49ers Have $45 Million In Cap Space – BLOCKBUSTER Trade Coming For TJ Watt Or Trey Hendrickson?

49ers Have $45 Million In Cap Space – BLOCKBUSTER Trade Coming For TJ Watt Or Trey Hendrickson?

[Music] This is Jamie Eisner, who I don’t know who Jamie Eisner is, but he he puts out the odds for TJ Watt’s next team if it’s not the Steelers. The Eagles are favored to land him at three to one. The Ners are the second choice at four to one. The Lions are the third choice at six to one. Now, I threw out Trey Hendrickson earlier this week. People were like, “Krug, you’re clickbait garbage.” Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, no team in the NFL’s got, you know, you know, two pass rushers, blah blah blah. Well, if the Lions get TJ Watt, they would have Aiden Hutchinson on one side and TJ Watt on the other side. Scary. If the Eagles got TJ Watt, the Eagles would have what? They would have there, you know, they’re a three, four, so they would have Nolan Smith, uh, Jayix Hunt, Azizo Galari, Josh Usshi, Antoine Pal Ryland. Oh, and TJ Watt. Yeah. And Jaylen Carter, and Jordan Davis on the inside with Mororrow Amo, who I think could be better than Milton Williams. Yeah. So, I mean, the Eagles suddenly they have this awesome defense with this amaz they they just won the Super Bowl, but they can afford TJ Watt, but the Ner’s um you know, couldn’t afford TJ Watt or Hendrickson or any of these guys. I mean, the bottom line is you can afford any one player you want. I I would say this, there’s the Niners have a couple holes, right? They’ve got a couple they’ve got a hole maybe at wide receiver, but I would try to fill that just from either from within or guys who are cut at the cut down. They have a need in the defensive backfield. I do the same thing. Try to find guys who are cut at the cut down. But at defensive line, nobody good, nobody impactful who can rush the passer is going to be cut. That’s just a law of the NFL. They don’t. Good offensive linemen, good defensive pass rushers do not get cut at the cut down. So, one, do you believe I mean, you’re, you know, you’re more tied into the Pennsylvania, you know, dialogue. Um, the Steelers have made no inkling that they’re interested in moving TJ Watt, but Watt wants out. Are they going to move him? Um, and what do you think? I mean, should the NerS say, “You know what, our budget be damned, um, let’s go after a Hendrickson or a TJ Watt, let’s get that dominant guy opposite Nick Bosa, and let’s have the dominant defensive line that we were planning on having in 2017 that we haven’t quite ever seemed to be able to build to completion. They’ve gotten close to a Super Bowl. They haven’t gotten over the top. And to me, um, if they want to get over the top with a young group of DBs and a young back seven, they better get a damn good front four. And if I can get Hendrickson or TJ Watt, I’m going to try it. What do you think? Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth. Teams will never cut quality offensive linemen or quality defensive linemen. I mean, these games are won and lost in the trenches and at the point of attack. And it’s really hard to find quality players there. I’m looking in the chat right now and everybody’s saying, “Why do we keep talking about getting a pass rusher? Why not load up on the offensive line? Bring in somebody there.” There aren’t good offensive linemen available. There is a reason for that because teams put the utmost importance on the offensive line kind of outside of San Francisco and they don’t let quality players go there and all of the good offensive linemen are on teams right now. So, there isn’t an offensive lineman that I would be pounding the table for San Francisco to sign right now in NFL free agency. There aren’t any good ones. There are depth pieces on other teams, but you’d have to trade for those players. So, as far as TJ Watt goes, look, I think Pittsburgh ends up signing him to a deal. All of the moves that they have made this off season have pointed to them going allin. They first traded for DK Mechaf. They signed Aaron Rogers. They signed Darius Slay. They trade for Jaylen Ramsay. In that trade, they trade for John Smith. That’s a Steelers team that’s going allin. They think that the landscape is open in the AFC. I personally think the Chiefs are a little bit vulnerable. The Baltimore Ravens always choke in the playoffs. So too the Buffalo Bills. The Cincinnati Bengals can be had as well. And Pittsburgh looks at this as their chance. Why would they mess that up? by getting rid of TJ Watt, who’s been an allp pro player in five of the last six years and is on this Hall of Fame trajectory. So, I think