This 49ers Draft Steal Just Got SO Much Better | San Francisco 49ers

This 49ers Draft Steal Just Got SO Much Better | San Francisco 49ers

Goodness gracious, you guys. This 49ers draft seal just got so much better. I’m going to tell you all about it in this episode. There are multiple layers to this, so stick around to the end to get the full picture. But thank you so much for hitting that subscribe button, for being a part of the community. Appreciate you guys. We’re going to jump straight into it. Starting with today’s question of the day. And I got a shout out today, too. I’m going to have to get to as well. But as a fan, today’s question is genuinely like super related to where this episode is going to go. So you’ll it’ll all make sense in a minute. But what 49ers player made you absolutely want to run through a wall for him? Like like which player in your mind you like you might break your TV. You might, you know, get the neighbor’s dogs yelling at you from inside your own uh uh living room. You might have your wife decide that she wants to leave the house whenever Niners games are on. Like that kind of player to me. Guys like Patrick Willis are the first ones that come to mind. Christian McAffrey comes to mind more recently. Bryant Young comes to mind, Cowboy comes to mind. Those types of players that made you just as a fan, you were just like absolutely over the moon every single time they made an impact play. Let me know who that is in the comments. I’m like so fired up about the player we’re going to be talking about today. But I wanted to give a quick shout out to Zeke Zeke, by the way. I don’t know if I’m saying your name right, so you’re going to have to let me know if I’m not saying your name right, but uh Zeke Zeke has been just absolutely exploding in the comment section, leaving so many great excellent points down below. So, I wanted to give him a shout out. He had this comment yesterday saying, “I love that Brock explained that to him the right way, talking about him talking to Ricky Pierall.” Like, you were open, but not in the time, man. It’s all right. We’ll get there. Brock is special, and I really feel like he’s going to have a really, really good year. And I’m absolutely 100% with you, Zeke. Zeke, if I’m saying that right, you can correct me in the comments later. I’ll read it later. But absolutely love your takes, man. Fantastic. Appreciate you. Thanks for for commenting on all these videos all the time. Let’s talk about a guy that I believe you guys need to be watching out for. This guy CJ West. I I know we’ve talked about him before and I know that I’m not the only person out there talking about him. So, I’m not trying to act like I have some something that you don’t ha you haven’t seen or heard or whatever, but I do think I have some new stuff that might make you feel even better about this draft pick that the 49ers had. And uh according to Matt Baros, we’re going to be calling him a draft steel. And I’ll explain that to you why later in the episode. We’re going to be calling him a draft steel. I haven’t called him a steel yet. Now, I’m going to start calling him a steel because I think we have something very, very, very special in CJ West. He might be one of those players for me that is that type of player that like just listening to him, I’m already like, dude, I want to run through a wall for this guy. I can’t wait to watch him have impact plays for the San Francisco 49ers because I’m definitely going to be just absolutely over the moon when he does. But I want you to listen. We’re going to start out with some audio clips from his uh yesterday or the day before. I think it was yesterday. He spoke to the media and he had a few really interesting takes. I’m not going to play the whole thing. I’m just going to play a few quick clips for you. Um, let’s give this a listen. Then we’ll talk, we’ll get to Matt Baros later. We got a lot of other stuff coming up down later in the episode, but let’s start with CJ West on watching Nick Bosa during practice. Give this a listen. An edge guy and you’re an interior guy, but how much can you pick up from him? Oh man, I mean, every time Bosa goes, I watch every single rep. I watch every step he takes, how liberate he is with his hands, how liberty he is with his his first steps. Um, I watch it all cuz he’s he’s a great player and you know, one day I want to be a great player and, you know, I’m really making my a name for myself in the league. So, you know, I take every little thing even though we play different positions, some of the stuff does translate, how quick you may shoot your hands or how violent that first step have to be, you gaining ground on your second step as well, you know. So, talking to him, he’s been helping me with that and just really focus on me getting off the ball every single rep. You go to him or does he come to you or is it both? Um, honestly, it’s both. You know, it was one practice where he was watching me get off and he’s like, “Hey, just keep doing that every single rep and translate that to team as well because you know team a lot of the things are thrown in. You got the play, you