49ers Just Got The News We NEEDED to Hear | San Francisco 49ers

49ers Just Got The News We NEEDED to Hear | San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers just got the news that we needed to hear. Fans are going to love this. Everything that we’re about to talk about is going to blow your mind because I got my guy Ben from Sports Talk Denver jumping in, joining with me live and we’re going to be breaking down a little bit of yesterday’s practice as we head toward from joint practice to preseason. And I’m super stoked to have you here, Ben. You are a diehard Broncos fan and you’ve got a lot of former 49ers on your team. Recently, one of those former 49ers, DJ Jones, even said this. They’ve been trying to replace me for a while, which we have. I think they got something here in CJ West, which is part of the story. The 49ers have a really young defensive line. They they kind of bit on a few plays, uh, play action plays, and didn’t follow the scheme they were the way they were supposed to. They also gave up a few yards against the run game. So, I’m curious as a diehard Broncos fan. What did you see that I should be most excited about? Uh, so the Denver Broncos have the best offensive line in football. I mean, you definitely top three, but you look at PFF, NFL Network, ESPN, they all are putting the Broncos in, yeah, that top tier there of offensive line. And uh you know in the move the ball period when you had to score down 3 0 there in the situational you you saw Bon Knicks get sacked three times in six plays uh a lot of that pressure not coming from Bosa which is what I was expecting but like the interior of your your defensive line. So uh that was shocking and and concerning to me for sure. And I I don’t know um is is there kind of a lack of physicality in the um these joint practices where offensive linemen aren’t going quite as hard because you don’t want to get hurt. um or what that is, but man, if I were a 49ers fan, I’d be pumped about that um defensive front knowing especially that like y’all wanted DJ Jones and Huanga and Green Law back there. Like, yeah, I would have expected to just carve your defense up and and while I think the Broncos won the first half of practice, uh I think the 49ers were not the pushover. Um that, you know, last year the Broncos did joint practice with Green Bay Packers and all we heard was how like, man, love wouldn’t have scored a single time. So your your defensive front um definitely stepping up. What is that going to match what you’re hearing there about some hype about your defensive front? Yeah, so Mike Williams goes down, doesn’t get to finish the practice. Would have really liked to see him go all the way through and and uh get a feel for him as an edge setter against your guys’ run game. Uh which is something you guys have been working on a lot of course. Now when I look at that defensive line, we had a surprisingly good performance from a really young player in Alfred Collins. He is a a defensive tackle. He’s he’s built to be a run stuffer, but they want to see him improve as a pass rusher as well. He’s an interior guy. He’s an absolute monster of a human being. Uh and he had his best practice yesterday. This was the first time we’ve really seen him flourish in all of training camp. Missed OTAAS with injury. So, that I’d say is one of the best things that uh that I got to see yesterday. The the the news that we needed to hear. Alfred Collins is definitely one of those individuals that I needed to hear Alfred Collins is ready to play because there’s a lot of defensive injuries on that front on that defensive line right now. So, we absolutely needed them. And then CJ West is a guy who genuinely I’m not even kidding, Broncos country won’t know this. So, I’m going to let you know CJ West when he found out he was going to the 49ers, the very first thing he did was start watching uh DJ Jones film because he felt like this is a guy who’s a similar size to me, similar play style with the way I like to play. And so he immediately started studying DJ Jones under Chris Kosurick for the 49ers several years ago. Um, and has been paying really close attention to him. So for him to actually be able to watch DJ Jones was actually in the flesh was probably a huge support to him. And for these rookies, massive. You were going to say something. Go ahead. Yeah. Yeah. I think like that that’s pretty sick. And then the other the other part that I was just not expecting was I like to hate on Brock Pury because I’m like what? He just got paid that mega deal. Uh, he doesn’t deserve it. he was, you know, a late, you know, the last pick of the draft, but actually seeing him and seeing the accuracy that he put on some of these balls when he had time, you actually see that he probably warrants the the payday that he got, um, even though it’s easy to hate on him for sure, from like a national perspective that people like to to throw him under the bus and say he didn’t deserve it, man. But you look at him, I I think the Broncos have one of the best secondaries in football. Uh, and you take a look at um the best corner in this draft, not named Travis Hunter, is Jade A Baron. And there’s a video going around Twitter where Brock Pery puts it in smothering coverage to Ricky Pieraw uh in the place that only