- 11 minutes ago
Willard and Dibs react to the news that the 49ers are signing wide receiver Dante Pettis, who once was a 2nd round pick of the 49ers. What does this mean for the health of Mike Evans and the rest of the wide receiver room?
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00:00An old friend is back.
00:02Again.
00:03It's kind of become the Niners thing.
00:06Hey, Debo, come on back.
00:08Dre Greenlaw, come on back.
00:12Jake Moody, not yet.
00:14Na-na-na-na-na.
00:15Na-na-na.
00:16A couple more missed extra points, maybe.
00:19Eddie's fine.
00:20Whatever.
00:21Who else is coming back?
00:22Jimmy Garoppolo?
00:23See ya.
00:23I think it's breaking news worthy.
00:26Hit the thingamabob.
00:2995.7 The Game.
00:31Breaking News.
00:36San Francisco 49ers are bringing back wide receiver Dante Pettis.
00:47Really?
00:49That's breaking news worthy?
00:50Oh, yeah.
00:52I mean, it hit breaking news when we signed Brandon Cooks.
00:55Why wouldn't we do it when we signed Dante Pettis?
00:57Because we thought that Brandon Cooks could come in and help, and Dante Pettis has not
01:03really ever been that helpful?
01:06Not to the Niners.
01:08Right.
01:09He was helpful to teams playing the 49ers.
01:12And oh, by the way, when I got to return to the Bay, you put some respect on Dante Pettis'
01:18name.
01:19Because the first game I attended when I got back at Levi's Stadium, I don't exactly remember
01:24the final score, but the Niners played the Pittsburgh Steelers.
01:27A little bit of a rock fight game.
01:29They had a hard time that day.
01:31I think Jason Verrett was, this was like, first game back from injury, and he got cooked.
01:37Absolutely cooked.
01:38And Garoppolo had to take those 49ers on a game-winning late drive, and he threw a red
01:45zone touchdown, game-winning pass to Dante Pettis.
01:49So don't you dare say he never helped this team.
01:52He helped them that day.
01:54Right.
01:55Okay.
01:55And that was in 2021?
01:58And then in Trey Lance's first game as a starter, I sat in a rain-soaked Soldier Field and watched
02:06Justin Fields run around in circles and get the stadium involved and engineer a comeback
02:12because of a long Dante Pettis touchdown, where the 49ers just opted not to cover him.
02:18And I understand why they did that, but on that particular play, it didn't work.
02:23Sure.
02:23And I mean, Dante Pettis was left all alone, and I remember you were getting absolutely
02:29dumped on, and the 49ers had every chance to win that game, but didn't quite do it.
02:34That actually was 2019, when almost to the date, September 22nd, the Pittsburgh Steelers
02:40game you're referencing, where the Niners were able to gut one out over the Steelers
02:45to get to 3-0.
02:46I have like a medium level of concern based on what the 49ers did today.
02:52And on Tuesdays, what teams do, Mondays, they all check in and get treatment, and then Kyle
03:00does the phone call and stuff and tells everybody what the injuries were.
03:06And we got what we felt was very good news yesterday.
03:12Trent Williams, quote, should be fine.
03:14Trey Greenlaw, quote, should be fine.
03:16And Mike Evans is day-to-day, and the buzz sort of was, he's probably going to play this
03:23week.
03:23So that was what happened.
03:25On Tuesday, the guys all get the day off, but what the team does is they then bring in
03:32players for workouts, who they may want to add.
03:36The 49ers brought in a ton of players today, and they were largely all wide receivers and
03:43cornerbacks.
03:44Now, what do we take from that?
03:47So they brought them all in.
03:49They signed one, Dante Pettis.
03:52Yes, they need more bodies at receiver, but also, is that a clue that Mike Evans might
03:59miss a game?
04:00And then as far as all the cornerbacks who came in, Renardo Green and Diamandor Lenore
04:05both cleared concussion protocol and returned to the game over the weekend and were not listed
04:11Monday among the injuries, but why are they bringing in a bunch of corners?
04:16Are we going to find out something tomorrow that we don't currently know?
04:20So perhaps, I mean, you can always do that for depth purposes.
04:24And also when Renardo Green was in there, he didn't have his best game.
04:28He, I think he gave up seven receptions on nine targets and Diamandor Lenore, he came
04:33back in the game, but he got absolutely rocked by Fred Warner.