got, you know, what formation offense does, but if you just focus on getting off the ball, you’ll be okay.” So that’s that’s CJ West talking about how he watches every single rep and he goes out of his way to repeat himself to make sure you know he’s talking about every single rep. It’s like Ron Swanson in Parks and Wreck when he asks for all of the bacon and eggs you have in the back because he couldn’t get a steak and they were like and then he’s like, “Wait, no, stop, stop, stop.” I think you might have heard me say, “I want a lot of bacon and eggs. I want all of the bacon and eggs that you have.” Right? Like that kind of thing where he’s going out of his way to make sure you know, he’s saying, “I am literally watching every single rep that Nick Bosa takes and trying to pick up and learn every single one.” And what I want you to listen for, because there’s two more clips here I want to play for you. But while you’re listening to him, don’t just listen to what he’s saying. Listen just like one layer deeper than that to who this individual is, what his character is, how he talks about football, how he thinks about football, how he thinks about thinking about football. Like just listen a layer deep and I promise you you’re going to see we have a really special individual that the 49ers have drafted here and they’ve absolutely hit on this draft pick even though it hasn’t been two or three years and we haven’t seen it happen. Like so far from everything we know we’ve hit on this pick. I know we don’t know anything. It hasn’t been pre been preseason yet and it hasn’t been a real season regular season game. I get it. All right. I do I really do understand that. But as much as what we have available to us right now there, this is this has been a great pick so far. This is shaping up to be a really really good pick. I think Kevin Krueger posted an audio clip from Larry, his dad, Larry Krueger. Um, and he used the these words to describe how he feels about what CJ West is saying. If I’m a coach, I want all my players to be thinking like this during practice reps. Okay, that’s your little lead in and now give it a listen to what he says. When you’re some you’re you’re finishing some of these offensive linemen in the one-on- ons and uh they’re taking it personal. I is that do you feel like when you’re doing that you’re doing your job? Um I I do it with no, you know, evil intent or anything. It’s just me, you know, playing as hard as I possibly can and, you know, trying to get better every single day. And I mean, I appreciate them as well cuz, you know, they push me some of these reps as well. And I learn different things every rep I take. You know, they may use a different technique. I’m like, “Oh, that was different.” I haven’t seen that one before. And you know, they they they get the best of me sometimes, but um I just play as hard as I can every single go so I can just learn and learn from all my mistakes that you know I might have did in my previous reps. There is so much in that little 30 secondond clip even of how CJ West is processing what he’s doing on every single play. It’s it’s not personal how he’s going up against these guys, but you know CJ West is marked. Like we use that term violence all the time talking about 49ers football, 49ers defense. You know, that’s cool. We get it, right? All gas, no breaks. You want to use all the little cliche terms, do it because this they all apply to this guy right here. But even in all of that, he’s talking about like with a smile on his face, how much he loves doing this and how intensely he loves to focus on this. How he is going after every single player and when he gets the better of them, it’s not personal. He’s just trying to learn and and also taking a moment in his successes to still recognize his own failures, areas where he needs to improve. I love that. It’s like a like great golfers, right? Who can go out there and they can hit the ball and you say, “Man, that thing, how did you hit that 175 and then land it right on the green and they’re thinking, “Yeah, but I would have liked an extra 6 in of backspin.” Do you know what I’m saying? Like that’s the kind of level at which CJ West is processing the stuff that he’s doing right now. That’s the kind of intensity he’s taking to every single little thing. And I absolutely love it and agree with Kevin Krueger. uh all the way that this is what you as a coach want your players to be thinking about during practice reps. One more take on this one. CJ West has an impressive move against Drew Moss. That’s one of those situations where uh he takes Drew Moss on and and shows him that why he was drafted where he was. No disrespect to undrafted Drew Moss out of Colorado State represent Colorado. Something like that. Okay, but give this a listen. CJ, you beat Moss today at practice with a pretty good spin move. Uh, where’d you develop that? Um, college, you know, trying things out and and um one v one reps in practice and um just kind of learning the leverage of offensive linement as well cuz, you know, once you get them going one way, if he get moving and if you can stop on a dime