he could catch it. And I was blown away by that throw. Uh there were a couple interceptions in seven on sevens, but when you actually did the full scrimmage and moved the ball period, the Broncos didn’t turn him over once. So I think you got to be encouraged by that. Um and and then Christian McAffrey is back, dude. Um I I think um you know, I watched that Buffalo game because we cannot stand the Buffalo Bills. we knew we were going to play them in the playoffs and when he got injured on that snowy field I was just like, “Oh, there goes the 49ers season.” And I didn’t know at his age if he’d ever be back. But he’s a Colorado kid who I think we all root for. And so um to see like the explosiveness in the in the pass game, especially like um dump offs, he was getting seven yards per dump off and uh our coverage was pretty good initially and and Brock Pury always had that as a safety valve. So seeing that he is back and healthy, you got to be super encouraged about that, too. Yeah. If you look at last year, Brock Pury doesn’t do doesn’t check down nearly uh enough. And I think that’s because Christian McAffrey wasn’t out there. And then your second guy, Jordan Mason, wasn’t really a pass catching back. And so you needed Isaac Gorendo or Christian McCaffrey out there, guys who have played wide receiver, who know how to how to run routes, know how to catch the ball. Uh you need those guys out there to be able to do that. But, you know, while you’re talking about Brock Pury, and this is obviously a narrative 49ers fans are probably sick of hearing and sick of talking about. It’s always great to hear people like you uh from other fan bases say, “No, no, hold on. You got something with this kid.” Um, the thing about Brock Pury is he didn’t have Christian McCaffrey all last year. And then you look at yesterday, um, the presence of Christian McCaffrey isn’t as valuable until you’re playing in the actual move the ball period, right? That’s when you’re going to start to feel there’s a benefit to having all of these different targets and all of these different assets in the movement game in the in the offensive scheme. And the thing about how this played out yesterday without Trent Williams, without Brennan Iayuk, without Justin, excuse me, Jan uh James. Oh my goodness. Jennings. Yeah. Jawan Jennings. Gee, third and Jan. uh without him out there, it’s really tricky for Brock Pury to go out there and you know do the best he can with Demarcus Demarcus Robinson who he is only thrown to for a couple months, Ricky Pierol who he missed a great portion of the season last year and he’s still building chemistry with him. And so I think there was a I think any benefit you saw out of Brock Pury against your defense, which I have to say looks like a top five defense bar none. like genuinely looks like a top by five defense and I wouldn’t I wouldn’t take any argument other than that and I mean that from the defensive line all the way back. I’d say what we did see out of Brock Birdie was fantastic and Pertie talked after the the practice about the value of of learning and growing and um adjusting in the game in the practice to some of those earlier mistakes and we saw them make those adjustments. So I feel really good about that. I looked at um looked at the defensive line rankings for the Denver Broncos. The 49ers will only face a top 10 rated defensive line in the regular season against the Rams and the Texans. Only two teams that they’re going to be facing this season that have top 10 rated defensive line. The Denver Broncos who they faced yesterday were and I I thought I threw it in my notes somewhere in here, but they are third ranked in yards allowed last season. So, this is a very very tough defensive line. So everything that happened, all the pressure that our offensive line felt without Trent out in there, um all of the pressure that Brock Perie felt, all the pressure that our running backs felt, all of that is huge, huge benefit to have that experience right now before the season starts with the actual ones and twos for the most part. Um that is going to be absolutely invaluable. Uh what 49ers player, you kind of mentioned Christian McCaffrey, you mentioned Brock Pury. any other player that stood out to you? Um, you know, KD had a nice catch uh over Pat Zertan or under Pat Zertan, I guess. A couple of them sideline grabs there and that’s where you got to just be like, man, I and Jennings are back and that all of a sudden is a top five offense. Um, so yeah, I think KD for sure. I was listening to Broncos radio on the way home and they were going playbyplay through the entire joint practice and they were like, “Yeah, George KD the best tight end in football.” And so that’s what they were calling him. And I I know Seaquin, you know, had 2,000 yards last year, but I to me Christian McCaffrey is the best running back in the league, the most versatile until he isn’t. And and so I to have two of the best at their position or at least in that conversation is phenomenal. And then you hear how Shawn Peyton just gushes about the Shanahans. and Mike obviously one of my favorite coaches of all time and Kyle uh it was really cool to hear that that like he knows this is a well coached team uh with a ton of offensive weapons there and you know the fact that when