Albert Breer on 49ers’ Injuries, Cowboys Defense and 0-5 Teams

All right.

Welcome in to the Brew Report for Tuesday, October 13th.

Week 5 is now in the books.

Hard to believe we are more than a quarter of the way through the 2026 regular season.

It is a mailbag edition of the Breer Report.

You guys had questions, we put the call out on Twitter.

I picked three.

I'm gonna answer those questions right here, right now.

The first question is coming from Ryan Jay.

That's at it's RyanJohn Jay on Twitter.

He asked, how will the Niners solve their wide receiver injury issues with Debo out a few weeks, dribbling out until December and Evans playing with broken ribs, seems like they need some immediate help.

I would say you can keep an eye on veteran additions like the one that they made with Brandon Cooks.

Um, you know, certainly, I think the, the hope would be that some of the younger players that they drafted over the last couple of years are able to step up and contribute.

Jordan Watkins and Jacob Cowing have flashed over the course of the last couple of years in training camp, and those would be two guys that I think you would hope would be able to step up and play some snaps.

The key here to me is what you've already got on the roster and the fact that Sterbling is not out for the year, the fact that Debo is not out for the year, the fact that Mike Evans is not out for the year.

Uh, that to me would prevent you from really going all in on anybody, especially when you consider in 2027, you're gonna have Ricky Pearsall coming back.

So, I, I know it's not the, the, the, the sexy answer to say stand pat with what you've got.

Try to, try to make your development work with guys like Cowing and Watkins, the issue is just the amount of roster spots you're allotting to the position, the logjam that you got there.

You know, the fact that I think when these guys are healthy, it's a relatively good receiver group who has Brock Purdy playing at an MVP level and who has the 49ers now 5-0.

So, I wouldn't be jamming the panic button.

Again, like if you can add a veteran body like they did in Brandon Cooks, I'm good with that.

Go ahead and do it.

Um, they're a team over the next few years that, that is going to need to get younger, that is going to need draft draft picks, and I just, I don't see a scenario where you say, OK, yes, we're gonna go out, we're gonna spend 3 or 2 first-round picks to go and get this guy off of somebody else's roster.

Uh.

To me, it's like with the, with the, with the looming cap problems with the looming question of how you're gonna get younger, you hold on to the assets that you have to go and get young uh cost control talent.

Uh, question number 2, this is from Bernie Barmazel.

I hope I didn't pronounce your name wrong, Bernie.

That's at Bernie Barmazel.

Good afternoon, Albert.

How do you think the Mike Petton hire works in Dallas?

Almost seems like he's the new GC and Jerry's not wasting time nor money here.

Thanks very much, Bernie.

Obviously, uh, Mike Petton has the background, having worked with Christian Parker before.

Um, so, like I think that it's, it's easy to slot him in and, and have him help Christian Parker continue to adjust the defensive coordinator job.

I would also say, um, again, that sometimes it can take a little bit for a young coach to get his footing.

Christian Parker was really well thought of coming into Dallas.

He's somebody a lot of different teams have looked at as a coordinator candidate over the last couple of years.

And remember, Mike McDonald, when he wound up the Ravens defensive coordinator in 2022, got off to a rough start, and he wound up at the end of his time in Baltimore being considered one of, if not the best defensive coordinator in all of football.

Um, so I wouldn't give up on Parker yet.

That said, it's not to be ignored.

Uh, like, I think there's certainly a scenario where there's so much urgency in that building , and urgency like uncommon in Dallas.

I think over the years, we, we, we've seen that where they've had teams where it's like you wanted them to act and then they didn't.

They've acted with a ton of urgency since trading Micah Parsons.

Kenny Clarke was a part of that trade .

They traded for Quinon Williams, they traded for Sean Garry, they traded for Joey Porter Junior.

They took Caleb Downs high in the draft.

They have been very aggressive in trying to match what is a world-class offense with a defense that can help them win a championship.

And so, I think you live with the growing pains for now, Christian Parker, but it's not impossible to see a world based on the urgency they've acted with across the, across the board, where you get 8 or 9 or 10 games in and it's just not working and you've got an experienced hand now, um, there in Mike Petton to help get you out of it.

Now, the question becomes, and I think this is an Important one.

What does this look like if Mike Pett does wind up becoming the play caller?

That's a bigger picture question.

I think you can go back to Philadelphia in 2023, and they had Sean Desa, who was another well-regarded young coach as their defensive coordinator after losing Jonathan Gannon from the year before.

