, from his heart, and so yeah, it was
Speaker 3: you know, obviously it's a unique situation with the car
Speaker 3: accident and then you know, you know everything that has followed,
Speaker 3: and so you know, I don't think any of us
Speaker 3: had obviously seen you know, Kyle and that you know,
Speaker 3: it wasn't like a forty nine Ers coach. It was
Speaker 3: more like, you know, was a forty eight year old
Speaker 3: man kind of bearing his soul. Eric.
Speaker 4: As far as Kyle's ability to to get back out
Speaker 4: on the field and and and have more of the
Speaker 4: day to day control of of everything that's going on there,
Speaker 4: what what have you seen as training camp has progressed here, uh,
Speaker 4: you know, through the last week and a half or so,
Speaker 4: as far as just you know, him taking on more
Speaker 4: of a role I've been out there a couple of days,
Speaker 4: but not every day because we're doing the show. So
Speaker 4: how have you seen him sort of increase his his uh,
Speaker 4: you know, control over everything.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of just you know, a little bit
Speaker 3: here and there, like little things like was it Saturday
Speaker 3: was the first day he you know, got up in
Speaker 3: front of the team and addressed them in a meeting.
Speaker 3: Yesterday was the first time he addressed them after practice,
Speaker 3: you know, in the huddle. It was a few days
Speaker 3: ago that you know, instead of you know, standing with
Speaker 3: John Lynch thirty yards behind the defense, he went on
Speaker 3: the offense like which is normal spot and actually you know,
Speaker 3: was doing you know, it's not coaching, doing some talking.
Speaker 3: Even things like it was a couple of days ago
Speaker 3: that he was right next to a speaker. I mean
Speaker 3: there's loud music, uh blaring during practice and John Lynch
Speaker 3: it said, you know earlier in training camp like let's
Speaker 3: relaxed with like the a CDC and uh, you know
Speaker 3: they fettle more soft rock. But you know, Kyle was
Speaker 3: like ten yards away from one of the speakers and
Speaker 3: it wasn't got rock, you know. So there are just
Speaker 3: these little things that indicate you know obviously that he's
Speaker 3: proceeding in You know, there's no quote Russian protocol for
Speaker 3: cooks and executives, but John Much just said they're kind
Speaker 3: of doing that, you know, taking a phased approach. You know,
Speaker 3: players have to complete five steps, and I think Shanahan
Speaker 3: is probably completing has to go through in more steps
Speaker 3: as the mixed progress.
Speaker 1: Talking to Eric Branch on the UMA guest line kind
Speaker 1: enough to join us on this Tuesday morning, love what
Speaker 1: you wrote about Dre Greenlaw. We were fortunate to have
Speaker 1: him on the show at training camp this last Friday.
Speaker 1: He just seems so happy and I asked him to
Speaker 1: use one word to describe being back here, if it
Speaker 1: was revived, if it was motivated, and the first one
Speaker 1: he settled on was thankful. Now you had the numbers,
Speaker 1: it was six hundred and fourteen days and two games
Speaker 1: for a guy that when he's on the field we
Speaker 1: all have seen up close, just hal Varoch as he is.
Speaker 1: Which reunion story do you think benefits the team more
Speaker 1: in the end, green Law or Deboo.
Speaker 3: I would settle on green Law. I don't have the
Speaker 3: numbers of the top of my head, but you know,
Speaker 3: I want to say he played in six sixty four
Speaker 3: games in his first you know, step with the forty
Speaker 3: nine ers, and if you look at their record when
Speaker 3: he played and when he did not play, it is stark.
Speaker 3: And I know, you know sometimes that can be well, yeah, whatever,
Speaker 3: It's not just Dray green Law. But I do think
Speaker 3: it gives a you know, hints that his his value.
Speaker 3: And when you pair him with Fred Warner, you know,
Speaker 3: those are two of the biggest badass linebackers in the NFL.