it came down to like move the ball it does sound like the Broncos dominated first half of the practice and then second half the 49ers won the the second half of the practice. Um and that was yeah move the ball period you got to score and we could not get pressure on pretty uh even with a defensive line that you know led the league last year broke NFL records 62 times we sacked the quarterback and when it was you got to have it we couldn’t have it and I I’m like my orange and blue goggles I’m like hey they this was also a super long practice yesterday was the equivalent of of three quarters of football. Um and you know it was one verse one offense and one verse or one verse yeah one offense verse one defense on one field and um yeah so you you see that uh I’m hoping the Broncos just got a little gassed and uh turned it down but uh from your standpoint man you got to be pumped with how that offense looked at the end of practice. Absolutely. And you had a lot of nice things to say about the 49ers but I know you’re a Broncos fan and I know you saw some stuff too that if you were a 49ers fan would concern you. So tell me if there’s one area of concern right now from your perspective, from what you’re hearing in Broncos country, like what is that area of concern for 49ers fans? It if I think the biggest concern that you got to have if you’re a 49ers player is or fan is like what is going to happen on the streets of California with your players chest and gunshots and like how other than that uh too soon on that? Okay. Uh, too soon. Uh, no truth. It is it’s injuries, man. Um, I I think I have grown to love Shawn Payeyton and the way that he has kept this team healthy by practicing hard playing in preseason games. We went from being the most injured team in football under Nathaniel Hackett to the least injured team two years in a row. And that happens by design. And so I feel like injuries can be a fluke, but you didn’t make the playoffs last season because of injuries. Like you, if you had your full squad, you’re probably winning your division. And so I feel like Shanahan needs to adapt what he’s doing. And I don’t think, you know, you heard about, oh, we’re not we’re not playing Bosa. And they did play him a little yesterday. We’re not going to play Trent Williams and we’re going to hold out IU, whatever. I I just think we’re not going to play in the preseason. I think Shanahan needed to spend time this offseason figuring out how do I how do teams who keep their players healthy keep them healthy and it’s playing team playing your guys in the preseason for that first um that first series and it sounds like the 49ers are not going to play starters and you know I don’t hope for injuries for anyone and I uh um just I think that’s a huge concern because I think if you’re healthy dude you’re going to win that division. Oh, no doubt. No doubt. No doubt. And Stafford’s got back issues and so there’s there’s a lot of reason to agree with you on that. I’m going to agree on the injury front as well. I’m going to say I have some positive thoughts. So, you know, if you’re a 49ers fan listening right now, don’t jump off yet. But, um, on the negative side, the 49ers have had one of the most injured teams the majority of time Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch have been at the helm in the front office. And that’s not good. I mean, even the first time the 49ers go to the Super Bowl with Jimmy Garopppolo, it they’re the sixth most uh injured team in the league. That’s not exactly ideal, right? Um 2023 was the only time that they’re that it was a huge outlier season. It was the season they should have won because they were the 29th most injured team in the NFL. That was the one year out of all of those. That’s the anomaly. Uh what I will say about the injury concerns coming up with this year is there are some positives starting with you’ve got a couple carryover injuries. So Malik Mustafa, Brandon Iay, they don’t really count as this year’s injuries in the sense that they’re carried over from last year. When they come back, there’s reason to believe, you know, they’ll be healthy and things will be looking good. Both of them look good on the side, but uh you know they’re going to be really really slow with Brandon Iayuk and Malik Mustafa is young enough that they’re um they’re kind of holding him back. So, he’s ready to go, but the doctors are kind of saying he needs to hit these timelines before we’re comfortable with him being out there. But then you look at some of these other injuries. I’m thinking uh who else we got here? So, Jan Jennings, I he’s not actually even injured. That’s just my personal opinion. You can disagree with me, but based on what I’m reading between the lines, Kyle Shanahan’s asked if he is if if Joan Jennings has an injury and he said, “You should ask him.” Basically saying, “Is this business related or not?” And Kyle Shanahan’s like, “You should ask him.” I mean, it’s business related in my opinion. That’s the way that I’m reading the situation. We have no timeline on his injury. We know none of the details about his calf. So, what does that tell you? That tells you there’s something else going on. Uh, but then you look at some of these other injuries. You’ve got uh Jordan James. He’s a few weeks. So, not ideal