the Steelers end up signing him. I think the holdup is this. All of these players have gotten paid this off seasonason. The likes of Max Crosby and Miles Garrett, Micah Parsons might get paid soon and the going rate for Watt could be north of $40 million. Garrett got 40 million per year, highest paid non-quarterback in the history of football. and TJ Watt is right up there with him. So, the concern and the issue with trading for him is that if you trade for TJ Watt, he’s going to be 31 years old in October. Yes, he’s been highly productive, but he’s dealt with injuries from time to time. And you would have to give him a massive contract in addition to some damn good draft capital. So, from that standpoint, I don’t think it’s that realistic to trade for a player like that. I think a trade for Trey Hendrickson would be much more realistic. Now, he is in that similar age bracket. He’s not going to cost as much, even though no player in the NFL has more sacks than him the last two years, 17 and a half, the last two seasons, but with what you have to give up and what you have to pay him, you might save a little bit. So, I think that would be the better trade candidate. You did a video on that. I didn’t watch it. I saw that you did it. What were your reasons for why the Niners should do it for trading for Hendrickson? Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, just that he is, you know, he’s got an un undeniable motor. Um he’s a big-time player who’s who right they’ve never really had that dominant player opposite Nick Bosa. Um if you’re go, you know, you’re in the the you’re in your go moment, I think. Um and I don’t think this I don’t think you’re going to get there without some help on their on your pass rush. I mean, I know the NerS feel like they’ve addressed the P on paper it looks like, oh, they’ve addressed the Dline. They’ve they drafted all these guys. Yeah, but you don’t know. but none of those tackles are pass rushers. And then Muel Williams played 30% of the snaps and rushed a lot from the inside and doesn’t have gaudy sack totals. And then Bryce Huff, you know, is an undersized guy. So all I’m saying is like, hey, if if you’re going to have $40 million of cap room, you know, no, what are you going to hang a flag in top of the flag pole that says we have $40 million of cap room or are you gonna hang a flag that says we won the six Lombardi? I mean, it’s like I to me it’s like I want go for it. I mean, absolutely. Now you have to go for it. I think the ners are where the Rams were before the Rams said screw it. Screw all these picks. We’re going all in because the Rams, go back and look at the Rams drafting. They hit, they missed, they hit, they missed, they hit, they missed. They they they were close, but they weren’t close enough. They hadn’t gotten it done. They finally just said, “Screw it. We’re going to trade draft picks for Stafford. We’re going to trade draft picks for Ramsay.” I think there was a third guy that they traded for. I can’t remember. OBJ, right? OBJ, right? They got Odell Beckham Jr. Von Miller. Von Miller. There you go. So, they traded for veterans, got over the top, and now they got their Super Bowl. The NerS have gotten really close. Um, and now their Super Bowl window’s right there. They’re in their Super Bowl window. They still have a lot of great players. Party’s playing at a high level. Um, I I think it’s I think this is go period for the NerS. And um nobody’s going to remember if you carried over 30 million or 40 million of cap room, but they are going to remember whether they you won that six Lombardi or not. And to me, everything about the 49ers is they’ve they’ve they’ve always built from the front to the back for years and years. The Seattle emphasizes the back end and just tries to make do up front. The Niners emphasize the front and try to make do on the back end. the Niners philosophy is, hey, let’s get a big rush. Let’s move the quarterback and then we can get it done with any number of guys on the back seven. So, if that’s your philosophy and it hasn’t changed, then why wouldn’t you go after Hendrickson? To me, if it came right down to it, if you said Trey Hendrickson, TJ Watt, or Sheamar Stewart, to me, the guy that makes the most sense is Shamar Stewart because they don’t want to spend a lot of money, but Shamar Stewart doesn’t cost a lot of money. Um, they need a pass rusher, but they may need some interior pass rushers. And a guy like Stewart who can rush off the interior or outside. He needs Chris Cacerk to teach him hand placement, hand usage, he’s super raw right now. But to me, if you could get Shamar Stewart, you know, as we approach August 5th in that deadline and you could get him for a second and a third round draft choice, I would do that. That’s the guy that I would try to get because I think they need more pass rush up front and I think I’m not sure if they need another defensive end or if they need another defensive tackle. Preferably if they could get a guy who could help him in both spots be great and I think Stewart could do that. Well, you think about this regime, right? Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch, to your point, they’ve really prioritized the defensive line, but think about the moves that they’ve made in order to improve their pass rush, right? like they traded for D Ford, they traded for Jordan Willis at the NFL trade deadline, they traded for Charles Amenu, they traded for Chase Young, they gave a bag to Jayvon Hardgrave. So, they clearly value the defensive line. They just used the 11th overall pick on Mel Williams and they gushed about him in the pre-draft and the post-draft process. But if you do trade for a pass rusher, like what does that mean for the development of Mike Williams? Is he just part of the rotation now? Does it stunt his development? Because if you bring in a star like Trey Hendrickson or TJ Watt, that could impact the path of Mel Williams a little bit. It improves your depth, but you also just traded for Brace Huff, too. That’s another move that they made for a pass rusher. So, those are the some of the questions that I have with if that move makes sense. I would be aggressive in trying to take advantage of the current construction of this roster. I just think the Niners want to reset a little bit both on the books and with this team personnel-wise and then revisit things next year. I’m not saying that’s the right strategy, but I think that’s what they’re thinking is right now. Um, what do you think? Mayoko says IU could be ready for week one. That seems so unlikely to me. Um, I’m not sure why he’s reporting that. Uh, there’s been no field work, so it’s not like we’ve seen him work out. We we’ve had no media availability, so I don’t know where he’s getting his his information. Somebody’s obviously whispering to Mayoko for a reason to have him put it out there into the ether that IU could be back in week one. What do you think’s going on behind the scenes there? Yeah, I was surprised to see that. And I have to be honest, like I would be shocked if Aayuk is on the field week one. And I know some people will say, “Well, Chase, look at Stefan Diggs. He tore his ACL and he went through spring practices with New England outside of the whole boat stuff that was going on with him. He only tore his ACL though. Like Brandon Au tore his ACL, his MCL, and he had other structural damage. And so within that report, Mayoko had said, “I hear he’s doing well, that the knee is even ahead of schedule.” John Lynch always says the things about great athletes is that they’re great healers, too. and they kind of define the timeline of bouncing back from these injuries. Not out of the question for week one is what he said, but he also did say there is a chance he could start the year on pup. If that happens, he misses the first four weeks. The injury happened October 20th of 2024. He had to wait for the swelling to go down and I think IU got the surgery in November. And so you’re talking about him being back by September 7th when the Niners play against Seattle, but it’s not like he’s going to get on the field without practicing at all. We’re talking about him going through training camp practices, maybe even a preseason game. I just find all of that unlikely. I know there are some doctors out there like Jeff Mueller, who I think is a Niner fan and does a great job with some of the injury insight on X saying there’s a chance he could be back for week one. Of course, there’s a chance, but I just find it to be highly unlikely. I also don’t think it’s smart to rush him back. He’s coming off an ACL, MCL, other structural damage. You’re paying him a lot of money. You’re leaning on him a lot. If you get a healthy IU back, he can dramatically improve your pass game. And IU Piol Jennings, Demarcus Robinson, one through four punch at wide receiver. I think it’s a very solid one. If I can get back to close to the 2023 form. But yeah, again, I would be very very surprised if Aayuk’s back on the field week one considering the timeline and the severity of the injury. You know, one of the uh things that I noticed when I started looking around the NFL is how many quarterback rooms this year I think could derail so many NFL teams. Yeah. Um, and the more I look at it, the more I think, wow, there could be an awful