Speaker 3: And so I would say you meanwhile, you know, it
Speaker 3: comes with a caveat at As you mentioned, he went
Speaker 3: through a recent stratetchery. He played two games in six
Speaker 3: hundred woards. He's six hundred and fourteen days and didn't
Speaker 3: finish either of them. So, you know, he's twenty nine
Speaker 3: and he has obviously a pretty significant medical file at
Speaker 3: this point. And what makes them so special is, you know,
Speaker 3: the way he plays, you know, hair on fire, going
Speaker 3: all out, and so they're legitimate concerns in questions about
Speaker 3: his ability to hold up. But you know, the encouraging thing,
Speaker 3: you know from a forty nine years perspective is he said,
Speaker 3: you know, his body hasn't felt this good since about
Speaker 3: a month before the Super Bowl, so that would be
Speaker 3: what January twenty twenty four, And you know, so you know,
Speaker 3: if you can avoid an injury in training camp, unlike
Speaker 3: a lot of his teammates, then get to the season healthy,
Speaker 3: that would be you know, a significant step for him.
Speaker 4: And he's one of the few it feels at this
Speaker 4: point that that aren't dealing with some level of injury.
Speaker 4: I mean, how concerning It's always a story Eric that
Speaker 4: the camp injuries and just injuries in general with this team,
Speaker 4: But how concerning is the amount at this stage age
Speaker 4: of camp versus other years, and and just the fact
Speaker 4: that this continues to be an ongoing issue, almost despite
Speaker 4: anything the forty nine ers try to do to combat it,
Speaker 4: because they've tried a lot of things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, this comes on the heels of you know,
Speaker 3: they're nine million dollars into you know, upgrading their facilities.
Speaker 3: You know, more specifically, they're kind of hydro areas, added
Speaker 3: to three more physical therapists, change the training camp schedule.
Speaker 3: Instead of a regular practice, they've inserted a jog through
Speaker 3: so they don't have you know, they'll have back to
Speaker 3: back practices, a day off, a practice, a day off
Speaker 3: I'm sure I shouldn't say day off. The jog through
Speaker 3: is in there so just designed to let wearn't hair.
Speaker 3: And yet you know, it's still kind of a similar situation.
Speaker 3: The other day they have seventeen different alignment on the
Speaker 3: ninety man roster. They had eight healthy defensive linemen to
Speaker 3: finish a practice. You look at the wide receivers right now,
Speaker 3: they don't have you know, what would be the top three.
Speaker 3: Ricky pearsall obviously out with season ending knee surgery, Mike
Speaker 3: Evans with a quadrice up, Sean stribbling with a hamstring.
Speaker 3: You know, we could go on, but you know, Brent Boyer,
Speaker 3: the special teams coordinator, was talking about, you know, the
Speaker 3: punching competition, and he was saying, you know, hopefully we
Speaker 3: can have one, but you know, it could be the injuries,
Speaker 3: you know, make it that they can't have the luxury
Speaker 3: of having two punters. And of course we'll recall last
Speaker 3: year injuries or why they couldn't have you know, two kickers,
Speaker 3: and they had to release Greg Joseph and they gave
Speaker 3: the job to Jake mod Jake Moody Early and Shain
Speaker 3: Camp and obviously don't worked out. But the point being, yeah,
Speaker 3: it's days are blue ish.
Speaker 1: Eric Branch joining us on the UMA guest line. I
Speaker 1: want to go back to the twenty five predictions that
Speaker 1: you put out there, and you know, you went nine
Speaker 1: and eight no playoffs, and you left a lot of
Speaker 1: predictions out there and good reasons behind it, But just
Speaker 1: explain why you ultimately settled on a team that has
Speaker 1: high expectations, understands that a lot of their core players
Speaker 1: are only got so many limited shots left.
Speaker 2: What has got you concerned the most?
Speaker 1: Why you think this might be a slightly above five
Speaker 1: hundred season with no postseason?
Speaker 2: I mean, is it really the travel? Is it just age?
Speaker 1: Is it what we're already seeing with some of these
Speaker 1: injury scares cropping up again? Just wanted to elaborate on
Speaker 1: that one a little bit.
Speaker 3: Yeah, there are you know, they will set an NFL
Speaker 3: record for most miles traveled. They do have one of
Speaker 3: the oldest rosters in the NFL. They do play in
Speaker 3: the NFC West. That's four games against the Rams and Seahawks,
Speaker 3: and yeah, most of their you know, the players there
Speaker 3: leaning on the most heavily are you know, thirty and over.
Speaker 3: So I think because of that and just the you know,
Speaker 3: my assumption is increase are going to play you know,
Speaker 3: a role again, you know, just due to the age,
Speaker 3: if nothing else. That's why I was, you know at
Speaker 3: nine and eight and now you know, was I too optimistic?
