- 10 hours ago
Willard and Dibs explain how 49ers general manager John Lynch deserves a ton of credit for the 49ers opening the 2026 season 5-0.
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00:00If we take away the guys who always get the flowers, like, just put that aside for a sec.
00:078 at 8, 9, 5, 7, 9, 5, 70.
00:10Niner fans, who would you like to give a flower to?
00:14Not Brock, not Kyle, not Christian, not George, not Mike Evans, and not Fred.
00:24So those are off the table, because they already, their vases are full.
00:30But who else would you give a flower to for what is happening with the 5-0 San Francisco 49ers?
00:40No Brock, no Kyle, no Christian, no Mike, no George, no Fred.
00:45But give a flower to someone else.
00:48From Sunday or through the first five weeks?
00:51First five weeks.
00:52First five weeks, okay.
00:54Who gets your flower?
00:56I'm going to go to Bonte's current crush, which is Corliss Waitman, the punter.
01:03Wow!
01:04Corliss Waitman is heading for the Pro Bowl.
01:07I mean, I don't think they play the Pro Bowl anymore.
01:10You still get to go and be a pro bowler.
01:13But go back and watch that game.
01:15The reason why you won was not because of your fancy schmancy quarterback or your Hall of Fame receiver or
01:20your Hall of Fame tight end.
01:21It was because you won the field position battle when nobody could move the ball against anybody.
01:27He had five punts.
01:29All five went inside the 20, including the one that was down at the four that led to the fumble
01:36that was forced and recovered and a touchdown.
01:39He gets the flowers.
01:40I mean, it's your flower, so you can give it out.
01:43That's a controversial take to give it to a punter.
01:46Somebody we hope does not come back onto the field at any point the rest of the year.
01:50But when he goes on the field and he does what he did, which was kick the ball almost perfectly
01:56and set you up, set your defense up into a spot where, all right, Sam Darnold and company, let's see
02:02you go ahead and march this thing 90 yards against us.
02:05You won't.
02:05Yep.
02:06No, it's not a crazy—I mean, I get it.
02:08He's doing well.
02:09He has one job, and he's doing it.
02:11Actually, 707 texted in and said same thing, Corliss Waitman.
02:15I'm also seeing the name.
02:16Hey, let's give it to Eddie Pinero.
02:18He needs support.
02:20Grayson Halton gets the flower.
02:23Absolutely.
02:24925 says Raheem Morris gets the flower.
02:28888-957-9570.
02:30Who gets the flower if we take those big six off the table?
02:36No Brock, no Kyle, no Christian.
02:39No Mike, no George, no Fred.
02:41Who gets the flower?
02:42888-957-9570.
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03:02I am so excited to hand out my flower.
03:04I've been waiting to do this, quite frankly, for a few years.
03:07And the opportunity has not presented itself.
03:10But I'm so glad that the story is finally changing.
03:14You want to know who gets my flower?
03:17John Lynch.
03:18John Lynch.
03:19John Lynch gets my flower.
03:20Now look, I don't think any of us know exactly what the ins and outs are of the roster construction
03:28process.
03:29And I'm very open to the idea and the fact that Kyle Shanahan might actually be the lead dog when
03:36it comes to roster construction.
03:37And John Lynch is right alongside him.
03:39That's possible.
03:40But two things.
03:41A, Kyle is not allowed to give him the flower because these are the rules we made.
03:47Number one.
03:47But number two, that is John Lynch's job description.
03:50Roster construction.
03:53And John took a lot of stuff this offseason and in previous offseasons.
03:59In some cases, rightfully so.
04:00A lot of the drafts in the last five years have not been perfect.
04:04I will still forever, I will go to my grave someday believing that that draft period was not as bad
04:11as Pop Pop and many others say that it was.
04:15But that said, can we take a look at John Lynch's resume just leading into this season?
04:25Mark Schlereth started his conversation by saying if Kenneth Walker is the free agent pickup of the year and he's
04:32number one, then Mike Evans is 1A.
