Stuff we bought on Amazon this week:
Portable Pump for Inflatable Pool Floats
John Cashman: What’s going on everybody? Welcome to Niners talk. As always, I am John, joined by my brother Tim, and my brother from another brother Brian
Tim Cashman: That joke just never gets old. It just doesn’t stick.
John Cashman: Let’s talk a little Niners. How are you feeling today boys?
Tim Cashman: I thought we were gonna talk about the billionaire cage match between Elon Musk and Zuckerberg.
John Cashman: No, we don’t, no, those guys more press.
Tim Cashman: Okay. Sounds good. Maybe we can make a prediction at the end of that, since we don’t do predictions on football. I do think that, billionaire cage match is something all of us have wanted to talk about for several years now. We’ll make a prediction on that..
John Cashman: Anyway it’s nerd sfighting.
Brian Caynan: I thought we were gonna talk about the cruise ship that crashed into, the San Francisco Harbor this week.
Tim Cashman: I did not hear about that. I have been not catching up on my news, at least not that kind of news.
Brian Caynan: I don’t know if it was Princess Cruise or Carnival, but it was on its way up to Alaska, and I guess the harbor master was pulling the boat into one of the harbors where it docks.
And then it crashed. And there’s a hole now in this Princess Cruise ship, and so it can’t go up to Alaska anymore.
Tim Cashman: Those pre-dinner drinks just get outta hand and too many margaritas and look what happens.
John Cashman: Well, given the Titanic is in the news recently.
Yeah. We don’t wanna have holes in ships.
Tim Cashman:. Well, we don’t. Speaking of holes, I think we’ve dug ourselves into a hole with these topics. So John, why don’t you dig us out when we can talk about the 49ers?
John Cashman: Well, let’s talk Niners So now that we’ve covered the offense, how we’re feeling in general, how are we feeling about the Niners at this point in time?
We’re getting close to training camp.
Tim Cashman: We are just a few days away, from training camp. Rookies, I think are gonna report on the week of, the 16th and then the vets come in, and you know what, we’re also less than 30 days away from the first preseason game, the Hall of Fame game.
So it’s on the horizon. It’s getting closer, I think, how am I feeling? I’m just feeling like football is coming. It’ll get here, it’ll get here. It’s kinda like a long road trip that you’re gonna get there, Brian?
Brian Caynan: I’m feeling positive. I guess there’s not really much to talk about with the Niners other than training camp, but yeah, feeling good.
John Cashman: Well, I’m feeling pretty good, about the Niners. It was one of those weeks, it just wasn’t that great. So, but I’m feeling good about the Niners and that’s what this podcast is about. Not John’s troubles at hitting a golf ball straight. It’s it’s called Niners Talk.
Tim Cashman: That’ll be next week.
John Cashman: This week we’re talking defense, the Big D. Last year they were number one. This year they got a lot of people back, but there are some changes, most notably at defensive coordinator. So let’s just talk generally real quick about the D. I had said in the previous podcast that I thought the D wasn’t gonna be as, overpowering as the offense. Just from what I can see, the offense has so many weapons, but I never got the sense, it was weird last year.
They were the number one defense, but you almost get the, you didn’t get the sense that they were like the number one defense because. There wasn’t like a guy, I mean, Fred’s kind of the guy, but there was not like a guy like Micah Parsons or, you know what the Eagles kind of did, but they were just so efficient, almost the way, best way to put it.
So this year I’m just, I’m a little more hesitant on the D than I am on the offense. What about you, what are you thinking, Tim?
Tim Cashman: I think when you talk about dominant defenses in the history of the NFL, obviously, the 85 Bears, one of the first that comes to mind. You think of the great Steeler defenses of the seventies.
You think of the Raven, in early two thousands. I don’t think we just, we see a dominant defense anymore. I think the rules have changed. I think the game has changed so that when you’re talking about a number one defense, I think you are talking about efficiency. I think you are. Talking about, a collective group rather than, as you said, a Micah Parsons or a, Lawrence Taylor back in the day.
I just think the game has changed, and plus I don’t think the 49ers on defense have, that one personality that the media just kind of flocks to. I mean, Bosa, we’ve seen him interviewed, he’s very quiet. Fred , will usually have something to say, you’ll see his talking on the field.
So I just think that’s where we’re just in a, different game, than we’re, 10, 20 years ago. So that dominating defense, I think it’s all about efficiency. You give your offense, short fields to work with. You limit the opportunities of the offense as best you can.
So I just think that’s where we’re at. That’s my 2 cents. Brian, what are you thinking just in general about the defense?
Brian Caynan: With the addition of Steven Wilkes, it’ll be, I mean obviously he, I think he’s a like a safety or defensive backs coach. So I think you’re gonna see some, a lot of improvement there in working with those young guys.
I do think overall though the defense, you’re right, it probably, was a step behind last year, although they were still pretty dominant. But they weren’t like the level I think that Kyle Shanahan wants them to be. So, I remember hearing something about that in some, like press or over the, once the season ended that the defense wasn’t like as dominant as it could have been probably since the 2019 season.