They pulled the plug on Desy midway through the season.

They handed the reins over to Matt Patricia.

Matt Patricia is a very high-end.

Defensive coach, but he was now running a system that wasn't his.

And what happens when you're in a situation like that is you can call it, you can draw it up, but when things go wrong, do you know how to adjust it?

Do you know where the, where the fixes are?

Can you, can you work with it on the fly?

That was the problem in Philly in 2023.

And so, if you are gonna go to Petton eventually, and again, we're putting the cart before the horse in that a little bit, but you have to make sure that it's, that it's as much his system as possible.

And Christian Parker, a lot of the roots of his system are coming from the Vic Fangio system.

And if you remember, again, going back to that example of Philly in 2023, Sean Desai was running the Vic Fangio system, which was not Matt Patricia's roots.

So again, some moving parts there.

You hope, again, the ideal here would be that Mike Petton helps Christian Parker dig his way out of this rut and get him in a position where he can be the coordinator that Dallas thought he would be when they hired him back in January.

Finally, question number 3 is from Caron, that's at Caron MMEF um MMF.

Kon asks, uh, which 0 and 5 team strikes first at the trade deadline, and who is the first big name to go.

Now, the 30 and 5 teams right now are the Titans, the Chargers, and the Dolphins.

I think two of those teams are willing to listen already, and that'd be the Dolphins, and that'd be the Titans.

Neither of those teams are in a position where it's like, yes, win now, let's go.

The issue with both of those teams is, like how many pieces do they have on their roster where you would look at it and say, yes , like they're gonna move that guy off their team now.

With the Titans, like one name that sticks out to me would be John Franklin Myers, a guy who can be a versatile piece for you on the defensive line, just signed there, but if he'd be amenable to going to a contender, obviously played um with the, with the Broncos last year and was a very, very valuable piece in Denver last year.

Like he could be somebody who could have some value to somebody, help you create some pass rush, give you a movable piece on the defensive line.

Miami has a couple of pieces.

Now, Jordan Brooks, and a very productive linebacker who has played really well for them in the last couple of years.

Would Jordan Brooks be somebody you'd be interested in?

He's somebody I think that, that, that, that may be available by trade.

The other name, and again, this is one of those, do you ask?

And I'll get back to Tennessee with this too.

Where's Chop Robinson right now?

Job Robinson is somebody who, like, I think is uh still has the ceiling to be a very high-end pass rusher in the league, and he's flashed big time.

Um, he's got some production now under Jeff Hafley.

He's in his 3rd year.

The Dolphins will need to make a decision on his 5th-year option after this year.

If they don't envision themselves picking up that option, do they listen to offers?

If somebody brings something serious to the table, somebody maybe who liked him coming out of Penn State, could they listen?

And then the ultimate example of that would be in Tennessee with Jeffrey Simmons, who's now on his 3rd contract.

He's an integral part of the team.

He's very, very important from a leadership standpoint and what Robert Salah is trying to build.

However, However much they love him, that's not stopping somebody from coming in and making a phone call.

So could somebody come in and make a phone call on Jeffrey Simmons, could somebody blow them away?

Certainly something to consider.

Um, and then the third team here in the equation is the Chargers, and I don't know if they would have given up on the season yet based on the way the team's constructed, based on who their head coach is.

Um, but certainly, I think if this thing keeps going the way that it is, they're at Arrowhead this weekend, that could have put them at 0 and 6 going into the buy.

They're coming out of the buy, it doesn't get a whole lot easier.

They got Baltimore on the other end of the buy, they got the Texans on the other end of the buy, they got the Rams on the other end of the buy.

Those are their first three games after the buy.

If this thing doesn't start going in the right direction, C Khleo Mack would certainly be a name to watch there.

An older player, but somebody who could , I think absolutely help a contender and somebody you can count on from a makeup standpoint, he's the right kind of guy, no question about it.

Maybe he wants to go chase a ring somewhere else, something to consider there, but that would be how I would look at the 30 and 5 teams right now.

Appreciate you guys coming.

out as always, you can get your comments, questions to me here on the YouTube page, or you can get to me on my social media.

That's at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert Breer on TikTok now, at Albert Abreer on Facebook, and Albert_Breer on Instagram.

We have one more Breer report coming for you this week.

We will be previewing week 6 after the big Thursday night game between the Broncos and Seahawks.

We'll see you guys then.