04:35And that's a fact.
04:37So he gets credit for that free agent signing.
04:41And he gets credit for the Osa Odigizu trade.
04:45And by the way, he gets credit for the D. Winters trade, who I heard Guru say D. Winters is
04:50awful earlier today.
04:53Niners turned that into a draft pick.
04:55And now replaced him by bringing back Dre Greenlaw.
05:00Bringing back Debo Samuel.
05:02At a time when many of us thought, dude, you're trying to recreate history.
05:06This is not the right thing to do.
05:08And despite Debo's injury and Dre's suspension, I think all of us still feel like those have been total home
05:15runs so far.
05:16I say all that without even having gotten to the draft yet.
05:21And this draft was a hit.
05:23And I can say that earlier than I would normally say it without even knowing exactly what stripling is going
05:29to be.
05:30And without knowing long-term what these players will become, but in the midst of a 5-0 season, they
05:36are already getting very, very clear, defined contributions from rookies at a high level.
05:44Grayson Halton, Jaden Duggar, Kalon Black, just to name a few.
05:48But Romello Hite had a nice game over the weekend.
05:51And no one is going to get me off a stripling scent until I am proven on that one.
05:55So, I want to give my flower to John Lynch because the roster construction, the decisions made in this offseason
06:03have already paid incredible dividends.
06:06And this roster went from one that people called old to, right now, what feels like the best roster in
06:14the NFL in the first month and a half.
06:16Well, on defense especially, and not the best roster defensively, but if you look at who they have as listed
06:22starters,
06:23you've got Halton and Duggar just taken, fourth and fifth round.
06:26Bosa, when he's healthy, first rounder's still here.
06:30Fred Warner, third rounder.
06:31Green, second rounder.
06:32Marquis Siegel's a fifth rounder.
06:34And Malik Mustafa replacing him as a fourth rounder.
06:37Jair Brown taken in the third.
06:39Lenore in the fifth.
06:40Stout in the third.
06:41These are all drafted players who are now on your starting defensive alignment.
06:45And I would even add in, you said Osa Odigizuwa.
06:50Keon White was acquired just about 12 months ago in a trade.
06:53He was buried on New England's bench.
06:55And he's come here and had three and a half sacks for the Niners in, I think, 11 games.
07:01And he had five sacks for New England in two and a half seasons or three full seasons.
07:05And so you found a player that you thought could fit with your team, and he has.
07:10And I know that the stock right now on Eddie Pinero is a little down because he's struggling.
07:16Set the bar high last year, too.
07:17He sure did.
07:17But he was a guy who you plucked off the couch, and he was awesome.
07:20And I'll go back to where I started, which is Cordis Waitman, brand new punter, left-footed punter.
07:26And I'm just looking at Sunday's game, Mark.
07:29They punted five times, all in the first half.
07:32Seattle started at their own 11, their own 18, their own 8, their own 9.
07:37By the way, the next play, Fred Warner punched it out.
07:40Mustafa recovered.
07:41You scored a touchdown the next play.
07:42And then they started on their 4 when Grayson Halton punched it out, fell on it, and scored again.
07:48So Cordis Waitman had him inside the 10 three times.
07:52Two of those times, it led directly to touchdowns.
07:54That's a very fair point.
07:55He had an effect on the game on Sunday.
07:59There is zero question.
08:01Yeah, and the other side of the special teams, and we'll get to it with Grandy's grades coming up,
08:05but you had the Jacob Cowing situation where he should have fair caught it and stuff, and he didn't.
08:11And so that was a muff, and Pinheiro missed a kick.
08:14And so there was a little bit of phenomenal and also a little bit of terrible across the board.
08:19But I like the fact that you're giving flowers to John Lynch, and I saw some texters saying Raheem Morrison.
08:25And you're absolutely right because it's basically the same cast of characters with the addition of Oh So Diggy Zua
08:32this year.