So I think, they’re looking to get back to that and I think with these additions and, I think they’ll come too.
John Cashman: Well, I think the idea, cause I mean obviously they’re the number one D and this kind of gets us into our next subject is in 2019, there sack monster in terms of how many, like Armstead had 10, Bosa had, I think 12 in his rookie year.
You had Buckner, I mean that defensive line. And Ford, before he got hurt was playing pretty well. They just went out and beat up quarterbacks like Mayfield and Aaron Rogers, and it was just, that I think is the, what I’m looking at is like, wow, that defense was scary.
You’re talking about two pretty awesome defenses, and I just think that’s where I, it gets a little bit off where you have. That sack mentality that wasn’t there last year while, they had a ton of picks and great linebacker play. But anyway, let’s get into D-line. Obviously the man is Bosa.
Last year I did the Bosa challenge that I made up completely on the fly, which was every time Nick Bosa got a sack, I run the total that he had for the year. I went, obviously it was really easy the first week he had one sack. I ran one mile
and he was on a nice, steady, you get one, you get another.
We were up to six and seven. And then he had a three sack performance where I think it went from 11. And a half to 14 and a half. When I went, I ran 14 and a half miles. I’m like, I’m not doing this anymore. And I really hope that Nick Boa keeps sacking people.
But this year I’m gonna give it one more try, see how far I can get, see how far Nick Bosa can get. It’s obviously gets pretty tough in the November, December timeframe. Tim did one with me, I did the 10 miler. But yeah, it was, 14 and a half mile was not a lot of fun.
Tim Cashman: I mean, obviously I’m just thinking if you want to do, maybe you could trade out miles for something else. I don’t know what that is, we could do kilometers, we could go to the metric system.
John Cashman: Well, let’s start with miles. And if I need to pull the metric system in. I will.
Tim Cashman: No, I like the kilometers. I just, I’m gonna save the line that John went European on us at some point.
John Cashman: Yeah. Anyway, getting on back on the subject. Obviously defensive player of the year last year.
Tim Cashman: Yep. 18 and a half sacks. Yep.
John Cashman: Really, obviously an amazing person. Only thing, on Bosa we just hope and pray and light candles on is that he doesn’t get hurt and he’s been really durable except for that, freaking accident on the field of horrors that is the Meadowlands. But I’m just really curious cuz he always comes back a little bit better, what he could possibly be better at, but. I just don’t know. Maybe he gets 20.
Tim Cashman: Here’s the one statistic I found, it was just on pro football reference and we talk about sacks.
But according to Pro Football reference, he had 48 quarterback hits. The only guy that’s closest, again, according to pro football reference, was Omenihu who had 16. So 48 times he hit the quarterback. I don’t think I’d want to get hit by Nick Bosa, but I’m sure that there are players out there who have been hit by Nick Bosa multiple times.
I’m sure it’s not fun, but that was the statistic that blew me away, that’s the kind of pressure this guy gets. And that’s once in a generational, defensive player while getting double teamed and probably held several times.
John Cashman: Yes. Brian, any other platitudes for Mr. Bosa?
Brian Caynan: He’s awesome. He is a generational talent, aren’t they looking to resign him? That’s something, that, as 49er fans, I can assume he’s just gonna get signed and we don’t have any issues. We’ll keep on buying his Nick Bosa jersey, but, I just hope that there’s no issues there. Do you think guys think he’ll make more than, let’s say, like an Aaron Donald or something like that? Isn’t Aaron Donald the highest paid defensive player in the league?
Tim Cashman:, Personally, yes, I think he’s worth more than Aaron Donald.
I think the Rams look at that situation and are just in salary cap hell right now. I think both players mean so much to their team. But I think just Bosa has just got overall much more overall talent on the defensive side of the ball. The way that, GM, John Lynch and, Praag Maathe have, constructed the deals over the last few years.
They’ve just been consistent in getting players resigned, even the Deebo last year. So Bosa’s gonna get his money, I would say it’s gonna happen sometime. , in training camp of the preseason. He’s obviously not gonna play much, if at all in the preseason. We haven’t heard anything from either side saying, we’re gonna hold out for this or that, or you have to do it this way.
So I’m pretty confident they’re gonna get a deal done.
John Cashman: Yeah they’re always right before training camp. I’m thinking it’s probably gonna be a little bit like TJ Watt money. I think Bosa also just wants to win. He wants to continually be part of this team and realize that, hey, if I take a, a bit of a haircut, I’m still gonna get paid generational wealth.
He doesn’t seem to have any, entourages, or anything like that. You’ll barely hear from him, he’s like a football monk almost. Yeah. So I just think he’s, they’re gonna sign him. He is gonna be a Niner for a really long time. It gets interesting on the D line is who’s the compliment to him?
And obviously they’re still paying. I think there’s still salary cap stuff on D ee Ford. But who’s gonna be that guy on the end that is going to make people think, okay, if we double team Nick Bosa, we’re gonna have issues with this other guy.
