It’s Early, and the 49ers Already Are Injured Across the Board

Let's get into your training camp tour.

Um, I want to talk about the Forty-Niners first because they just signed Debo Samuel.

It looks like Ricky Pearsall is dealing with a knee issue that maybe we don't see him again this year.

Maybe we don't see him.

Great, yeah.

So from what I understand, it's PCL.

He played through it last year.

It's an injury that takes a long time to heal.

And so the fact that there, now again, I don't know that any final determination has been made.

But the fact that , like, after rehabbing it through the offseason that now it's swelling again is not good news.

Mhm.

So, I mean, we'll see where that goes, but, I mean, they've got, Issues at receiver, you know, I mean, Mike Evans is older.

I think they, they feel like they're gonna be able to count on him, but I mean, he's not what he was.

Christian Kirk is already banged up.

Um, what they really need is their younger guys to come along, right?

And, um, the interesting thing is they got killed for taking Dean Stribling, um, thirty-third overall, and now he might be one of the more important players on their offense, yeah.

I mean, that's the other, that's the other part of it is like, I, I just did the breakdown, uh, because I'm finishing up a blurb for a big season preview project that I'm working on.

You're with Debo Samuel now in the fold.

You're pretty heavily dependent on your number 1 and number 2 wide receivers are 30 and 32.

Your left tackle is 38, your tight ends 32, uh, your running backs 30.

I mean.

And on defense, Fred Warners going into his 9th year.

Nick Bos is going into his 8th year.

Both those guys coming off of injury.

Um, I think we talked about this before.

I mean, everybody's said the Rams are all in and, you know, kind of, we're reprising that narrative from five years ago, um, the Niners maybe even more so, you know, because just At some point, all those guys are gonna age out, and I actually think.

It's interesting to me, at least, that I think their age is at least.

And this is like, to me, like what people don't pay attention to because they got it fixed.

They ultimately got it fixed and they have a really good quarterback, but to me, like this is, this is the fallout of the Trey Lance trade, not having 1st round picks for 3 years, you know, um.

Because if you have those first-round picks, maybe you've got a layer of 24, 25, 26 year olds now.

Whatever you do with those ones , whether you use them um in the slots that they're in, or trade them or move around, those are really important pieces of capital in building your team.

And so I, I, you know, I think part of the reason they've, they've aged the way they have, and there's this gap, like, there's like all of those players, right?

At the top of the roster.

And then you have, like , these 22, 23, 24 year olds that are gonna be, like, important factors in whether or not they're like an 88 or 9 win team or a 12 or 13 win team, and there's just, like, gap in between, and those, that's where, you know, you would have had probably those first-round picks or whatever you did with those first-round picks that you used on Trey Lance.

Yeah.

And with the Forty-Niners, it never has the sense of getting out of control because that team is so well coached, but there's always the year where it just gives way.

And, you know, I'm looking at this team and thinking, you know, Mike Evans is going to change things for Christian McCaffrey.

We could probably have one last vintage Christian McCaffrey season because Mike Evans is going to take defenders out of the box as long as he's healthy.

But then right down to And I'm curious if you saw any of this up close, Albert, but like, Kyle Shanahan is at the point where he can't sit through practice because the noise from the speakers is so irritating.

I guess when he was talking to reporters the other day, he did a lot of it with his eyes closed, um, because of the severity of the concussion he suffered from a car accident.

He said his decision-making is labored and delayed, uh, to the point where he said it takes him as long to order lunch as I guess it does to, to schedule, um, you know, the team's outing in Australia.

Uh, I, I don't , I don't want to be alarmist and concussions heal, and, you know, I mean, Kyle knows that better than anyone.

He's had countless players who've dealt with it, right?

But it, it's like , it's just a very unsettling week out there, right?

Or series of weeks that are happening out there.

Yeah, and I, I, I think it's honestly, Um, I mean, to me, at least, I, I, I , I think.

It's an interesting conversation because on one end, he's built a really good staff, you know, and so there are a lot of guys he trusts.

Um, Raheem Morris is one of his oldest friends, and very, very capable as a defensive coordinator.

He's got another ex-head coach in Matt Eberflus on the staff.

Chris Ferster, um, is as steeped in his system as, as any offensive assistant, um.

And Clay Kubiak, obviously, just like Kyle himself grew up in it, you know, so, there's infrastructure there.

I also think that if you are saying, oh yeah, they'll be fine, you're discounting what Kyle is.

And to me, like, he is comfortably in the top 5 head coaches in the NFL.

I know he hasn't won a Super Bowl, but Like, he is like Belichick in that he has his hands on every lever in that organization, and he has a handle on absolutely everything.

And um he's really, really important.

You know, it's interesting and I'll have a story on, I'll have a story on this later, but um You know, Kyle has these team meetings, um, where he kind of gives everybody these big picture thoughts and the plan for the day and everything.

They've, they don't have those now.

Like, they've decided, we're not gonna try to replicate that .

We're gonna go straight to offense and defense at the beginning of the day, you know, so there are, there are ways that it's materially affecting the way that the team is, is, is doing business day to day.