in the training camp. Obviously, you don’t ever want a guy to go down for a few weeks, but you would take that over a few months, right? Um, we don’t have a whole lot of injuries that are like season ending injuries or anything like that. We have a lot of little small injuries that will get guys back. The bigger question is, um, are these current players going to get broken down throughout training camp and preseason because there’s not enough players to fill out the roster because you got all these guys down right now. That’s my bigger concern. But I think overall from the injury perspective, um, I feel okay. And you’ve got opportunities for guys like Jordan Watkins who’s a rookie who under Kyle Shanahan, dude, rookies don’t get a look. They don’t. That’s just the way that it is. It takes him a very, very long time for Kyle Shanahan to trust them. You end up in the doghouse. You end up like Brandon Iayuk ends up in the doghouse. Jacob Cowing is an incredible talent. We saw amazing things in preseason last year. Doesn’t get a sniff during the regular season. Hardly gets a pass. So, I think Jordan Watkins, he has a TD yesterday from M. Jones, if I’m not mistaken, um, against you guys. And I think th getting those rookies out there and getting that opportunity for them to get some experience all because of these injuries is something that you can’t like devalue. We need these players to get experience as early on as you can because we might need them during the season. Yeah. Uh, only other concern was just the the Christian McCaffrey looks back, but your offensive line uh did not let him run the ball. Um, the Broncos have switched this off seasonason from going to from like a basically running your exact style of of wide zone and so I think our defense completely shut down our run game and they did the same with Christian McCaffrey. So, uh, you got to think that when I Jennings are both back, then, uh, defensive have to play that a little differently cuz, yeah, they they’re they only had to stop Pierall and KD so they could maybe load up against Christian. But, um, yeah, just hoping your offensive line and again, Trent playing again changes that formula as well. Yeah, Trent, Trent Williams, we got to remember that, of course, obviously Denver Broncos have a legitimate argument for the top defensive line in the league. If they’re not there, they’re very close. Um and then on top of that, we are lacking in tackle depth right now. So that experience they got yesterday would have been absolutely immense for them considering most of the teams are going to face this year. Um the vast vast majority, I think 14 out of 17 games they’re going to be playing, you know, 12 to 32 level uh defensive line talent, right? Um and then on top of that, you got to give Kyle Shanahan a little bit of credit. He always chooses to draft talent uh uh talent in different positions. He likes skill position players. He likes to draft these guys over those offensive linemen. And he always finds a way to be incredibly successful in 2023. You have a middle of the pack offensive line and they go to the Super Bowl. So, I think the the difference is, you know, how we rate offensive lines as uh fan bases. I you and I were at a thing together uh downtown Denver uh last week or two weeks ago and they were talking about how every fan base believes they have the worst offensive line in football and it’s kind of a bias that we all have as we look up offensive line because we just want to see a perfect pocket every time and Kyle Shanahan’s not interested in a perfect pocket. He he’s interested in how we move the ball. So, uh that’s a fair that’s a fair concern based on how much they got after Brock Purie for sure, especially in the early on uh portions of the practice when the ones were out there. But I’m not too concerned. I want to see it against like a normal defensive line, not an absolute star-studded defensive line like you guys have over there in Denver. Well, thank you so much. Oh, go ahead and jump on. Jump on. Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s, you know, in a lot of ways it’s like you guys got to practice with ankle weights. So, when you get to play the Seahawks and the Cardinals and and the Rams, it won’t seem as tough, you know? So, that’s right. It’s going to be fun, man. Like Jaden Daniels practices with VR goggles so he can see all the schemes in 1.5 times speed so that when he watches it in real life it seems slow. Everything after this will feel a lot easier for the 49ers having played against the Denver Broncos. So thank you so much for coming on Ben and pro providing your uh your perspective on that. Massively helpful uh and super insightful and I cannot wait. Hit subscribe if you’re not already and go check out Ben’s video on his channel as well. Well, I know there’s a lot of 49ers fans out there who their AFC team is the Denver Broncos. So, there you go. All right, let’s go, Niners.

49ers Just Got The News We NEEDED to Hear | San Francisco 49ers
Ben from Sports Talk Denver Joins the channel to tell us what HE SEES in this 49ers Team! Check him out! @SportsTalkDenver https://www.youtube.com/@UC8YJgo7rWGag63OdB9M6_hQ
Brock Purdy
Christian McCaffrey
Brandon Aiyuk
49ers News
49ers Rumors
49ers Updates
FTTB
#SanFrancisco49ers
#FTTB
#49ers