and spin them around or give a hump move, you’re able to get past them. So, just kind of working on those things. You get the picture that I’m trying to paint for you here. I think this guy is just taking every single rep seriously and he’s trying to learn and grow every single second he can. Tell me now after hearing all of that, does this guy sound like a rookie to you? Does he sound like a rookie or does he sound like a 10-year vet? Do not tell me he sounds like a rookie. He sounds like a like a a genuine seasoned veteran out there. The way he processes every single play sounds like like a Trent Williams or sometimes the Nick Bosa. Nick Bosa is not the most outspoken player in the world, but you get what I’m saying. This guy is something somebody you need to be watching out for. Not just a draft steel, although I am going to make that claim he’s a draft steel. Uh he he is getting better. He is so much more than what I had just seen on tape. He’s so much more than what I just heard about or read about in uh prospect profiles. Like this dude is legit. His mind is there. You have to balance talent with mentality. You have to balance work ethic with intelligence and strategy. And he’s doing all of that. Literally all of it. I’m so fired up for CJ West right now. And you know what? Matt Baros is too. I don’t know what happened to my text and why I moved there, but whatever. We’re just going to work with it. Matt Baros picked his top uh top 10 rookies. I’m only going to show you five because this is behind payw wall and I feel like it’s disrespectful to Matt Baros to just steal all of his thunder like that. But I’m going to show you a few here that I’m stoked on. Okay, starting with number two, his number two. If he were reranking all of the 49ers rookies, including undrafteds, here how he how he would rank them. Here’s what he had to say about defensive tackle CJ CJ West fourth pick number 113. No rookie defensive tackle in the Kyle Shanahan John Lynch era has looked this good this early, including 2017 pick DJ Jones, who’s built a lot like West, who was a bit of a late bloomer. West has an NFL ready bull rush as evidenced by the way he routinely knocked guards and centers backwards in one-on-one drills. The 49ers are eager to see him build more moves onto that foundation. Something to monitor despite how conspicuous West has been in one-on-one situations. second round pick. Collins typically enters ahead of him in the defensive line rotation. I’m not even going to get into the deep strategy there that must be at play in terms of Chris Koserk and Robert Salah and Gus Bradley, etc. But just be excited about the player that the 49ers have who Matt Baros is claiming is is an unreal talent compared to what they’ve ever had at defensive tackle uh since Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch 2017. That’s pretty impressive. I’m going to go up from two to 345 and then I’ll go back to one at the very end. I think you already know who number one is, but that’s okay. Mikel Williams number three. It was close, but West edged out Williams for the number two spot because West has made bigger splashes and has taken part in every practice since being drafted. Williams missed time in the spring with a hamstring strain and was out one day this week with an ankle issue. That said, he’s looked the part of a sturdy and relentless defensive end. The only quibble is that he doesn’t appear to have elasticity or burst to be a true sackmaster off the edge, which isn’t what they drafted him for, but just saying. Bryce Huff seems like the best option to line up opposite Nick Bosa on passing downs with Williams rushing from the inside. Nick Martin gets the number four spot. Martin appears decidedly behind D. Winters in the competition to be the team’s week one weekside linebacker. But that’s not Martin’s fault. Winters has been one of the best players on the field since the spring. Even if Winters holds on to his role, the 49ers could use Martin as their strong side linebacker, which is a sometimes starting role because if you don’t know, their strong side linebacker is the one who switches out when your nickel corner comes in. We’ll talk about the nickel corner later as well. By the way, Martin has been more prominent in recent practices and has been practicing through a thumb injury. Both are good signs for a rookie. Martin has been playing weak side linebacker with the number two defense so far in training camp. One thing we’re not worried about with him is his violence, getting off a block and understanding how to get to the football. Robert Salah said he’s just to continue m he just has to continue mastering the scheme to give himself the opportunity to play fast. That part from a rookie standpoint, he’s got to catch up. But at the same time, when he’s in a position where he’s comfortable with the play call, he’s comfortable with what he sees pre- snap. You see everything that we drafted and that stuff is pretty good. So yeah, definitely up on Nick Martin. Jordan Watkins at number five. The fourth the fourthrounders teammates keep praising his maturity and mental sharpness as it