Speaker 3: Now I'm just kidding. I mean, we haven't gotten to
Speaker 3: weak one, but uh, you know, uh anyway, those are
Speaker 3: the reasons I went into the nine and eight predictions.
Speaker 4: A couple of wide receiver questions for you branch Deebo Samuel.
Speaker 4: What what do you feel is the best way for
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers to use Deebo Samuel one? And
Speaker 4: because of the injuries, are they going to be afforded
Speaker 4: the luxury of using him in the way that's best
Speaker 4: suited for him and them as opposed to just needing
Speaker 4: him out there because he's one of the few guys
Speaker 4: that are that are held right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know it could be. You know, we get
Speaker 3: to the season and it's like, oh, there's people playing
Speaker 3: wide receiver and then there Steve Boat playing way back
Speaker 3: and he's also returning kicks. And this is a guy
Speaker 3: who they waited and waited and waited to sign. You know,
Speaker 3: there was not a lash by the Queen Units to
Speaker 3: sign Deebo Samuel. You know, he's thirty years old. Obviously,
Speaker 3: I think it's safe to say, you know, he's not
Speaker 3: gonna replicate his all Pro breakout season at this point.
Speaker 3: So in an ideal world, Deeba Samuel, you know, is
Speaker 3: an excellent kickoff returner and then he helps you out,
Speaker 3: you know, at wide receiver. You know, he plays a role,
Speaker 3: but he doesn't have to, you know, try to play
Speaker 3: a starring role and he doesn't have to momate running back.
Speaker 3: So you know, we shall see. You know, the first
Speaker 3: step is they had to sign him because they don't
Speaker 3: have risky pearsall and you know they continue to do
Speaker 3: with injuries. You know, he brook the depth chart and
Speaker 3: you know, I don't think it's something then I saw
Speaker 3: you want to have happened.
Speaker 4: I also wanted to follow just on on Dejon stribbling,
Speaker 4: what what what did you see from him before he
Speaker 4: ended up needing to miss And I don't believe had
Speaker 4: he been out there in pads for for a day
Speaker 4: or had he gone out before. I'm getting maybe the
Speaker 4: days mixed up a little bit and was just has
Speaker 4: he impressed at least in the time he was out there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it comes with the caution of like, oh, you know,
Speaker 3: it's practice. I believe he wasn't the first part of practice,
Speaker 3: and so you know, you hesitate to make snap judgments
Speaker 3: on rookies that said, Uh, he was just he's just
Speaker 3: very smooth. It looks fairly easy for him, and his
Speaker 3: catch radius is is impressive and his frame is impressive.
Speaker 3: And then you know, we haven't seen some of the
Speaker 3: other things, like none as a really elite runt blocker,
Speaker 3: which is a huge thing in's offfense. So the arrow
Speaker 3: was up, as they say, before he got hurt. Yeah. Now,
Speaker 3: having said that, it's tough to say you like I said,
Speaker 3: the exception of Adi Jenkins back in the day, who
Speaker 3: couldn't stand on the street and his first training camp
Speaker 3: practices and could catch the ball and you're like, huh,
Speaker 3: why did you pick this guy in the first round?
Speaker 3: So uh, usually, but usually you can't you don't necessarily say, hey,
Speaker 3: they hit or they hit or they missed. But you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: scribbling looked very very big before he had, you know,
Speaker 3: sit out.
Speaker 1: Final couple of minutes here with Eric Branch on the
Speaker 1: UMA guest line, Ricky Piersall individually for him just a
Speaker 1: real bummer. It's second practice back reaggravates the pc L.
Speaker 1: Now he's done for the season, how can they combat
Speaker 1: the loss of Peersal Because it's very clear that when
Speaker 1: he was healthy and right, and when he was either
Speaker 1: unavailable or playing limited, the offense looked very different in
Speaker 1: terms of field stretching, man to man, coverage, explosiveness. And
Speaker 1: while Deebo Samuel coming back is a welcome addition, very
Speaker 1: different player from what a healthy Ricky Pearsall brought you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is significant because you're right there, you know,
Speaker 3: on a kind of rare times where he's been healthy,
Speaker 3: he's really good. I mean, he clearly has the talent,
Speaker 3: he has first round ability, He's a very special route runner,
Speaker 3: you know, just the way he can disguise his raps.