04:37So I don't know if the concussion symptoms, you know, after the game and the adrenaline goes
04:41away, sometimes those things actually set in after the fact.
04:44So for me, the cornerback one is more of a head scratcher than the wide receiver, because
04:49I look at Mike Evans and I think, yeah, odds are looking at the injury and the fact that
04:55he had a really hard time getting off the field, my thought would be he was going to miss
04:59a game, if not two.
05:01And so I don't know if that's going to be the case, but you've got Cooks who you hope
05:05can be elevated.
05:06But beyond that, you don't have a lot of other options right now.
05:10Oh, and maybe they didn't like what they saw from Cooks last week.
05:13I don't know.
05:14So I mean, that's, that's potentially a piece of this puzzle too.
05:17They liked what they saw from Watkins though, which is exciting.
05:20Absolutely.
05:20Yeah.
05:21Whatever, whatever you wanted Jordan to do that day, he did it.
05:24I know he only got two targets, but he caught them both and they went for 60 yards.
05:27They were big plays.
05:28I thought Jordan Watkins looked great.
05:30I thought he was exactly what, what they, they could have hoped for him to be that day.
05:35Yeah.
05:35And you've got Debo who is, you know, hopefully he gets to actually catch the ball this weekend.
05:40I'm no promises Debo, sorry about that, but you've got Hodge and then you've got cowing.
05:45So you don't really have that many experienced guys.
05:47And you would figure Dante Pettis comes in and he knows the system unless he totally forgot
05:52it from when he was here.
05:53I mean, yeah, sure.
05:55He knows the Kosh Anahan terminology was 2018 that when, when Dante Pettis was drafted here
06:01as a, as a second round pick and has, has often been one of the, I don't know, eight
06:08names or so that people bring up when it comes to Kosh Anahan screwing everything up in the
06:13first few rounds of the draft.
06:15Um, certainly at the wide receiver position, um, Jalen Hurd, Dante Pettis, Joe Williams running
06:23back, you know, running back.
06:25Yeah.
06:25Well, a running back.
06:26That's easy.
06:26Ty Davis price.
06:28Sure.
06:28Joe Williams.
06:29Uh, who am I forgetting?
06:31Trey Sermon.
06:31That's the one.
06:32Yeah.
06:32We can keep going, but, uh, KLM black.
06:35Sure.
06:36I mean, looks good.
06:37But small sample.
06:38Yeah.
06:39But it looks good.
06:39I mean, Ricky Pierce, all, unfortunately, uh, injury is injury, but ultimately if you don't
06:45play, then that becomes a demerit on the drafter.
06:48Sure.
06:49Uh, at this point, I just, to me, it's also different though, that when you do see a player
06:53in a small sample, he looks good.
06:56Um, like right now, uh, ask me which draft pick I am most excited about from this year.
07:03It's still stribbling.
07:04More than KLM black.
07:06Wow.
07:06Okay.
07:07I, I, listen, I think based on what we've seen and then conversations that, uh, that
07:15I've had, um, and then also just what I know it takes in terms of a wide receiver, gaining
07:21Kyle Shanahan's trust as a rookie by week one.
07:25I think Dajon stribbling is going to be a big deal in this league someday, just a projection.
07:31Um, not worth anything as of now, but that is certainly my hope.
07:36And to a degree, I, I, I feel like it's a somewhat educated guess based on some signs, but yeah,
07:42he too needs to stay healthy.
07:44Right.
07:44And based on what we've heard from, you know, virtually everyone, including Greg Cosell,
07:47who joins us in about 24 hours from now.
07:50And he's somebody who was super high on stribbling.
07:53And many people came out of the woodwork after the Niners quote reached to take him at number
07:5833.
07:58And it seemed in a short sample that he was going to be all that and more.
08:02And now he's hurt.
08:03Uh, 888-957-9570.
08:05We are talking out 49 or football today.
08:08Um, this time of year for sure on Willard and dibs, they are three and O.
08:12Uh, I think in August, a lot of us thought this is how I would sort of describe it.
08:17It felt to me like a lot of people in August looked at the Niners and went, well, there's
08:23a lot of questions.
08:24We don't know what the defense is going to look like.
08:26There's the obvious health stuff.
08:27You have to throw that in there.