It’s gonna be interesting. I mean, I think it could be Dre Jackson, it could also be Arik Armstead. If first, they’re able to get Hargraves in the middle and move Armstead out more to his traditional role of defensive end, and find somebody else , who can play in his spot in defensive tackle, that might be a pretty lethal turbo group that you kind of see is how Korserik moves these guys around.
But I’d really like to see, Drake Jackson take that next step, in year two. But Brian, who are you thinking might, what happened on the D line? That frees Nick Bosa up to wreak havoc and make me run miles.
Brian Caynan: You are bringing up Drake Jackson, and I was thinking about him that he’s probably gonna have to step up big time. I think his rookie year, he was there, but he wasn’t, I think he got hurt a little bit.
And so I do wanna see him kind of produce, and I think, the staff has a confidence in him and , I think he’ll come through. So, who’s backing him up? I think, who’s that other guy? I can’t remember. Kerry, Kerry Hyder? He’s backing up that side.
So, he’s a veteran.
Tim Cashman: I think more in the middle, he’s played some DT. He’s played some defensive ends as well. The Niners, I mean, I know we, we always like to talk about, okay, Bosa will be on the end with where he’s most dominant. But, the defense coordinators in past, they’ve really shuffled these guys around to keep the, the offensive line and the quarterbacks guessing as well. They don’t want you to know where they’re coming from.. I think we also have to keep that in mind that it’s constantly in flux, which is it’s, which is exactly the way the 49ers want it.
John Cashman: Yeah which kind of brings us to our big time free agent signing, which I was stunned athat the Niners went out and did, which is Hargraves, which they plucked right out of Philadelphia. My first thought was, I really feel for Deforest Buckner,
But my second thought was, that’s a really good signing, because I watched him in the NFC Championship.
Tim Cashman: He’s really good in the middle, he’s a force. He is a force.
John Cashman: And that move I thought was, A little bit of push all the chips in the middle, but it really is, might be where we see the 2019 defensive line kinda come back to the way it was when now you have Bosa who’s, way outside of his rookie year in year four or five.
I completely lost count at this point with him, Armstead is obviously back and Hargraves. And then you just hopefully they find that missing piece, which , could be Drake Jackson, but Tim, what were you thinking on the Hargrave signing?
Tim Cashman: Well, like you, when the alert came across on my phone I kind of had to like, wait, we got that guy?
We had, first of all, it was like, am I reading this correctly? Is this a prank? And then the second thing was, how did they pull that one off? So, it says to me, obviously two things. One, the 49ers recognized that we did have a problem in the middle. If there was a weak point in the Niners defense last year, it was in the, middle, and goes to confirm that, unfortunately, Jevon Kinlaw they don’t have the confidence that he’s ever going to be the player that he thought they thought he was gonna be when they drafted him, with the DeForest Buckner, trade.
But I think I’m about to contradict myself here. I know I just said the 49ers, they like to have, players in flux when they’re shuffling them in and out. But if you look at that line of, Bosa, Armstead, and Drake Jackson if he can make, the jump now that you kno , their latest free agent signing, that is a formidable group.
We know the Niners love to hoard defensive linemen, so keeping those guys fresh, and, rotating ’em, maybe you bring in a Hyder, maybe you give Bosa a series off just to catch his breath.
I mean, that’s precisely the philosophy that the Niners have had ever since Lynch and. Shanahan came in had this depth on the defensive line. You keep the pressure on the offense, as I said before, make them get, the three and outs that gives your offense a great field position.
They’re just playing the odds on that one. And, the Niners have been consistently competitive, so that philosophy obviously has worked.
John Cashman: Yeah. Brian, what are you thinking about the Hargrave when you saw the Hargrave signing?
Brian Caynan: No, that was awesome. I was just in the same situation with you guys.
I was, I didn’t believe it at first, but no, it was awesome to see that we got him. You guys talking about, spelling Bosa didn’t, the Niners picked up, they’ve been talking about us on KNBR out here, but, there’s a guy, Cleveland Farrell, that guy from the Raiders. So, oh yeah, he was in that same draft with Nick Bosa, I think just a few spots down.
John Cashman: And nobody does reclamation projects like Korcerek
Tim Cashman: He’ll just scream at you enough until you become a reclamation project.
John Cashman: Yeah.
Brian Caynan: To get a first round pick from 2019. That’s, yeah. It was two spots behind
Tim Cashman:. No, that could, that definitely could be a sleeper. That could be a diamond in the rough that just needs a, better organization. We’ve seen that throughout the league.
We’ve seen that in league history. No, I, that’s a great point, Brian. I really like that pickup as well. Well, in the Raider, so.
John Cashman: Who’s the guy we got from the Texan? Was that Omehinu?
Tim Cashman: That sounds about right. Yeah, that sounds about right. Yeah, I, that’s on my head on team. Where did Omihu go?
John Cashman:
Tim Cashman: Are we using the Google?