08:32And what they're doing just from a front seven standpoint is markedly different than last year.
08:37Oh, it's completely been reworked.
08:40They had to rework almost everybody not named Nick Bosa without knowing exactly what they were going to get from
08:48Nick Bosa.
08:49And they still don't.
08:50Keyon White was a midseason acquisition.
08:53They loved it.
08:54But outside of that, give me one name.
08:57That group that couldn't get a sack last year, before, like after Nick went down,
09:03but before Keyon White showed up, of that group, who's here?
09:10Well, you've got not a lot, especially of guys who are healthy.
09:16There's three answers to this, but they're all hurt.
09:19They're all on IR.
09:19There's CJ West.
09:21Right.
09:21There's Alfred Collins.
09:22Right.
09:22And there's Sam Okawana.
09:23Those are the three answers.
09:25Right.
09:25You nailed it.
09:26So they're all hurt.
09:27And I'm not saying that they won't have some sort of an impact.
09:30But outside of that, no Nick Bosa, you look at the rest of this offensive or defensive line that they've
09:38had to rework.
09:38It took waiting for Mikel Williams to come back.
09:41It took drafting Grayson Halton and James Thompson Jr. and Romello Height.
09:47It took acquiring Keyon White last year and keeping him.
09:51It took trading for Oso Odigizuwa.
09:53And then it took grabbing people off the street, Sebastian Valdez undrafted, Khalid Kareem grabbed off of the Falcons practice
10:03squad,
10:04Naquan Jones.
10:05There's another one.
10:05These are the people that have come in and turned this into a productive unit.
10:10And it was a complete and total overhaul.
10:14So when you look at a group that is last in the league in sacks at the end of a
10:20playoff year, they went to work.
10:22They went to work.
10:23And they produced.
10:25And so I love this because, man, the text line is firing off so many names.
10:31There's no wrong answer.
10:32A lot of people want to talk about the entire offensive line.
10:35That's awesome and funny at the same time because it's the exact same group, add in one name,
10:41that was here last year that took a lot of criticism because they only ran the ball for 3.8
10:47yards a carry.
10:48Now they're doing it for five.
10:50Same group.
10:51Put in Connor Colby, same group.
10:54Yeah, 3.9 against Seattle.
10:57Well, not Christian.
10:58Christian was over six.
10:59Right.
11:00But, I mean, the rest of the team and part of that is, you know, Brock and the scramble and
11:04whatnot.
11:04And Kalon Black had, you know, 2.7 and you had Debo go two carries for four.
11:10So, by and large, you're 3.9.
11:13And that's why when we were talking to Stats Guerrero about the game and how it went, I look at
11:19the offense and they were mostly okay.
11:22Like, Brock had the one pick.
11:24And other than that, you didn't make a lot of mistakes.
11:26Kittle had a drop.
11:28And then you needed one drive.
11:30And actually, you needed two drives.
11:31The field goal drive and then the touchdown drive.
11:33But beyond that, it was the field position and the defense.
11:36Well, the other thing I love about this is how many people I'm seeing get flowers who a lot of
11:41you wanted to run out of town last year.
11:44Like, that's the beauty of all of this.
11:47That's what roster reconstruction, that's what coaching, so young players get better, schemes change, new coaches come in, build confidence.
11:57That's what Raheem Morris has done.
11:59How many players did you spend the summer not liking who are now currently producing at a high level for
12:08the 49ers?
12:09Jake Brendel.
12:11Potentially Colton McKivitts.
12:13I know that that was at least a conversation.
12:16Right.
12:16Well, the Connor Colby thing was like, who's going to be your left guard?
12:20Who's going to be the left guard?
12:21Dominic Pune didn't have a great year last year.
12:23We knew that he wasn't playing at 100%, but we were worried.
12:27He's been damn near perfect and still has never missed a snap in his whole career.
12:31I think you go to the secondary next and you talk about Jair Brown and Malik Mustaf and Renardo Green.
