00:00In this particular case, we're into the trenches today with the San Francisco 49ers,
00:06and there's a lot of concern with it, so out to the River Islands guest line we go
00:10to bring in my friend Ephraim Salam here on Willard and Dibs.
00:14Hey, buddy, how we doing?
00:16I'm great. How you guys doing?
00:17We're fantastic, man.
00:19Hey, the Niners offensive line, it's pretty much the same group coming back.
00:24Do you feel like it's a problem?
00:28Um, not necessarily.
00:31Um, if it's the same group coming back and they have relative health,
00:37then that bodes well for the San Francisco 49ers.
00:40Okay.
00:41All right.
00:41I know the jumps that can happen with players in between years.
00:47I was one of those players who made similar jumps.
00:51Now I've also jumped backwards, which you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you want to have one
00:58of those jumps,
00:59but I, you know, I'm honest and I'm open my first year in the league.
01:03I get to the Superbowl.
01:05I start every game and I make all rookie team.
01:08And I thought, yeah, I have arrived.
01:10And did I play as well my second year?
01:12No, but it made me get my, my act together and come back so I can continue to prolong my
01:19year in the league.
01:20So I'm all for players getting experience.
01:23The more you play, the better you are, especially up front.
01:26If you can stack games and, you know, inevitably I went on to play in 159 games.
01:35And so the more games you play, the better you are as a unit.
01:39You got to remember, it's not a defensive end or a cornerback or a linebacker.
01:43All five of these guys have to be on the same page.
01:46And the only way you can do that is to actually play together.
01:49And it feels like the unit was part of the issue last year where they didn't all line up at
01:54the same time and have the same performance.
01:56And this year they've got what looks to be a rotating door at left guard.
02:00How big a challenge could that be if nobody cements that spot?
02:04I don't like rotating offensive linemen.
02:07I've been part of that and part of a team that did that.
02:11That's tough to do.
02:12The number one reason is if you set it up, okay, you're going to play two series.
02:16You're going to play two series.
02:18Whoever gets, comes onto the field during the two minute drill and they've been standing on the sideline for 20
02:24minutes.
02:25That's a lose-lose for that player.
02:28I don't like rotating linemen.
02:29I say if you're going to rotate them, do it by quarter, right?
02:34Do it by quarter.
02:35Let them get acclimated to what's going on, get a feel for it and all of that.
02:38But once you start, you know, breaking the series down and rotating them in, it's hard to really get cohesion
02:47in that unit.
02:48And rotating offensive linemen is like rotating quarterbacks.
02:51It's not good for anybody.
02:52Yeah.
02:53Ephraim Salam is with us 13 years in the league on the offensive line on Willard and Dibs, 95-7
02:59the game.
03:00Hey, big man Trent just turned 38.
03:03What is your thought on that?
03:06And what is the realistic expectation for him this year in your mind?
03:12Look, I love Trent.
03:14I think he's one of the best offensive linemen to ever play.
03:17I mean, he's been that guy.
03:19That's why he has so much value to the 49ers.
03:22But, I mean, the reality of the situation is, given his past history and the injuries, it's highly unlikely, given
03:33the gauntlet that the 49ers have to go through, and seeing Miles Garrett twice a year, and now Aaron Donald.
03:43Look, man, I love Trent.
03:46I hope they're developing whoever is going to step in if something happens, unfortunately, where he has to miss some
03:54time.
03:54Will he be able to play at a high level?
03:56Yes, because he's smarter than everybody he'll play against.
03:59And that helps.
04:00As you get older and more seasoned, mentally you can now put yourself in a better position than if you're
04:07just using brute physical strength.
04:10Does that allow him to keep father time at bay to the extent where maybe he's lost a little bit
04:16of his lateral movement, but knowing what the defense is probably going to try to set him up to do,
04:21does that give him an edge to maybe prolong it a little bit?
04:25Absolutely.
04:26I mean, the smarter you are, the longer you can play.
04:29As long as your body holds up.
04:31Look, that was the thing for me.
04:33I knew what the defense was going to do before they did it.
04:35And so I was able to put myself in the right position to give myself the best opportunity.
04:41Trent seen every defense.
04:43He sent every type of defensive end.
04:44There's nothing you can do to surprise him.
04:47That's why he's so good so long, because he has that ability to really, you know, we don't really think
04:54about that for offensive linemen.
04:55We think about it for quarterbacks and cornerbacks and receivers and the skill position.
04:59But playing tackle in the NFL is a skill position, trust me, especially left tackle.
05:05That's why it's not a bunch of them.
05:07That's why it's not a bunch of them on the roster.
05:09Ephraim, I know you've been on a team where Kyle Shanahan was part of the coaching staff.
05:14That last name.
05:15My offensive coordinator.
05:16Right.
05:16So that last name has always been synonymous with we're going to have success running the football.
05:24When you look at the 49ers last year, we were talking about this earlier, trying to figure it out because
05:30they were still they were a good offense.
05:31They won 12 games, but they're only averaging like 3.8 yards a carry.
05:37They're 30th in the league running the ball.
05:40So I don't even understand how they ended up being a good offense.
05:44But when you look at it from either the offensive line not performing, McCaffrey losing a step, or the defense
05:52stacking the box because they knew Christian was getting the ball, why do you think the Niners had such trouble
06:00and how do they fix it?
06:01I think they attacked it in a little different way.
06:06I think, you know, being cautious of Christian McCaffrey, who was one of their best weapons, if not the best
06:13weapon they had last year, they understood because of injuries how much they had to lean on him.