John Cashman: Kansas City? Kansas City. Oh, you beat me, Brian. That’s right. Yeah. But I think we’ve seen that, like Charles Omenihu is one of those guys, who had a lot of talent, but he was in the wrong organization. I think the other guy could be very big replacement for him. Brian, when you said spelling Bosa, I was like, dude, it’s B o s a
Tim Cashman: Ha ha
Brian Caynan: I think I’ve seen his name enough to know That’s spelled B O S A.
Tim Cashman: Yeah.
John Cashman: So anyway. Well, it is not just D-line, it’s also linebackers and that starts with the guy in the middle. Fred Warner and watching Sports Center this morning. Apparently he has been, ranked the top linebacker by all of his peers.
Everybody says he’s the dude. There’s no doubt to me that Fred’s the heartbeat of that defense. Yeah, he’s just gotten better every year. He is more confident. When Richard Sherman, left, he really took over that role.
Tim Cashman: I think we also have to give credit to Kon Williams when he was with the 49ers.
I think, Fred was in his second year. I think he really yeah, definitely learned from Sherm. But I also think, Kawan had, a lot to do with how he approaches the game, how he plays the game.
John Cashman: Was it Kwon Williams? Was it a different guy? The legendary guy whose name escapes me right now.
Tim Cashman: Yeah, probably. It’s escaping me too. It’s, just another thing we’ll have to Google.
John Cashman: Oh, it’s Kwon Alexander.
Tim Cashman: You were absolutely right and I apologize.
I was getting my players mixed up. Yeah, that one’s on me. Cornerbacks are next. I know we’re talking linebackers, so,
John Cashman: Since we know Fred’s awesome. And in the pantheon of linebackers for the 49ers. Would you put him above Patrick Willis, or below?
Tim Cashman: Oh boy. Brian, do you wanna go first?
Brian Caynan: Yeah, I love Patrick Willis, so he’s gonna have to be on top, Fred Warner’s gonna have to be below him.
I have Patrick Willis’s jersey. I even bought it with his name in stich, it’s not the cheap iron on, so he’s gotta be a step below in my mind. But I’m only saying that because Patrick Willis is one of my favorite players. So, That’s fair. That’s my biased opinion.
Tim Cashman: That’s a tough one for me.
Patrick Willis was just a phenomenal linebacker who I think could hit you into next week. Just some of the hits. I go back to the NFC championship game against the giants where he was just all over the field and he was just delivering blow after blow. I think just, as a linebacker, he was an absolute bully.
That was his domain, you entered at your own risk. But I think back to one play in the divisional playoff against the Cowboys, where I had never seen a linebacker cover a wide receiver 20, 30 yards down the field. And cover him well. And that’s the athleticism that Warner has that I don’t see Willis doing that. I’ll give a slight nod to Fred.
Brian Caynan:. Yeah, he’s not as stocky as Patrick Willis, so definitely, he does have the ability to drift downfield and cover like a receiver
Tim Cashman: I’ll give you the ultimate test. Could Fred Warner cover Travis Kelce?
I don’t know if anybody can cover Travis Kelce, but I would like Fred in that matchup better than I would like against Wills. Then again, I think it’s just today’s game that we’re playing to.
John Cashman: Yeah. I’m gonna give, the nod to Patrick right now, until Fred does something that we just haven’t ever seen.
It’s also, they’re so different in terms of how the game’s played. Now that, Fred, who’s a smaller linebacker, really has to get on his horse to cover some of these guys, and does a phenomenal job of it. And then also has to do so much, just a ton of stuff in terms of getting the defense to be in the right place at the right time.
Brian Caynan: Yeah, I was thinking, John, you know how like the game’s a little bit different now, I think, as Tim was saying now, than it was when like Willis and Bowman were playing. So let me ask you guys a question. Who do you think is more impactful? Willis and Bowman as linebackers or Greenlaw and Fred Warner as a linebacker duo.
Tim Cashman: I hate these questions.
John Cashman: I’ll go first on that one. If I were a running team, I wouldn’t want any part of Willis and Bowman. If I were passing, I would want Willis and Bowman all day long. On the flip side of the coin, if I’m a passing team, I do not wanna see Warner and Dre Greenlaw If I am a running team and I get past the defensive line.
I may have a chance, but, there are, we’ve been really fortunate to have those kind of duos, and I just really hope we can keep the duo going longer, than Willis and Bowman had because Navarro got hurt so badly in the Seattle game. Tim, since you hate these questions, you’re next
Tim Cashman:. No. You know what, John, I’m gonna borrow your question and just say, I’m gonna completely plagiarize it and say you gave a perfect answer.
John Cashman: But we did lose one linebacker and who was honestly one of my favorites because he played with such abandon and he came into the Niners. It’s kind of a little bit of an unknown quantity after he had hurt his knee, which was Azi. Yeah. And obviously thrilled for him to go to the Titans. He’s gonna get money, he is gonna get to run their d but obviously who’s gonna take over Aziz’s role? Because , he was a great backup linebacker for Fred, but also great weak side linebacker as well.
Tim Cashman: At first glance, I think it’s Flanagan Falls. I think, he’s, obviously had the experience in the system, knows it well. And this is also, we’re also predicting that the 49ers are gonna play a lot of four three.