lot of quarterback situations that could be that could derail seasons. Let me give you an example. The Jets with Justin Fields. Um, you know, you got a good backup quarterback, you got two good young quarterbacks behind him. He’s not very good. They went five and 12. They don’t have a very good line. I I think Justin Fields, A lot of people think, oh, Justin Fields gonna have a big year. What? No. He’s gonna have a disastrous year. Um I think the I think Aaron Rogers could blow up in Pittsburgh. He hasn’t been there for the entire off season. They got a young offensive line. He doesn’t move all that well. His receivers don’t know him that great. Um you know what I mean? You’ve got Pickins leaving DK coming. I I don’t know. I I think Pittsburgh I mean if Pittsburgh doesn’t win 10 games or more, it’s been a bad probably a bad decision to go for Rogers. I think the Rogers room, I think Rogers in that whole could blow up the Steelers season. I think the Browns season could blow up over the quarterback. I think the Colts season easily could blow up between Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson. Um, you know, I I definitely think um uh you know, the Raiders situation at quarterback could blow up. Um I think Dallas’s situation at quarterback could blow up. the New York Giants, Joe Shane and and Brian Dable. I think those guys are fired if Jackson Dart doesn’t play well or the Giants don’t make the playoffs and they won three games last year and you got Russell and Winston. I think that could blow up. I think Detroit’s situation could blow up. You have Jared Goff, he’s immobile. You just lost Frank Ragnau. Your starting center is a rookie. you you know you really you know you don’t have rag now in front of golf golf’s not mobile the back Johnson they’ve lost Ben Johnson the backup quarterback’s Henden Hooker I think the Lions are really in a in a world of hurt I think Minnesota with JJ McCarthy that thing could go south I think the Bears situation is absolute disaster I mean you have three new interior offensive linemen you have a quarterback that holds the ball for an eternity who took 68 sacks who doesn’t really see the field. Uh lots of pressure on Ben Johnson. Um Tampa Bay could blow up. I mean there the backup quarterbacks Kyle Tras. Um you know Atlanta could blow up. New Orleans has a bunch of quarterbacks that are non-escript that could blow up Miami with Tua. Miami with Tua. Seattle with Darnold. I I think Jaylen Milroe is going to be the starting quarterback going into 2026. So, I just see a bunch of quarterback rooms that could take some of these teams out of contention. What do you What do you think? Which quarterback room, if you had to bet on one or two truly blowing up and being bad, who where’s it going to be this year? I mean, I’m just looking at the divisions here. If Tua gets hurt again, and if it’s another concussion, he’s done, I would imagine. And I think that Mike McDaniel, if the Dolphins don’t perform well, he’s already on the hot seat. He probably gets canned, not a believer in Justin Fields, he can’t throw over the middle. And he has never been a high completion percentage guy. I think accuracy is one of the most important skills that a quarterback can have. You look at a team like the Pittsburgh Steelers, you have Aaron Rogers and Mason Rudolph. You just don’t know what you’re going to get from Aaron Rodgers. Although I think he played better than what people give him credit for last year given the situation with the Jets with the Browns. We don’t know who’s going to be the week one starter. I mean their quarterback room is Joe Flacco, Kenny Picket, Dylan Gabriel, and Shadur Sanders. That just screams to me that it’s not going to go right. In the AFC South, Daniel Jones could start week one for the Colts. I don’t think it’s going to be Anthony Richardson. So, I think it’s going to be DJ. Trevor Lawrence. This is his last opportunity in my opinion to prove that he can be a legitimate quarterback in this league. The Titans drafted Cam Ward. That offense was not good last year. And so there’s going to be a lot of pressure on a rookie who when he was in college had to make a lot of his best plays out of structure. So those are the teams that I’m most concerned about. I think the AFC West is in a decent spot. You know, you mentioned Gino Smith. I think Pete Carol really likes him. They’re really going to rely on the ground game and Gino Smith off play action is good. Bonenix with the Broncos. I could see continued development there. Then you have Justin Herbert with the Chargers and Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs. But you’re right, there are a lot of