And that to me, I like, I just, I, I wonder, it's just like it does feel like this is kind of.

Being held together and it's like a, it's like a, it's like a being held, not, not by a thread, but it's like, there's a tension point where, you know, a few injuries hit and and it could spiral a little bit.

So, it's a really good team, it's an incredibly well-coached team.

I don't think Kyle Shannon is ever gonna put a bad product out there, but there's just a lot of variables and, and Kyle's health is certainly one of them.

And by the way, Kyle's body is, is actually healing pretty good, but the concussion has been, yeah, I think it's made for a lot of up and down days for him.

And, you know, now the question becomes, like, how quick can you get back to normal, and, you know, as anybody who's been through a concussion would tell you, uh, there's a lot of uncertainty to that because the progress is not linear.

We're talking about the same 49ers team, Albert, that was good with Mac Jones last year, and no, uh, Brock Purdy.

They only had Fred Warner for 6 games, and that defense still changed the complexion of a couple of wins for the 49ers.

And While it was obvious that San Francisco was a step down in talent once you put them up against a true Super Bowl contender in a playoff environment, this team was still very much a part of the story of the, of the 2025 season, and they were relevant throughout.

I thought that this offseason, I mean, listen, you and I were talking a week ago about them maybe trading for Max Crosby and punching the final accelerator on this.

I, I don't think that a week.

can change your mind.

Um, and, a, a, a strange week at that, uh, some bad injury updates, all that kind of stuff.

But It is weird that I feel so much less confident.

I, I had them at 10 and 7 in my projections this year.

That feels like it would be semi-miraculous, but at the same time, they could have Brock Purdy for a whole season.

They could have Fred Warner for a whole season.

They could have George Kittle for most of the season, and this team could win 12 games, right?

I mean, I don't know.

Well, Excuse my language, the schedule is a motherfucker.

It is, you know, the, the division is a motherfucker.

Like, it's.

I mean, I said this on the show earlier in the week, Seattle is impressive, and I'm expecting to get the same impression when I go to see the Rams today, and The path to the playoffs is tough for them, you know, so.

Yeah, I'm like, I think You expect it's gonna be well-coached, you can expect it's gonna be a well-conceived team.

I think getting Raheem Morris to take over for Robert Salah was a coup, and something that they didn't expect, but they're able to pull that off.

Um.

You know, I, I, I think so much of this, Connor, and this is gonna seem simple and cliche, and I think you say this about a lot of teams, we have to say this about, you know, another team we're gonna talk about here too.

Um, so much of it comes down to just the development of the younger guys, you know, and like, what does the defensive line look like outside of Nick Bosa, right?

Osadiggizua is part of that, of course, but then you've got young guys like Michelle Williams and Alfred Collins and CJ West.

Um, you know, you got Warner and Greenlaw.

What does Tatum Bethune look like behind them?

He played a lot last year.

Reynardo Green at corner, um, you know, the receiver, I mean, it's, it's Dean stribbling, but it's also Jacob Cowing, it's, it's Jordan Watkins.

It's like, can they manage, um, you know, Christian McCaffrey?

Well, Jordan James had a really good offseason, now he fractured his ribs, so he's gonna be on the mend, but can he get back and be a contributor?

There's so many of these, I'd say, just Areas where there is a draft pick from the last couple of years where if that guy comes along, they'll be OK, you know, and so, like, I talked about that gap between like the older players, the guys who are in year 8, year 9, year 10, and Trent Williams' case, what is the year 17, uh, 121, yeah, um, but the flip side of that is, uh, like, but, but, but then there's nothing in between, like you don't have guys in year 4, year 5, year 6.

So, you know, they need a lot of those guys who are in year 1, year 2, year 3 to come along quickly.

That's the, um, it's funny how things come back around.

We're, we're old enough.

To have had multiple cycles of the NFL evolution revolution, and it's funny because When you look at a situation like this, we're now once again talking about the roster of the middle class of an NFL roster, which was the biggest part of the Patriots dynasty.

And we're talking about how important that is.

Class, the middle class, middle class, how good is our players 10 to 40, you know what I mean?

And Bill always had better 10 to 40 than anyone else.

That's why they won a lot of those games.

That to me is what separated Seattle last year.

Exactly.

I think Seattle was really, I mean, Seattle, it's interesting, you know, not to go back to them, but like the depth, right?

Like, and like how they just have a lot of answers.

All over the field, you know, like you look at like the defensive end spot and so they lose Boe Mafe, but they still got, you know, they still got Nchenu Owosu, they've got .

Um, you know, they, they've got DeMarcus Lawrence, um, now they're bringing in Dante Fowler, they've got Derrick Hall, who is one of the best players in the Super Bowl.

Um, that's , like, to me right now, the difference between Seattle.

And I don't know, I don't know if I want to say everyone else, but I don't know that there's a team that comes at you and waves the way the Seahawks do.

Yeah.

And we talked about that a little bit before.

I think that the story of the Seahawks, like we said, I think it's going to be the players that we didn't even know were on this roster that are excellent.