Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the forty nine Ers First and
Speaker 1: ten Podcast, ten minutes of the most up to date
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers news, first thing in the morning. I'm
Speaker 1: your host, Brianna McDonald, and I'm joined by forty nine
Speaker 1: Ers team reporter Lindsay Polaris. Today we'll be covering a
Speaker 1: post combine NFC West recap. The forty nine Ers are
Speaker 1: coming off of a division winning season and understand how
Speaker 1: important that is to reaching their ultimate goal. Quite a
Speaker 1: few changes have been made to our neighboring NFC West teams,
Speaker 1: and we've gathered some insight from them at the NFL
Speaker 1: scouting combine that is wrapping up today. Lindsay, I know
Speaker 1: you had the chance to sit down with Arizona Cardinals
Speaker 1: team reporter Danny Serek. What did you learn about the
Speaker 1: latest for their team? Yeah, so, you know, like every
Speaker 1: offseason for every team is it's a few months where
Speaker 1: you expect to see some significant changes. I would say
Speaker 1: probably out of all of the NFC West teams, the
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals probably have the most organizational changing moves, and
Speaker 1: a couple of them have already happened. There was a
Speaker 1: hire for a new general manager and Monty Astin for it,
Speaker 1: and then also a new head coach in place, Jonathan
Speaker 1: Gannon coming over from the Philadelphia Eagles, just recently coached
Speaker 1: who's the defensive court, was the defensive coordinator, and is
Speaker 1: now with the Cardinals. So the Cardinals are coming off of,
Speaker 1: you know, a difficult season, just four wins on the year,
Speaker 1: I believe, and you know, part of that being because
Speaker 1: their starting quarterback, Kyler Murray went down in season with
Speaker 1: an ACL injury, and that's kind of one of the
Speaker 1: biggest updates we got from the combine. Danny mentioned that
Speaker 1: monte Asinport and Jonathan Gannon both mentioned separate lead that
Speaker 1: Kyler Murray is not expected to be ready for the
Speaker 1: start of the twenty twenty three season. That's not really news,
Speaker 1: but you know, no expected timetable. That being said, both
Speaker 1: of those guys are very happy with the progress that
Speaker 1: he's making. And I know we've seen kind of floating
Speaker 1: around social media just some footage of Kyler Murray on
Speaker 1: an exercise bike and he looks like he's moving relatively well.
Speaker 1: So it sounds like in terms of progress, they're very
Speaker 1: happy where he's at at this point, and with this
Speaker 1: type of internet with this type of injury, you just
Speaker 1: don't want to rush things because that's a franchise QB.
Speaker 1: With the way things stand, also, lots of potential for
Speaker 1: the Cardinals. They do have the third overall pick, and
Speaker 1: they have thirty guys that are set to enter free agency,
Speaker 1: so a lot of moves that can be made and
Speaker 1: need to be made this offseason for Arizona. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: sounds like the Cardinals are going to be building almost
Speaker 1: a whole new team and they've got some new guys
Speaker 1: at leadership position. So I'm very interested to see what
Speaker 1: they do with that third overall pick and how their
Speaker 1: season is just going to play out. So just two
Speaker 1: picks away from Arizona are the Seattle Seahawks. They are
Speaker 1: lined up to have the fifth overall pick in the
Speaker 1: draft this year. Get ready to see their name a
Speaker 1: few times early in the draft because they have four
Speaker 1: picks in the first two rounds. The Seahawks still have
Speaker 1: head coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider leading
Speaker 1: their team. However, we've learned that they've lost a couple
Speaker 1: of coaches on both the offensive and defensive side. Dave Canalis,
Speaker 1: who is a long time assistant under Carroll is now
Speaker 1: the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Shandaci,
Speaker 1: Seattle's defensive associate head coach, has become the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 1: new defensive coordinator. We saw just how competitive the Seahawks
Speaker 1: were last year. I think we all remember that battle
Speaker 1: to win the NFC West in Seattle and last season.
Speaker 1: How do you think Seattle's draft capital and slight movement
Speaker 1: in the coaching staff impacts their upcoming season. Yeah, so,
Speaker 1: I think a lot of that is going to hinge
Speaker 1: on what happens with quarterback Gino Smith also was the
Speaker 1: ap NFL Comeback Player of the Year. I think the
Speaker 1: Seattle Seahawks in twenty twenty two were a very pleasant and,
Speaker 1: like you said, very competitive surprise. They were the wildcard
Speaker 1: team and fell in that round of course to our team,
Speaker 1: the San Francisco forty nine ers. But they are in
Speaker 1: a really sweet spot in this offseason. Like you mentioned,
Speaker 1: two first round draft picks, one of them coming from
Speaker 1: the Russell Wilson trade, and then they've got their own
Speaker 1: first round draft pick and then cap space. I believe
Speaker 1: I read it and it's at thirty one million dollars
Speaker 1: They've got a decent amount of money to play with.