teams with quarterback question marks, which is why it’s great that the Niners have Brock Pury. And if he can continue on this development, if he can continue to give San Francisco really good play, this Niners organization could be in a good spot. And I know people freaked out about that $55 million per year number. If he plays well, that number could end up being a bargain because next off seasonason we could see CJ Strad sign for 60 to 70 million. Jaden Daniels, if he plays well again soon, him and Caleb Williams could ask for 60 to 70 million. Lamar Jackson’s contract is kind of outdated at this point. If he stays healthy, he’s a multi-time MVP. you know, he could demand 60 to 70 million. And so with the NFL salary cap going up and with quarterback contracts going up and quarterback uncertainty around the league, I think the Niners are actually in a good spot with Brock Pury moving forward. You made a I think it was you made a very compelling tweet saying u that Debo Samuel was addition by subtraction. Yeah. Was that you? That was me. That was you. Yeah. Um and you and you backed it up like you always do. You said Debo averaged 1.8 yards per route run in 2024. His yak numbers have also steadily declined. Uh you make the point that Pertie’s at his best when he can play point guard and kind of spray the ball around. Um, for those who didn’t read the tweet and didn’t see your backing, give me your your argument um on on Debo Samuel because I mean there are a lot of people that are, you know, hey, without uh I and Pieraw kind of questionable and uh you don’t know about JJ’s health and I’s gone for probably at least a month. Um there’s a lot of people going Demarcus Robinson going to be suspended probably three games. who’s going to catch the ball in September in weeks 1 2 3 and four. Um but you’re saying that trading Debo was addition by subtraction. I kind of agree. The Niners receivers were 32nd in wide receiver separation. Yeah. Um give us your argument. Give us your argument. Why getting rid of Debo? Because you know it’s funny the national story on the ners is they lost Debo but I think Debo the guy that they really lost is Mooney. Mooney’s probably the best player they lost the who was playing well the Debo Debo is done. Uh but give me your argument. Yeah. So, I I think the the idea of Debo and the name power that he has is better than the current player. And I think that the writing was on the wall that the Niners were going to get rid of one of their star wide receivers at some point, whether it be Brandon Aayuk or Debo Samuel. And then that really picked up momentum after San Francisco used a first round pick on Ricky Pearl. Remember, at that time, they hadn’t signed Aayuk to a contract extension. And there were a lot of trade rumors around Debo. Debo even admitted that last off season, prior to this offseason when he did get dealt that the Ners were talking about potentially trading him. And so I had talked about that a lot really over the last couple of years because the writing was on the wall. I thought the Niners action spoke very loudly. That’s frankly why I thought it was hilarious that Debo blocked me on Twitter for talking about him getting traded. Then the next off season he demands a trade out of San Francisco. But with Debo, it’s not taking anything away from the player that he was in 2021 when he was a first team allpro, he was a bonafide MVP candidate. I mean, he put this offense on his back. He was a one-of-one player, one of the most dynamic overall players in the game. But since that 2021 AllPro season, the numbers don’t lie. The numbers have gone down. He has not passed the eye test. He’s been out of shape. He’s been slower. The tackle breaking numbers have not been there. He’s never been a great route runner. But when you lose speed and explosiveness, it impacts that. It impacts your ability to pick up yards after the catch. It hurts your ability to break tackles. Last year, we saw that. And last year, what happened was, especially when Debo Samuel was outspoken about wanting the ball more, Kyle Shanahan tried to force feed him the ball. And the NerS were not at their best when they became too Debo reliant. This was not the 2021 team when Debo could put on the Superman cape and turn garbage into gold. So last year when Kyle Shanahan kept calling plays for Debo and Brock Perie felt pressure to get him the ball because of what Debo said, it made this Ner’s offense less efficient and worse. Brock Pury is a better quarterback when he can play free, when he’s not pressing, when he can spread the ball out. And so those numbers have gone down for Debo. He’s not the same player. And