stands. Watkins is in position to be the 49ers number three or four wide receiver and perhaps serve as the team’s primary punt returner. He missed Friday’s practice with an undisclosed injury, but was back Saturday. He ought to get a lot of snaps in the preseason games, which begin Saturday against the Denver Broncos. One last position we’re going to or one last player we’re going to talk about is the number one player. If the 49ers were reddrafting or or re uh ranking those defensive picks, here’s how Matt Baros would pick it up. Number one goes to Upton Stout, third round draft pick 100. Obviously, the reason Stout doesn’t get drafted as highly as some of these other guys, uh, well, he got higher than, uh, Jordan Watkins, but anyway, the reason he doesn’t get drafted as highly as like Michael Williams or whatever, is because of his size. But here’s what Matt Barros has to say about him. Stout’s been one of two rookies, Mike Williams is the other, who regularly line up with the first team defense, and that was happening before fellow quarterbacks Ronaldo Green and Dome Lenor were sidelined. Furthermore, the little quarterback has just as visible has been just as visible with pads on as without. He’s quick, aggressive, and is in the middle of every gang tackle scrum. He’s the odds on favorite to be the 49ers nickel on September 7th in Seattle. Don’t fall asleep on his size. Defensive coordinator Robert Salah said the other day, I mean, the guy plays way bigger than he is and way bigger than he looks. He’s got a violence to him. He’s got a violence to his demeanor. That is what Robert Salah had to say about Upton Stout, which is one that a quote that I’ve been holding on to and haven’t found a time to use, and then it comes out naturally uh when Matt Barros puts it in an article, I guess. But all of that being said, you know, CJ West, we’ve been talking about him in this episode, and and CJ West is compared in many respects to DJ Jones. Well, that is not news to CJ West. He’s been compared to re DJ Jones before and he’s actually there’s a little bit of a connection there. Let’s talk about it. I watched a lot of tape on him back when I was in college as well because when you’re a college player, you kind of look to see who you fit as, who you look like in the NFL, what kind of role you might play. And watching games, I was like, “Wow, I look a lot like that guy. We have the same frame, same height, arm length, and different things. We kind of have the same play style.” So, I was watching him in college. And then when I got drafted here, I was like, “Oh man, I really got to deep dive into it because he was really successful in this scheme under Chris Kosurik. He did really well.” Wes would love to pull Jones for a chat to pick his brain. Talking about Thursday’s practice, I should have clarified that, but only in the if the opportunity presents itself because again, CJ West has such a good head on his shoulders. He’s not going into Thursday’s practice thinking about that. He’s thinking about his own development. Can you believe this kid? This is a rookie, you guys. I mean, that would be awesome to have a chat with him, but my main focus is just getting better during practice. If we have time to do that, that’d be great to learn from some of the vets throughout the league. But my main focus, he repeats himself, notice, my main focus is getting better every single day and how I can help prepare myself uh for the team and the season. This is the guy that I’m talking about, you guys. CJ West, even if like production isn’t there right away, there’s no doubt in my mind this guy stays healthy. Knock on wood, if this guy stays healthy, he is going to be a standout player in the National Football League and your team, the San Francisco 49ers, drafted him. So, I am absolutely beside myself. I’m fired up about this guy. I love his mentality. I love his attitude. This kind of humble, I need to keep learning attitude uh is so valuable in the NFL. We’ve seen it with guys like Brock Perie. We’ve seen it with tons of players over the years. having that humility to say I’m not there yet and keep working and keep growing. We see it with Nick Bosa as well. No matter how good of a season Nick Bosa has, he still believes he has to keep improving and keep growing and keep grinding. And I absolutely love that about CJ West. I’m so excited to see this guy get some reps against other teams. I’m really really pumped to get into the regular season and see what this guy can do because I think I think we have something really special in this guy. Let me know in the comments what you think about it. You don’t have to agree with me, of course. You can disagree. As always, let me know in the comments where you’re at. We are six days away from the Denver Broncos coming to town where well, they’re going to be in town in four days or something like that, but but we’re six days away from actually seeing them play in Levi Stadium. That’s going to be really excited. I can’t wait for it. I appreciate you guys and hope you guys are having a fantastic weekend.

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