12:37I don't know if you saw the...
12:38Renardo Green is high on this list.
12:40The post-game locker room when Shanahan was giving out game balls and I don't know if we have the
12:45sound, but it was pretty awesome.
12:46And he gives the first one to Mike Evans and the whole team is going, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike, Mike,
12:52Mike, Mike.
12:52And the second one goes to Nardo, you know, because Kyle's like...
12:56Two picks.
12:56He's like, yeah, you were great back there and stuff and couldn't have done it without you.
13:01Nardo, Nardo, Nardo.
13:02Throws him the ball and it's like, Nardo and Mike.
13:05Awesome.
13:05My favorite part of that video is behind Shanahan is John Lynch and when Shanahan says, like, Nardo or Renardo
13:12or whatever, John Lynch has, like, a big smile on his face and says, yeah, Nardo.
13:15Exactly.
13:16Nardo!
13:17That's my draft pick.
13:18Totally.
13:19And, like, you know, John Lynch, a secondary player.
13:22He probably loves secondary players in the defensive backfield.
13:26Grayson Halton's off to the side going, I forced it, I fell on it, I scored it, and I danced.
13:31They're like, hey, Rook, take a lap, go get us coffee.
13:34Totally.
13:35Like, but it's a beautiful story, isn't it?
13:38Renardo Green, this is how one moment, this is why, I mean, in part, it's why I don't like defining
13:45people on whether they won or lost the Super Bowl.
13:47I don't like taking one moment and defining an entire player, but all offseason, it was just like, ooh, Kyle
13:54hates Renardo Green because he yelled at him one time in one game, and it got caught on camera because
14:03a coach in a big moment yelled, a guy that doesn't yell very often.
14:07And the player didn't do anything wrong.
14:10He didn't, like, clap back or throw anything.
14:12He sat there and he took it.
14:14But we heard trade rumors all offseason, ooh, they're down on Renardo Green.
14:19Kyle has spoken to it now, it's like I was never down on him.
14:23It was a crappy moment, it was a coachable moment, it was a hot moment, and I yelled.
14:27And then we move on.
14:29But I don't think they were ever really down on Renardo Green.
14:32And then camp started, and all of a sudden you started to hear the whispers, ooh, Renardo Green's having a
14:37good camp.
14:38And Raheem Morris is here.
14:40And the defensive backs really are digging Raheem.
14:42And they're feeling different about it.
14:44And then here comes Renardo Green, and five weeks into a 5-0 season, he's got three picks, including two
14:50of them in the biggest game of the year.
14:51Including one of them being the first pass of the game.
14:54Yeah.
14:54Like, that's an awesome story.
14:56It's a great story.
14:57And a lot of it is people like us who don't know as much about football as, I don't know,
15:02the coaches and stuff.
15:03And we see what we see, and then we get these narratives, and we think a certain way about a
15:08player.
15:09And then you get a new coordinator in with a new approach.
15:11And you see a lot more five-man fronts, a lot more blitzing.
15:15I shared the numbers with you guys earlier, because I was doing a little bit of a dive into just
15:20how is this basically same group of guys.
15:23Because you didn't have Bosa, and you haven't had Bosa.
15:25You do have Osa, but not Bosa.
15:27You don't have Sam O, but you got Odigizuwa.
15:30But it's largely kind of the same group.
15:33You don't have Weston Collins, but you got two new young guys.
15:36So why is this team suddenly so much more of a pressure-packed front?
15:41And they blitz more, they pressure more, they sack more, and they pick the ball off more.
15:47With basically the same group of guys.
15:49Yeah.
15:50Raheem Morris, man.
15:51Raheem Morris, but also Osa.
15:53Like, Osa has changed this, and other pieces in there.
15:57Like, it's all complimentary.
15:59But sure, you're not going to knock anybody off of Radio Raheem's scent.
16:05He has been a huge, huge addition.
16:09To the point where, look, Robert Sala's an awesome coach.