Speaker 1: Most of their coaching staff is in tax. Definitely not
Speaker 1: as much move leaving pieces as we've seen with other
Speaker 1: teams around the league. You know, it's possible Gino Smith
Speaker 1: comes back. He had a great coming off a great
Speaker 1: year obviously, So I think they are set up to
Speaker 1: replenish and reload their roster where they need it. And
Speaker 1: they've got like I said, they've got money, and they've
Speaker 1: got picks to do it. Plus those second round draft picks,
Speaker 1: there is a lot of value that the Seattle Seahawks
Speaker 1: could potentially come and get and like, you know, two
Speaker 1: first round draft picks. That's not a bad bad thing
Speaker 1: for anyone. Okay, Now moving on to the Los Angeles Rams,
Speaker 1: They've had a few hires for some big positions. One
Speaker 1: is actually a familiar face. Michael Floor has been named
Speaker 1: the Rams offensive coordinator after spending the previous two seasons
Speaker 1: as the offensive coordinator for the New York Jets. But
Speaker 1: prior to his time in New York, he actually spent
Speaker 1: four seasons on the forty nine Ers coaching staff, working
Speaker 1: with San Francisco's wide receivers and passing game. Another prominent
Speaker 1: hire for la Is Chase Blackburn as special teams coordinator,
Speaker 1: formerly working with the Tennessee Titans special teams. In twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, the Rams are scheduled to make their first
Speaker 1: pick in the draft, early in the second round, at
Speaker 1: number thirty six overall. How do you see just their
Speaker 1: off season playing out. Yeah, well, Bree, I you know,
Speaker 1: one thing you did mentioned Michael Floor and you know,
Speaker 1: San Francisco always thinks so highly of its alum, whether
Speaker 1: it's from players to coaches. So Mike Laflour obviously going
Speaker 1: to make an impact there with the Rams. And then also, yeah,
Speaker 1: their off season, although they don't have they won't actually
Speaker 1: have their own first round pick until twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: I think because they are picking so early in the
Speaker 1: second round, I do believe they have the number thirty
Speaker 1: six overall and thirty nine, there is definitely good draft
Speaker 1: value to be had. That's a nice spot to be at.
Speaker 1: And then you know, for the Rams, one of the
Speaker 1: biggest downfalls last season, which obviously no one can control
Speaker 1: our injuries, and with a little bit of luck, I
Speaker 1: think they're going to be in a decent spot heading
Speaker 1: into next year. Matt Stafford, Cooper Cup, and Aaron Donald
Speaker 1: are the big guys that were you know, had significant
Speaker 1: injuries of blue. Cooper Cup missed eight games with an
Speaker 1: ankle injury, Aaron Donald missed six with an ankle injury,
Speaker 1: and then Stafford missed eight as well with the neck injury.
Speaker 1: So with some help in terms of the health side
Speaker 1: and having those two early early second round draft picks,
Speaker 1: they're going to be able to at least come back
Speaker 1: up from a little bit from where they were in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two. And then again Sean McVay will be
Speaker 1: the head coach against there's a lot of continuity in
Speaker 1: terms of just that position on the coaching staff. So
Speaker 1: you know, I don't think they're in a bad spot.
Speaker 1: And traditionally they are very competitive with the San Francisco
Speaker 1: forty nine ers. I see that, you know, improving a
Speaker 1: little bit from the twenty twenty two year in which
Speaker 1: you know, the forty nine ers swept the entire division. Yeah,
Speaker 1: now let's bring it back to the forty nine ers.
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty three league year and free agency period
Speaker 1: begins at one pm Pacific time on March fifteenth. I
Speaker 1: know you spent a lot of time with general manager
Speaker 1: John Lynch at the combine over this past week. What
Speaker 1: do you see mixing up for the forty nine ers
Speaker 1: and what are their biggest goals once that free agency
Speaker 1: period hits. Yeah. I asked John Lynch what the theme
Speaker 1: or the focus of this combine and offseason would be
Speaker 1: for him and the entire forty nine ers scouting department,
Speaker 1: and he really said boiled it down to one word,
Speaker 1: and that was depth. And that's nice to hear when
Speaker 1: you have drop fixed that are starting either ninety ninth
Speaker 1: overall or one hundredth overall. The forty nine Ers have
Speaker 1: the luxury of having all the cornerstone players in place,
Speaker 1: So now it's about shoring up the offensive line, the secondary,
Speaker 1: maybe looking at that corner back in the safety position,
Speaker 1: also getting just some more depth on the defensive line
Speaker 1: as well. So I think again it is just about
Speaker 1: replenishing the roster. A lot of the success of the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers also hinges on the quarterback position. The
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers feel really good about the two options
Speaker 1: they have in Tray Lance and Brock Purty. Both of
Speaker 1: them need to get healthy this offseason. But I think
Speaker 1: the fact that John Lynch is so optimistic about both
Speaker 1: of them. Bodes well for the team headed into twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two. But you know, John Lynch did mention it
Speaker 1: was their duty, their responsibility of this combine to be
Speaker 1: up to date on every person one of those three
Speaker 1: hundred and nineteen prospects, because you never know where people
Speaker 1: are going to become available, and you know, the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers have had a lot of success drafting in
Speaker 1: the late round. So we'll see who's available at pick
Speaker 1: ninety nine or one hundred. It'll be exciting. We're less
Speaker 1: than ten days away from the new league gear. We'll
Speaker 1: keep you updated with all the latest information on forty
Speaker 1: nine ers dot com. Thank you so much Lindsay for
Speaker 1: joining me in this offseason update. Don't forget to follow
Speaker 1: first and ten on Spotify, and thank you Faithful for
Speaker 1: tuning in.