08:29Um, but a lot of people were like, I think if things can go right, they can be good.
08:35They can be good.
08:37But I, I, I think it was very few people who thought, Hey, if, uh, if they're blessed with
08:44some health and, uh, and, and certain things go their way, they can be one of the best teams
08:49in the NFL.
08:50I didn't hear that a lot.
08:52I wonder if, if people feel that way now.
08:55I do.
08:56Yeah.
08:57I absolutely do.
08:59All you have to do is scan the various, uh, sites that have their power rankings now across
09:04all platforms.
09:05And the one on NFL.com, the Niners are currently number one.
09:08So you're up from, I think, number seven last week.
09:11And I was mentioning this to you before that the person who does it, it's kind of fickle
09:15and I don't mind that.
09:16That like it's new information and wow, the Niners, you're three, you know, and the offense
09:20is humming.
09:21You're now number one and you take on Denver and maybe you lose 21 to 20 and you might
09:25be down to number six.
09:26I get that.
09:28But right now, more and more people who are ranking the first three weeks of the year,
09:32it's hard to look at any team and think, yeah, you've had a better three game start
09:37than the Niners.
09:38You mentioned, uh, no sacks allowed.
09:40You mentioned two turnovers, one, a pick and one, an odd kind of, I touched it punt.
09:46It's a turnover.
09:47It counts, but you know, offensively you're averaging more than 30 a game.
09:50You beat the Superbowl favorite resoundingly down under, and then you've gone out and
09:57beaten teams you're supposed to beat, but you've done it in kind of, not quite full Ottoman
10:02fashion, but they've been pretty comfortable.
10:04The only team that I think you can even sort of say has had as clean of a start as
10:12the Niners.
10:13And I'm just doing this off the top of my head and I know Raider fans get all pissed
10:17off.
10:17I love it when Raider fans get squawky.
10:20It's my favorite time of year.
10:22It's been too long.
10:23Raider fans.
10:23It's been great to see you again.
10:25I see the text coming in.
10:27I know everybody.
10:28Raiders win two games and people are like, they are the best team in the NFL.
10:32Three.
10:33I know, but it was already happening after two.
10:35You're damn right.
10:36It was the autumn wind.
10:38Mark is a pirate.
10:39It's a pirate show.
10:44You're still not that good.
10:46But anyway, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
10:49They're good.
10:50I think they could win this week.
10:51I really do.
10:53I think they could beat the Chiefs.
10:54I think they could beat the Chiefs.
10:57Do you think?
10:58I do.
10:59Say it with your chest.
11:01Stand on it.
11:02Raiders plus four and a half.
11:04Cuckoo.
11:06Man, fade to Willard.
11:09Fade to Willard.
11:10Four and a half, huh?
11:12Yeah.
11:12Four and a half.
11:13Fade, fade, fade.
11:14Yeah.
11:15That will not be my survivor pick.
11:17The Chiefs.
11:17I didn't ask it to be your survivor pick.
11:19Yeah.
11:19Don't make this one.
11:20That's not a story.
11:21Three and O versus three and O.
11:22Right.
11:22Anyway.
11:23It's not a little done beatings.
11:24What I'm trying to say, though, is the only team that I think you could argue, not saying
11:29you'd be right, but you could argue about the cleanliness of their start, to me, is the Kansas
11:34City Chiefs.
11:36That's the only other team where you can have that conversation.
11:39Because, look, they pantsed Denver.
11:42They also beat Miami.
11:44I don't know.
11:44Just like the Niners did.
11:45I don't know if that overly impresses people.
11:48The game at home against the Colts, I found mildly discouraging for the Chiefs because I
11:55thought their defense was better than that.
11:57And they let Jonathan Taylor just absolutely steamroll them all night long.
12:02But they won the game.
12:03And from the perspective of we left here in February not thinking that Mahomes would be
12:08ready for the start of the season.
12:10And he, like George Kittle, was not only ready, he's come in and he's killing it.
12:15And he and Travis Kelsey look reborn.
12:18And then they address the run game in a big way.
12:22Big time, yep.
12:23So that's been a very clean start.
12:25I know some of you might yell bills, but you don't get the word clean when you turn it
12:30over five times in a football game.
12:33Five times.
12:34I know you won.
12:35And you won.
12:36And win.
12:36No, there are other good teams.