16:14Robert Sala, his name will never be sullied here.
16:18He was phenomenal twice as a defensive coordinator.
16:24I don't love the job that he took, because I don't think it's going to go well for him.
16:29I don't know in the NFL, once you're accomplished at a certain level, I always wish for people to have
16:35the patience to wait and take a job where you have a quarterback.
16:38Because when you don't, you're DOA.
16:41And he did it last time with the Jets.
16:43And he was DOA.
16:45And now he's probably done it again.
16:46I just don't know what it is he's supposed to do.
16:49He's got a bunch of kids.
16:50Yeah.
16:51So, I mean, kids aren't cheap.
16:53No.
16:53Right.
16:54I get it.
16:54Take the money.
16:55That's, but, you know what I mean?
16:57He's also not an old man.
16:58And I don't know if two years from now he's going to still have this gig.
17:02I don't know.
17:03But, here's the weird thought coming out of all that.
17:07Thank God he took it.
17:09Thank God he took it.
17:11I love Robert Sala, but in this moment the Niners are better off without him.
17:16Raheem Morris has come in with this group and hit the right buttons and has changed them into what they
17:23need to be in this moment.
17:25I think he's a wonderful coach.
17:26But in this moment, Raheem is better for them.
17:28And I will continue to acknowledge Sala didn't have Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw at linebacker for the second half
17:35of last year.
17:36Raheem does.
17:37That makes it different.
17:38I just think right guy, right time, right now.
17:40Yeah, and the scheme I think fits, especially for the secondary players.
17:44And they've said as much.
17:45You know, Diamino Lenore came on our show and didn't diss Robert Sala at all.
17:49But he did praise what Raheem Morris is doing for them, especially on the back end of this defense.
17:55And the fact that they're generating so much more pressure up front makes life easier on the secondary.
18:01And you look at the quarterback hits from the Sunday game against Seattle.
18:05I think 11 different 49ers had a hit on Sam Darnold.
18:08At least one hit.
18:09And I'll pull it up.
18:10Matt Barrows had it in the athletic.
18:12And I was running down the list of QB hits.
18:15And it was a who's who of like, man, you even got a piece of Sam?
18:19They all got their hands on Darnold.
18:21They got handsy.
18:23Beautiful game, man.
18:25Beautiful game.
18:26So we're riding with this team right now.
18:29You know what I mean?
18:30I've never heard so much talk about trades when a team is 5-0.
18:365-0.
18:37Call their message phone.
18:39They're 5-0.
18:40But I get it.
18:42I get it.
18:42You want to protect the 5-0.
18:44At the same time, Vegas already knows who's out this week.
18:48And they've got the Niners as a 7.5 point favorite.
18:51I think they'll win again.
18:53Whether they go get another receiver, pass rusher, or not.
18:56I think that they'll probably win this game, too.
18:59So, anyway.
19:00It was actually pressures.
19:0212 different Niners had at least a pressure.
19:05It was great.
19:05It was so great watching a game where, like, the other quarterback had to move and jump and bounce his
19:12feet and all of that stuff.
19:13We didn't watch it all last year.
19:15All last year.
19:16It was just sit back there.
19:17Pick, pick, pick, pick, pick.
19:18This was a completely different deal.
19:20And that's why I thought.
19:21I thought, Niner fans, we were four plays into the game.
19:24And I'm like, this is different.
19:25You know what I mean?
19:26Christian ran for eight yards.
19:29Brock scrambled and hit George Kittle.
19:31He just happened to drop it.
19:32And then Sam dropped back and Renardo Green picked it.
19:35I'm like, this is different.
19:36We got a different ball game this year.
19:38Duggar on the play before that with the sack.
19:40So, like, you come out and it's Wilson runs for seven.
19:43Here we go again.
19:44They can't stop the run.
19:46Duggar lost a seven.
19:47And then the pick.
19:48It's like, okay, this game is, you know, buckle up.
19:51It's a wild one.