I think that the Niners are better off because of it. I think the Niners are a better offense when they can operate as a well-rounded unit. And I also think that the trade of Debo is going to lead to George KD being more a part of the passing game. You combine that with the addition of Luke Frell, KD’s going to get more targets because those targets have to go somewhere without Debo. And by bringing in Frell, KD’s not going to have to block as much. And I in turn think this Niners offense will be better with George KD being more a part of the passing game because he’s such a mismatch nightmare. Now, there are definitely unknowns at the wide receiver position heading into this year, but you took Ricky Pierce in the first round. He needs to step up. Jawan Jennings had nearly a thousand yards last year. He’s a really good wide out. You drafted Jacob Cowing in the fourth round. He was the talk of OTAAS in mini camp. Can he put it together? You used a fourth round pick on Jordan Watkins. He’s a 4-3 guy. Cowing’s a 4-4 guy. You wanted to get faster at wide out. So, you trade Debo. You have some of those speeders. Now, it’s time to for Kyle Shanahan and this coaching staff to put it together um to make this offense look a little bit different, to be a little bit faster, and I think trading away Debo will help them accomplish that. And they’ll just be a better unit in 2025. Addition by subtraction. Two last ones before we get out of here. Um, you cover the Niners, but you also cover the Eagles. And there was an article out this week talking about every team’s fatal flaw. Um, and just to give you an idea what they had, this was what this article had. Green Bay or or you know, Philly, they said that the Dline um, you know, defections have made that their fatal flaw, which is that I find that hard to believe, but we’ll get your thoughts. Baltimore wide receiver, Kansas City O line, Chargers, the lack of a star weapon. I guess they’re not big Amarian Hampton fans. Um, Houston O line, uh, Green Bay, no true number one. Um, no true number one corner. Detroit lost both their offensive and defensive coordinators. Buffalo, they say too much, too much on Josh Allen’s shoulders. Um, Rams, Stafford’s age. Cincinnati, their defense. Washington their Dline um didn’t list the Niners because they didn’t have them as one of the top 11 Super Bowl contenders. What would you say you cover the Niners and the Eagles, so what would you say the Eagles fatal flaw is, if there is one? And um what do you think is what’s the Ner’s fatal flaw in your opinion? I think the Eagles biggest flaw is that they have to replace more than 4,000 snaps lost on the defensive side of the ball. And it’s not going to be easy to replace all of those snaps that have now gone elsewhere for a team that was the number one defense in the NFL last year. Now, Mororrow Jomo had a higher pass rush win rate last year than Milton Williams. And so, I think he’s going to be a really good replacement. Here’s the thing with the Eagles, though. They were never paying Milton Williams 26 million per year. They were never paying Josh Wet 199 million a year. And so it made sense to let those players go. Nolan Smith, Jay Hunt, they really stepped up at the end of last year. They were tremendous in that Super Bowl run. So I think the Eagles really like those players. But they’re unproven at edge. And then at corner by losing Darius Lelay and Isaiah Rodgers, you’re looking for Keel Ringo to put it together and step up. And he’s a very raw player. And so I would say edge rusher and corner. They return 10 of 11 starters on offense. So, I think they’re going to be in a good spot on the offensive side of the ball. Um, at offball linebacker, Nico Dean hurt. You’re not really sure who’s going to start week one because your rookie first round pick Jihad Campbell is dealing with the shoulder injury. It could be Jeremiah Troder Jr. You also traded away CJ Gardenner Johnson. You need to replace a starting safety. And so, you’re replacing a lot of marquee players from a defense that was the best defense in the NFL last year. So, I would say that for Philadelphia. Um, biggest flaw for the NerS, man. I mean, you brought up pass rush earlier. I think linebacker play, cornerback depth, uncertainty at safety, and I’ll always say offensive line. [Music]

San Francisco 49ers trade rumors heading into the 2025 NFL season: Could the 49ers roster use an upgrade? Should John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan make a trade for TJ Watt or Trey Hendrickson? Chase Senior and Larry Krueger breakdown the latest 49ers trade rumors.

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