12:39But the cleanliness of the start.
12:42It's the Niners.
12:44And then the Chiefs, for me, are right behind.
12:47But that, yeah.
12:49That's what I think.
12:50And I, therefore, I have no doubt in my mind, like all teams, get blessed with just some
12:57health.
12:59Yeah.
13:00This is one of, I don't know, what would you call it?
13:05Five, six teams that could win it.
13:08Like, that's, you know what I mean?
13:10Maybe it's a touch more than that.
13:12As of right now, absolutely.
13:14And as you know, everything between now and January can go completely sideways.
13:18And it did for the Niners last year.
13:20And they were able to band-aid the thing together to 12-5 in a road playoff win.
13:24But ultimately, it wasn't enough to get any further than that.
13:28I was looking at the Roto-Wire injury index.
13:31And I mentioned this last week.
13:33And it comes out on Tuesday.
13:35Last week, the 49ers were a 96, I think, on the injury index.
13:41That doesn't sound good.
13:42Now they're at a 104.
13:44Yeah.
13:45More people got hurt.
13:46They've got 17 players on IR.
13:49They've got two on the PUP.
13:51And they've got two doubtful and five that are questionable.
13:54They are far and away the most injured team.
13:56The Texans are second.
13:57The Saints are third.
13:58The Niners are setting new barometers, new barriers for this injury thing.
14:04Like, I love your thing, but then I don't like your thing.
14:06Because it's not.
14:08It's a stat.
14:09It is a stat.
14:10And some stats can be misleading.
14:14The Texans are missing their absolute number one offensive player.
14:19Number one.
14:20The New York Giants have lost their quarterback and their best pass rusher for the year.
14:26Both of them tore their knees in half.
14:29So, I don't want to hear that the Niners are struggling more than everybody.
14:33I just disagree.
14:35Like, you start, there are some very good players for the Niners who are hurt right now.
14:40But they're core, core, core players.
14:43If you're going to tell me that Mike Evans and Trent Williams are okay,
14:46then I'm going to argue that your core players for the 49ers are still in there for the most part.
14:52Nick Bosa, I get.
14:54Nick Bosa, sure.
14:55I understand that.
14:56And I consider Ricky Pearsall a core player, but we've known about that for almost two months now.
15:01But I think you can look around the league and point to some teams that you'd play the violin for
15:06over the Niners.
15:07But depending on what you look at, like the Texans, for example, they've got a listed 13 players on IR,
15:14including Nico Collins is not even on IR.
15:17He's not even among that 13.
15:19He's their best player on offense.
15:20And Tank Dell is on IR.
15:22He's been there for three years.
15:23Well, they've got Jadavion Clowney, and they've got a guard.
15:26And so it just depends on, first of all, like who you lose.
15:30Your point is well taken where, all right, Trent, Christian, George, Fred, and Brock,
15:34they're all still out here doing their thing.
15:36But beyond that, it comes down to depth.
15:39And last weekend, I thought, was a great tip of the cap to John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan
15:44because you had a bunch of recently drafted or undrafted or practice squad guys on that D-line
15:50who came in and played well.
15:51I would rather have the current 49ers injury situation in this moment than what the Rams are dealing with.
15:58The Rams are down Miles Garrett and Puka Nakua.
16:02Those are your guys.
16:03Those are core pieces that you do.
16:05That's your game plan, guys.
16:07That's what you're building this whole thing.
16:09You notice Matt Stafford right now.
16:10Now he drops back, and there's Devontae Adams, and then there's a bunch of people you have.
16:13No clue who the hell that is.
16:14A bunch of tight ends.
16:15A bunch of tight ends, and Konata Mumfield, who actually I think is a nice young receiver,
16:20but that's not the point.
16:21You just wanted to say Konata Mumfield.
16:23I did.
16:23I like it.
16:24You did it.
16:26But Puka Nakua and Miles Garrett, and Garrett for a while, for a while.
16:31Well, it'd be like the Niners losing Nick Bosa and Christian McCaffrey.
16:35Or, yeah, I was going to say Mike Evans, but McCaffrey's probably more of a Nakua figure in this offense.
16:40Main weapon.
16:41Right.
16:41Yeah.
16:42And that would definitely be something that would affect you, and I think Puka should be back this week,
16:47or maybe the week after.