I don’t know if that’s necessarily gonna happen. I think, neither is gonna be employing more defensive facts, against, these spread offenses, the offenses that the Rams like to run, like the Cardinals of last year. I don’t know what their head, new head coach, but, when Kliff Kingsbury would be in there, I wouldn’t want a four three, I’d want the most athletic coverage folks I can get, but I do see, Flanigan Fowles, probably stepping into that, role Brian?
Brian Caynan: I have no opinion because I really don’t know the depth chart behind those guys. So I’ll say, yes, I agree with you, Tim. 100%
John Cashman: All right. I would not be surprised to see Oren Burkes or one of these rookie practice squad guys come in. I mean, Demetris is great. He is special team ace, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone who’s been under the tutelage of Fred and Dre, who comes in and is able to take that Aziz, , position, similar to how Kwan brought Fred up.
Which brings us it into kind of a hybrid between cornerback and linebacker, which is another signing that happened, about a guy that I didn’t really know much about, but I think it’s a good signing. And that’s Isaiah Oliver. Obviously we’ve had Kwan Williams who was our
Tim Cashman: Nickelback for a while, and then not Kwan.
I just want, I just wanna be the guy who is able to differentiate between the two. Sorry, John, please keep going.
John Cashman: And then, Jimmy Ward last year filled in, but obviously, Kwan went off to Denver and Jimmy went off to the Texans, with DeMeco. So that brings in Isaiah, who’s a much bigger physical player.
So it will be interesting, to your point earlier of how the Niners play rather than playing, four-three, how they use this nickelback, as potential hybrid linebacker,
Thoughts Tim?
Tim Cashman: No, I like the signing. It sort of reminds me of a player the Niners had many years ago. He was a strong safety, but you could put him right up near the line of scrimmage and he could definitely cover. I think he was the first hybrid Linebacker and that was Jeff Fuller.
And this individual reminds me a lot of him. Again, I see him kind of like on a third and three, a third and five if you’re gonna run a screen. He’s got the ability there and the cognitive awareness to make the play, when teams are trying to spread you out a little bit. He can cover the field well.
So yeah I like the signing. I think, he could be somebody who could also bring in, maybe second and long, on a blitz where he can line up or fake. I think he could basically pair very well with Hufanga.. We’ve seen Hufanga coming sometimes come in on a blitz as well.
So I see a lot that Niners can do with this guy. There’s a lot of just exciting, creative ways that they can not only put pressure on the quarterback, but, cover the field. Brian, any thoughts on Mr. Oliver?
Brian Caynan: Yeah, I mean, I, he came from, where was he on before? Didn’t he play with Carolina to some degree?,
John Cashman: No he was with the Falcons, but Wilkes knows him well cause they’re in the same division.
Brian Caynan: Yeah, I think he’s, I think it’s a strong signing. And I remember, I don’t remember. Too much of the plays, but I think he was playing in that game, when the Niners played the Falcons, and I remember seeing his name that’s my only kind of knowledge of him because he had a strong game, that day, when the Niners lost there. So yeah, I think it’s a good signing. Definitely. Yeah.
John Cashman: Well, and that kind of goes into, the cornerbacks. Last year’s signing, was obviously Mooney Ward, who I didn’t know a lot about, but then when he started playing, this guy’s really good,
Tim Cashman: This guy could play.
John Cashman: And we had him and Emanuel on both sides. And unfortunately Emanuel went down with his knee injury and now is in Detroit. Which brings in Lenoir, who played very steady towards the end, but to me, and you guys are more than happy to disagree, this’ll probably be the weakest position group on defense because after that you’ve got Ambry Thomas.
You’ve got Womack. And it’s just like, and then. A league that’s pass happy with receivers that can burn. Yeah. Like, oh boy. So that’s my big concern this year is how that cornerback room is going to do and grow. Yeah. I’m not too worried about Ward or Lenore. I saw a lot of growth with them, but there’s a big drop off after those two.
Brian, your thoughts on cornerbacks?
Brian Caynan: One person who I wish could always stay healthy was that guy Jason, was it Jason Verrett? Who? He looked like a, he looked like a talented, I mean, he still looks talented, but he just always seemed to get hit with that injury bug and Yep and it seemed to happen like early in the season or something like that.
And that’s one guy I wish just we could have seen him to his fullest potential, and stay healthy with the Niners, but, I think overall, like in terms of their, kind of their depth chart, do they have, so Lenoir on one side and then was it Chavarious Ward on the other? Really strong, I think in terms of the starters.
One person who I kind of wish I would love to see more because he had a really good game , against the Rams , in the last, game of the 21 season where he had that pick Ambry Thomas. That’s one guy. Also, I would love to see more of him, and I don’t know if he was injured last year or if he was just, outplayed kind of on the depth chart, but that’s one guy I wanna, see, kind of step up and show up a little bit more too
Tim Cashman: Yeah. I’m gonna agree with you on Thomas. I thought, when he made the play to beat the Rams in overtime at the end of the regular season, in 2021 I think a lot of people were thinking, okay, he now has confidence. He’s gonna play with confidence and to your point, Brian, the next year he came in and just did not take a step forward.