Speaker 3: And so it is a significant loss. And like as
Speaker 3: discussed you know previously, you know, a healthy Ricky Piersall
Speaker 3: at this point and my estimation is far better than
Speaker 3: a thirty year old Devo Samuel. So you know, in effect,
Speaker 3: you know, Swappy us all for Samuel. You know, it's
Speaker 3: a pretty significant loss of that wide receiver corps.
Speaker 1: We didn't want to let you go either without talking
Speaker 1: about our favorite article that you've written out of the
Speaker 1: many great things lately in the SF Chronicle. That's, of
Speaker 1: course the piece you put out on Greg Papa over
Speaker 1: the weekend. And look, I don't really know what to say.
Speaker 1: I don't think I have a question on of it.
Speaker 1: I just want to say, very well done. I know
Speaker 1: that's the kind of thing you didn't necessarily want to write.
Speaker 1: We're all thinking of him every single day, and even
Speaker 1: as someone that's been pretty in the know with a
Speaker 1: lot of what you detailed in that piece, it was
Speaker 1: a really emotional read. So just thank you for putting
Speaker 1: that out there. I know that he really appreciates it,
Speaker 1: and we we miss him every single day on the show.
Speaker 1: But yeah, just just very proud of that piece and
Speaker 1: well done, Eric.
Speaker 3: Well, thanks very much. He really is remarkable, beyond obviously
Speaker 3: his career as the broadcast of it right now, Like
Speaker 3: that was two hours of talking with him, and he
Speaker 3: did most of the talking. I could have been into
Speaker 3: a cancer doctor or a lung specialist. I mean, he
Speaker 3: knows everything about everything that he's dealing with hostibly better
Speaker 3: than his doctors. And so anyway, he's inspiring on a
Speaker 3: lot of different levels. But yeah, I was privileged to
Speaker 3: be able to speak with him and man't share his story,
Speaker 3: which is uh, you know, pretty incredible.
Speaker 4: Well, and that is one of the great things about Greg,
Speaker 4: right is the preparation, no matter what it is, and
Speaker 4: the knowledge of of what of what's going on, whether
Speaker 4: it's preparing for a game or to do a show
Speaker 4: or in this case, uh, you know, with his diagnosis
Speaker 4: and his current fight. So that doesn't surprise me that
Speaker 4: that that that's how that conversation went.
Speaker 3: Branch, Well, yeah, I was like, thank god I was
Speaker 3: talking to him. I mean, not only does he was
Speaker 3: able to you know, I'm an English major, so you know,
Speaker 3: it was a lot to kind of work through all
Speaker 3: his various medical issues, but you know, she was kind
Speaker 3: of be able to explain it in more layman's terms.
Speaker 3: And then of course he's a quote machine, you know,
Speaker 3: and so I had to. Yeah, the challenge was that
Speaker 3: you can choose with his great soundbites, you know, to
Speaker 3: put in the article, you know, because as you know,
Speaker 3: if you read it, you know, despite all that he's
Speaker 3: dealing with and it's very serious, he's able to maintain.
Speaker 4: Well, it was a great read, and we encourage everybody
Speaker 4: to to check it out. Obviously, we get we get
Speaker 4: the questions a lot, you know, hey, how's Papa doing
Speaker 4: and how are things going and what has it been like?
Speaker 4: And and you know, to that point, we we do
Speaker 4: know a lot of what has been going on that
Speaker 4: that he was willing to openly discuss and be a
Speaker 4: part of of what you were able to write. So
Speaker 4: for anybody that really wants the update, that's it, in
Speaker 4: his words, a lot of it. So we we definitely
Speaker 4: encourage everybody to check it out. And of course we
Speaker 4: we love them and we're you know, keep keep fighting, Pop,
Speaker 4: keep fighting, brother.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, Thanks so much Eric for coming by, and we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you about a lot of niners in the
Speaker 1: coming weeks as well, and hopefully we can get our
Speaker 1: guy Papa in there to give some insight. But look,
Speaker 1: health is wealth, got to take care of himself first
Speaker 1: and looking forward to when we do get him back,
Speaker 1: and until then, we'll keep reading every piece you put
Speaker 1: out there, because whether it's on Papa, Dre Greenlaw, Deebo, Samuel, etc.
Speaker 1: It's good. It's good always reading the chronicle. So thanks Bratch,
Speaker 1: I
Speaker 3: Appreciate you guys, Thanks for having me