16:48That's the thinking.
16:49You could read the Schefter tweet again and realize that this could go 47 different directions,
16:53or maybe it won't, or maybe it will, or maybe it won't, or maybe it will,
16:56and here's what the team thinks, and here's what Puka thinks,
16:58but here's what might happen, and it might not.
17:00So those are the options.
17:02Right.
17:03I'd rather be the Niners than the Washington Commanders.
17:07Or the New York Giants, for example.
17:08For sure the New York Giants.
17:10Yep.
17:10For sure the New York Giants.
17:14The Bears, to me, that's a tough one, but, yeah, I don't want to lose a quarterback.
17:21Period.
17:23So you can fill up with, you know, old James Thompson Jr.
17:27has got a high ankle sprain.
17:28Okay.
17:30Like, yeah, that's tough because it's at a position of need,
17:33and I actually think he's a nice young player,
17:35but the 49ers right now do not win the Feel Sorry For You award in the NFL.
17:42Well, nobody does.
17:43The Giants do.
17:43Well, there is no Feel Sorry For You award.
17:45Like, go out there and play.
17:47Do you know what I'm saying?
17:47I do.
17:48I do.
17:48And, you know, if you're the Giants,
17:50and you have a quarterback who clearly last year was not interested in his own self-preservation,
17:56maybe in the offseason you would try to coach that out of him
17:59because he's doing the exact same stuff he did last year, and now he's hurt again.
18:03But this one wasn't his fault.
18:04He wasn't running out of the pocket.
18:05He just got sandwiched in the pocket.
18:07So, to me, that's the number one violin team.
18:10You get John Harbaugh in there.
18:11You upset the Cowboys opening night on Sunday night,
18:16and everybody's going, wait a minute.
18:18Do we got something here?
18:19And then four plays later in L.A., it's like, never mind.
18:22Never mind.
18:23Jameis Winston is now your quarterback,
18:25and the best thing about your season is that he does funny post-game interviews.
18:29Great.
18:31That's fun.
18:32So, to me, I would, yes, the Niners are down bad, but no, I do not buy.
18:38They're the quote-unquote most injured team in football because that's a number,
18:42and I'm talking more about the gravity of the people who go out.
18:46And that's a fair way to look at it, and at the same point,
18:49you look at last night where Jalen Hurts gets cheap shot on the sideline,
18:53Nick Sirianni just completely loses control of his mouth,
18:57and he's dropping five-letter bombs on the opposition.
19:01That was funny.
19:01Here comes the ginger ninja, Andy Dalton, and I don't know, Nick,
19:07I know you're mad about the late hit, but run the ball, son.
19:11You're trying to, like, have him throw it in from the two?
19:14Hey, he's pathetic.
19:15Is Nick Sirianni still a good coach?
19:17I never thought he was better than Shanahan.
19:19Oh, well, I didn't ask you that.
19:20Is he a good coach?
19:22He's fine.
19:23Fine.
19:24I mean, we'll see.
19:25That's a good word.
19:25I'm glad you said that because I'm not going to call him a bad coach.
19:28He's achieved too much to be a bad coach,
19:31but it's a great day to regenerate my opinion.
19:36Stop assessing coaches based solely on the last game of the year.
19:43Stop it.
19:44Stop it.
19:45There are good coaches who haven't won a Super Bowl, and there are mediocre ones who have.
19:50And that goes for quarterbacks, too, by the way.
19:53You start winning three and four, okay, fine.
19:56That's a different level of conversation, Mahomes, Andy Reid.
20:00But this whole, like, McVay won one, and Kyle hasn't, so McVay's definitely better.
20:05No, he's not.
20:06No, he's not.
20:08But how's he doing so far this year?
20:11How's he doing?
20:12I think I'm doing pretty well.
20:13I mean, I kind of messed up that whole Australia travel thing.
20:15We probably should have left a little bit earlier and stuff.
20:17Pretty big deal, don't you think?
20:19Maybe in hindsight.
20:20Hindsight's 20-20, but it's also 50-50.
20:22And, Coach, where were you after the game when you lost to Denver?
20:25Where were you?
20:26I had to go to the bathroom really bad.
20:27I mean, I'm not going to say if it was number one or number two.
20:30It might have been number three, but that's really none of your business.
20:32Sean McVay leads the league in apologies so far.