There were other players that were surpassing him and I think that’s own personal opinion, I think that was one of the key reasons they brought in Ward. They knew they needed a strong corner. I don’t think the Niners have had a true shutdonw. I think Ward is about as close as it gets, but I don’t think they’ve had a true shutdown corner since Richard Sherman was here in 2019.
That being said, I agree with you, John, that you know, this is probably the weakest point of the 49ers defense. Yeah, I think that the Niners, again, going back to their philosophy is, they’re gonna load up on the D line and to some extent the linebackers. But the D line is really where they want, keep rotating people out, continue that pressure.
Cause when you get pressure, you get an errant throw, you get a tip. And that’s where I think, they believe they can be successful on defense. That they are able to apply that pressure when they don’t. I think, if we go to, kind of the asterisk here as I call it, 2020 you see with the lack of a pass rush when Bosa was out with his ACL and they had lost others, and it just, the Niners just couldn’t seem to stop much of anything that year.
So, if the D-line is successful, then the cornerbacks can hold their own if the D-line goes through injuries. I think we’ve got a long season on our hands defensively.
John Cashman: So yeah, the cornerbacks hopefully we’ll see the preseason as that comes up. Some step up with that group.
But I just it’s just, we’ll see what happens. Position group, which is safety and probably actually one of my favorite players on the Niners Talanooa Hufanga. I love Talanooa Hufanga. He plays with his hair on fire and you can actually see it because he is got such long hair.
Tim Cashman: He just is so much fun.
John Cashman: He has such a nose for the ball. Just goes and waxes people around. Even in preseason game, he laid out some poor Cowboy last year. He is just, he’s great. And then you’ve got Gibson, who’s probably gonna be his last year, and then the new rookie Brown.
Tim Cashman: Yeah, John I think I need to say that the hair on fire joke was probably the best joke of the entire podcast series thus far.
So I think that we need to commend you for the hair on fire because Hufanga has long hair. I just got it.
John Cashman: Okay. Well I thought the bosa spelling was pretty good too.
But yeah he is my favorite player on the Niners, he reminds me so much of Palamalu. He just goes out there and just plays.
Yeah. And looks like he’s having a lot of fun doing it.
Tim Cashman: iYeah. I, as you said, John we watched him, I think in the first preseason game of 2021, I believe. Yeah. I think it was against the Cowboys where we saw this guy just flying around the ball and we’re like, who’s that? And he was kind of in and out of the lineup, but then it’s the Divisional playoff.
They’re in Green Bay. There’s the block punt, and who picks it up? Hufanga and then you go to last year, they’re playing the Rams pivotal game for the Niners. Early season, they were struggling. Niners are up eight. It’s late in the fourth quarter. Stafford Throws and who’s there?
Hufanga, like I said, he’s just got a nose for the ball. I think he just got great instincts and Niners just got an absolute gem off a safety in that draft. Another sixth round draft pick. So just something about that round. I think that’s when the Niners, when they were draft this year, I was like, oh, don’t worry.
We pick up so many people in those rounds. We’ll be fine. Who needs the first and second round? We’ve got the third, fourth, and the fifth.
Brian Caynan: So they don’t wanna pay, they don’t want to pay for higher rounds. All their money right now is going towards your skill players.
Tim Cashman: They’re not trying to pay. And that is a great point because yeah, the third rounders, when you start in third round, you’re paying them less, you’ve got more maneuverability against the salary cap. So I know we’re supposed to be talking about safety. So John, if you wanna bring me back, I tend to go off on these little different directions and you guys have to corral me.
John Cashman: Well, let Brian give us his thought about safeties.
Brian Caynan: I think the starters are absolutely awesome. I think Gibson provided what some insight and leadership and guidance to Hufanga. So I think he’s playing, a whole lot better. I think Hufanga also is Troy Palamalu’s pupil. He’s advising him as well, right? So, yeah I’m absolutely just like you guys ecstatic for the both of them and I hope can give us some more quality here and we can something for him over here. So I’d love to see that.
John Cashman: So, Tim this is an interesting question because, I’ve probably seen it, but I don’t really remember.
It would be if the Niners do start using a three-safety set, which they’ve talked about a little bit. What? What does that exactly look like? Does a cornerback come off the field? Does a nickelback ?
Tim Cashman: It could be either, and I think that’s when you get somebody like Hufanga he can sort of play that hybrid linebacker role.
So if you need somebody and Fred can easily cover, either a tight end or the slot receiver. So, yeah there’s a lot of different things you can go in the in the three safety set there. So, it just depends on how you wanna line ’em up. You can line up with a three down lineman, kind of a, an elephant linebacker kind of roaming the defensive line.
You’re two linebackers in the back, and then maybe five DBs and they could be a combination of, corners and safety. So, I think it’s about protecting kind of the middle to deep middle or excuse me. It is kind of the mid to deep middle on the field there, which is where I think a lot of teams like the Seahawks and their other wide receivers like to go to.