06:18So you don't want to just turn around and hand the ball off to him, you know, 30 times a
06:24game, 28 times a game.
06:27They found different ways to get him the ball.
06:30And so when you look at it, well, they're only three-point-whatever yards to carry, but he also caught
06:38the ball out of the backfield and took a no-yard pass for 15 yards, right?
06:43He took a check down for 32 yards.
06:47And so keeping him able to gain large chunks of yards, ran some RPOs a little bit.
06:56Like, they're different ways.
06:57You don't want to just stack him up there and let him get pounded on like that.
07:01I think that's where a lot of their success came from.
07:04Now, he says he's healthier than ever.
07:06He's ready to go.
07:07But the genesis of a Kyle Shanahan or a Shanahan offense is that zone stretch, getting the running back out
07:15into space and letting him be special.
07:18And last year, his success rate, as far as how many yards you get based on down and distance,
07:23it was one of the lowest of his career, yet they stayed with it.
07:26How important is it to, even though you're not being successful per se,
07:31how important is it to continue to try to just run it to keep the defense honest?
07:35Well, you have to.
07:36You have to.
07:37And you never know when he's going to break one.
07:41That's how great he is, right?
07:42Like, you guys ever watch Barry Sanders?
07:45I'm sure you guys have.
07:46Oh, yeah.
07:46Barry Sanders would lose yards on three consecutive plays and then or two consecutive plays.
07:54And then the next one, he'd go for 80 yards.
07:55You'd be like, what happened?
07:58Right?
07:58Like, when you have a special running back like that who's able to, you know, see things and adjust to
08:06things,
08:06it may be, you know, a little frustrating at times.
08:09Like, they keep him on the ball.
08:11Oh, there he goes.
08:11He got 52 yards right there.
08:13Like, so it's that element to where you always want to feed them because you never know when something special
08:20is going to happen.
08:21Ephraim, how do you see the other side of the trenches for the 49ers?
08:25So, Bosa gets hurt.
08:26They only have 20 sacks.
08:28They're last in the league.
08:30Again, how'd they win 12 games?
08:32I don't know if we really can understand that.
08:35But they did.
08:35But that has to be better this year.
08:38Bosa is tracking toward being ready for the start of the season.
08:42But they don't really know exactly how that's going to all play out.
08:45So, when you see that group, did they do enough to fortify it?
08:51And how does that need to be different this year?
08:54Well, you got to be able to put pressure on the quarterback.
08:56We know that.
08:58If you're going to be good.
09:00Now, Robert Sala did, you know, amazing work with the group that he had.
09:05He's just, you know, he's a tremendous coach.
09:07So, they're going to need special players to be special.
09:10They're going to have to be able to line up a guy.
09:14He can beat somebody and get to the quarterback.
09:17That's the only way that they can be successful.
09:21Nick Bosa had two sacks last year, and he was fourth on the team.
09:24And he played a total of three games.
09:26That's not good.
09:27And I wonder about the Raheem Morris part of it, even because he comes in
09:32and more five-man fronts, and he seems to be more willing to blitz.
09:36How might that affect the Niners' ability to get after the quarterback?
09:40Yeah, I just think, you know, collectively they've got to find ways.
09:44Bosa has to have a huge year, right?
09:46That four sacks is not going to happen.
09:48It's not going to cut it.
09:49You've got to have someone.
09:50The offenses have to double-team in order to free up some other things
09:55that you want to do defensively.
09:57You just have to.
09:59Ephraim, I want you to share with the audience what you said to me on Sunday
10:04when we were talking about Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald.
10:08I don't know exactly when Aaron's going to play.
10:11I don't know what version of himself he's going to be,
10:14but your response was it doesn't matter.
10:17It doesn't matter.
10:18Yeah, can you please explain?
10:20Yeah, 70% of what he was is better than 90% of the defensive.
10:25linemen in the league, right?
10:2860% is better than, you know, 60% of the defensive linemen in the league.
10:34If you get him for 20 great plays, good luck.
10:39Good luck trying to block two of the unblockable forces
10:42that we've seen in the last 15 years in the NFL.
10:46That said, like we know in the NFL, it doesn't, like,
10:50we don't play this stuff on paper.
10:52There was an interesting stat that came out yesterday
10:55that over the last 30 years there have been 20 teams
10:59that have had odds to win the Super Bowl before the year at plus 500 or better.
11:04Those 20 teams have never won the Super Bowl.
11:07They're 0 for 20.
11:09That's the Rams this year.
11:11So what is the league really looking at?
11:14Like if we're trying to find a reason to think that they're not going to just
11:18steamroll everybody, what would it be?
11:21I don't know.
11:23I think they're going to steamroll everybody.
11:27I put my money on the Rams.
11:28I'll take the Rams over the field.
11:30I just, I think they have everything they need to repeat.
11:34They remember what it felt like to miss out last year.
11:38They felt like they should have won it, which all intents and purposes,
11:40they come out of that game.
11:41They definitely do.
11:42So I think they're on a mission and they're angry and they're bad.
11:46They got better this year.
11:47They got better this year than they were last year.
11:49So good luck to the league.
11:50Guys, I got to jump.
11:52I really do.
11:53I'm sorry.
11:53I got to do this to you.
11:54No, you all right.
11:55I appreciate you guys.
11:57Abram, thank you for all.
11:58I'll be with him the rest of the week, Abram.
12:00It's all right.
12:00I'll take care of your guy.
12:01Absolutely.
12:02I'll talk to you on Sunday, buddy.