So that’s a possibility.
John Cashman: It kind of brings me a point, a little bit of a segue to our next subject to be the defensive coordinator, but, obviously the Niners on the offense have this kind of skill mentality like basketball, positionaless basketball. I will be really interested to see how Steve Wilkes deploys some of these guys other than the D line and some of the linebackers who, are always gonna be in like, like Fred.
Yeah, in this positionless kind of hybrid roles of D because if you’re a quarterback and you have to literally go up there and go, okay, who are all these people? Where are they all going? Yeah. I think it’s gonna be tough, especially as Wilkes maybe bringing in a lot more pressure from the edges with guys like Oliver and Brown and Hufanga.
This defense could be really interesting to watch, and a little bit different than we’ve been used to under DeMeco and Robert Saleh. Which brings me to the defensive coordinator, which is Steve Wilkes. I thought I was a good hire. I didn’t really feel to me there was a guy in the wings after Saleh left and after Demeco left.
So I was glad they got Steve Wilkes, who obviously has a lot of experience and obviously he interviewed with Korserek. He’s that guy at the D-line. So I am really curious to see how he’s gonna deploy him. I think we’ll see a lot more blitzing than we have seen in the past from the Niners.
Brian, what are you thinking about Mr. Wilkes?
Brian Caynan: Yeah, I think he proved himself because wasn’t he the interim coach at Carolina? And then he was, Carolina had like a real good end of the season after I can’t remember their first coach, but he got, when he got canned.
So yeah I think it was a good hire. I don’t think they were ready to bring anyone in house. I don’t think there was someone apparent like Demeco Ryan. Who is gonna step up. But yeah, good hire. From what I can see, he’s saying all the right things and I think they’re probably gonna change a few things around on the defense.
But I think overall I think it’ll be good. I think one thing I read also was that not, like, unlike Dko and Robert Sala, he’s gonna call the game up from up top.
Tim Cashman: Oh, that’s right.
Brian Caynan: He has a bird’s eye view. Yeah. He, so he has a bird’s eye view of the game. Probably a difference, in added attitude and trying to I guess look at the game more holistically and, not be so, I guess emotional if you’re kind of sitting on the sidelines, calling games.
But yeah, that’ll be something interesting too that we haven’t seen in a while to have someone call the game up there. So,
John Cashman: Yeah, like Fangio used to do. Tim, what are you thinking about Mr. Wilkes?
Tim Cashman: Well, I mean, I like the hire, like you said, John, I don’t think the Niner looked at their current coaching staff and said, okay here’s the next man up that they did with Ryan.
I think that he’s gonna come in. He’s not going to, frankly, he is not gonna reinvent the wheel. Then the Niners know the system they like. Otherwise Yeah, he’s not gonna come in and just say I, we’re gonna do this, and it’s gonna be a totally different animal than it has been the last few years.
I don’t see that. Yeah. I think it’s very possible that he blitzes a lot more. I think he’ll put his own spin on things. He’ll tweak a few things, but it’s not gonna be at night and day. But Brian bringing up a great point. He will be in the press box as opposed to on the field.
Which is something we haven’t seen for, as you said, John, I think maybe you said I could be wrong, but it obviously, Ryan and on the field. So, I think that also says the 49ers believe they don’t need kinda the guy, right? Having those kinda one-on-one or those face-to-face conversations.
So they trust the organization, they trust the players they have down there and the coaching staff down there as well. So, yeah, I think overall just bottom line, they’ll continue his system. Couple tweaks here and there, but nothing. No, 90 degree, 180 turns are gonna happen with the Niners defense.
It’s gonna be the same philosophy. Yeah.
John Cashman: All right. Well that brings me to making, our sponsorship dollars, which is stuff we bought on Amazon this week. So why don’t we start with Tim, and obviously the links are gonna be down below. But Tim, what’d you buy on Amazon this week?
Tim Cashman: Now this is what I bought and as it, now this is for family, right?
This is not just for what I bought. I just thinking that. Okay. Alright. Just whatever. I didn’t know if there were rules around this. Right. Well, this week is brought to you by I see this is what my daughter, I can’t even pronounce it. Blackhead, peel off face mask. That I kid you not, I come downstairs sometimes and I’m almost, I jump like, oh my God, you have a huge bug on your face or you have a black eye.
No, it’s this mask that she wears and it’s supposed to do it, but not to say that’s the only thing you can get. You can also go with Bray’s, Aloe Vera eye mask. So I got that, those two going for me.
John Cashman: So that’s it. Just those two things on Amazon this week.
Tim Cashman: Oh do you want me to go further?
I just didn’t know how much time we had. Well, if they’re paying us by the hour, sure. I’ll keep going. What about this week? Yeah. So we’ve got the I don’t even know what this is. I’m just gonna skip it. We’ve got we’ve got the low dose aspirin..
Okay. That’s another facial. My daughter bought three facial masks on Amazon this week. No wonder her allowance is pretty much near the bottom. Yeah. Well, so yeah, so this week is brought to you by, frankly, a lot of crap that I didn’t know we bought. Don’t know how it works and don’t know why it is exists in my house.
So, with that, I just want to go to somewhere else.
John Cashman: All right. Masks and low dose aspirin masks, and low dose aspirin. Cool. Brian?
Brian Caynan: I have, I didn’t buy anything this week, but I know my wife also bought something similar to what, Tim? To what? To what Leah bought. So that would be what? The facial mask that the, yeah, they wanna have a spa day tomorrow inside the house.
So I think they did buy a few of those things. I don’t exactly know what it is, but I know it came in the mail. And some nails, something you can put on your nails. I think we’re just getting ready for our trip for Disneyland. But I myself bought a pair of new Brooks shoes, which is my favorite running shoe of all time, if you can kind of see this.
But it’s a black glycerin
Tim Cashman: GTS stability. Oh, you’re glycerin guy
Brian Caynan: Which I will be wearing at the San Francisco Marathon in two weeks. So that is my nice one. Big splurge this week, what I bought. Cool. John, what
Tim Cashman: did you get? Well,
John Cashman: I definitely went down kind of a weird rabbit hole of cleaning supplies.
So I bought the two things. One a dryer vent cleaner kit that you can attach to your vacuum sucks out all the lint from your dryer vent. Yeah, it’s helps prevent, it helps prevent forest fire. I also bought John Booze Mystery Butcher block oil because we have this island in the middle of our kitchen and we needed to get some oil to keep it nice.
Tim Cashman: I did not know that product even existed. That’s what
John Cashman: Wire cutter. You get all this stuff.
Tim Cashman:
Brian Caynan: I have a question about Middle Island butcher blocks. Do you actually put stuff on the butcher block to cut or do you put like a chopping board first on top of your block.
John Cashman: No, we put a cutting board on top of the butcher block.
Brian Caynan: That’s what I thought. Okay. Just wondering. I know some people who actually put stuff on there and chop it.
John Cashman: I just wanted the amount of stuff that’s probably on there. Just would, well I boost my immune system. I might do it.
Tim Cashman: What else you got John?
John Cashman: So I got an electric air pump for blowing up pool floaty tools.
Tim Cashman: All right, so I think there. Yeah, there’s one notable trend. There’s definitely the spa feature going on with my daughter and Brian’s wife and his daughter. But there was also a definite cleaning theme, with whether it’s your face, whether it’s your dry vent.
I think we definitely hit a vibe this week.
John Cashman: And then last but not least, inspired by Tim from last week, I bought a new Tesla air filter, and I was curious because Tim has been telling me. Sometimes the Tesla smells like old tennis shoes. I’m like, my Tesla never smells like old tennis shoes. So I went to put it in the old air filter.
I never had an air filter ever to smell like old tennis shoes. I was just sucking in the outside air. So now I have an air filter. Wow. So yeah, it was, Amazon was here quite a bit this week.
Brian Caynan: You never had an air filter before your
John Cashman: Not in this car. Wow. Nope. Was never there. Just like, oh,
Brian Caynan: That’s odd.
I’m surprised they never, I’m surprised they never installed it.
Tim Cashman: That’s kind of weird.
John Cashman: I just know it wasn’t there. Missed it. It’s not one of those things. I can look at my children and go, why’d you take the air filter outta the car?
There were headphones or a, power, iPhone power cord. I know exactly to them.
Brian Caynan: Elon must miss the quality. Elon Musk missed that. Yeah. Installing that air filter.
John Cashman: Sure. He is out there. Just making sure he is, got all the air filters in after he tweet
I checked it out. Threads as well. Yeah. I don’t know how they’re going justify that. It doesn’t look like a little like Twitter, it looks exactly like Twitter. Like it looks like Twitter.
Tim Cashman: Well, okay. Can we, before we go, I did ask at the beginning of the show, cause three favorite words of all of us is billionaire Cage match.
Who do you like between Zuckerberg and Musk? I’m going Zuckerberg.
John Cashman: Can they build things?
Because if they can build things and I go with Elon.
Tim Cashman: They build up their egos, John, they build up their egos.
John Cashman: Are they allowed to hire other people to fight for them?
Tim Cashman: You’re going but you’re thinking like Musk, you’re going for the loophole.
John Cashman: I really gotta have to go Zuckerberg. I think he’s just mean.
Brian Caynan: I think they’re both mean, but. I’m thinking, I mean, I’m hearing that Zuckerberg is the one who’s actually training, so he’s doing all the training. I don’t know. You don’t hear about Elon Musk doing training. I mean, when I heard, all about, like Zuckerberg, he’s done, what is it, juujitsu or something, and he runs he’s a fast runner, so I’m gonna go with Zuckerberg.
I think he’s the guy.
John Cashman: Well, on that note, it says, hopefully that will never happen. Training camp begins soon. Our next show will be on training camp, what we’re looking forward to. So on that note, Niners Talk, faithful Nation, we bid you adieu.
Stuff we bought on Amazon this week:
