Big 49ers UPDATE: Fred Warner surgery, new signings and tryouts

Big 49ers UPDATE: Fred Warner surgery, new signings and tryouts

Back in San Francisco, cable car on its way up the hill and we’ve got some news on Fred Warner. Fred underwent surgery today. You can go and check out the picture that Sydney Warner posted. So, ankle surgery for Fred Warner. The 49ers do hope that he is back in time for the offseason program. Last that we heard from Kyle Shanahan. That indeed was the plan. Dislocation and a fracture of the ankle. And it didn’t sound on first report from Kyle Shanahan that the ligament damage was all too bad. So the 49ers will hope that Fred Warner is back within a few months so they can continue building into 2026. Couple of roster moves for the 49ers ahead of Falcons work week which begins with practice tomorrow. But they also tried out three cornerbacks and it to me is an interesting nugget. Listen to this. The 49ers, they’re on an NFL record long interception drought. 13 games since they’ve last logged a pick. It was back in November. Isaac Adams is not even on the team anymore. He’s with the Saints now. Well, they worked out today. The 49ers did. Trey Hawkins, who had been with the New York Giants before, and the Giants used to have the longest interception drought, 11 games, which Trey Hawkins broke with a pick in week 14 of last year. So, it I’m joking around obviously, but Sky has experience breaking interception droughts. It’s his only pick in his NFL career and maybe he can step in for the 49ers if they sign him. We’ll see if they sign one of these corners. The other two that they worked out today, Isaiah Balden and Shamar Bartholomew. Bartholomew had been with the Jets in the offseason last year, so he’s familiar with Robert Salah. And Robert Salah is familiar with him. Again, all of these corners 61 or taller, which means the 49ers are looking at that outside cornerback spot. As I told you last week when the 49ers waved Robert Beal expected to I expected them to bring him back to the practice squad. They have indeed done that. Bruce Hector second cup of coffee for the 49ers is now finished. Bruce Hector released from the practice squad to make room for Robert Beiel Jr. And those of you interested in Isaac Arone, the 49ers international exception player from Mexico. His suspension is over. First six games of the season. Performance-enhancing drug suspension for Allar Cone. 49ers have him back as the international exception on the practice squad. So they can carry 17 on the practice squad if one of them is an international exception. That is Isaac Allar Cone. The the German guy Killian Zer has been released from the practice squad. Allar Cone is back on it. 49ers all filled with Beal and Isaac Alar cone spot 16 and 17 on that practice squad. We’ll see if they sign one of the corners Hawkins Balden or Bartholomew tomorrow. Also, they worked out Andre Dillard, the offensive tackle, former first round pick of the Philadelphia Eagles. Andre had been with the team over the course of the off season. Uh coming back from from a knee injury, but uh he wasn’t uh able to make the 53man roster, but but maybe Andre Dillard can now enter the 49ers building after trying out for them. So, Warner surgery good. All that other stuff happened. Practice week begins tomorrow. Have a listen. I broke down everything 49ers on KMBBR today. Good morning, David. Welcome back to Murphin Marcus. How are you, man? Hey, what’s up, David? Good morning. How’s it going? Well, we’re trying to decide if it’s if it’s inspiring to believe in the 49ers without Nick Bosa and Fred Warner or foolish to believe in the 49ers without Nick Boser, Fred Warner. Wh which is it? Well, what do you want to believe in? Are you are you believe trying to win the Super Bowl today? Are you just trying to talk about winning this next week? I I think that in any professional sport, regardless of who you have, you got to focus on the game in front of you. You know, the all the other stuff is for the fans, but that there’s not enough job security in this sport for either players or for coaches. As you can tell, there’s not health security in this sport either because even Fred Warner, who had played in 132 of a 103 possible games, could fall victim to to what happened on Sunday. So, you just have to focus on what’s next. Put one foot in front of the other. And you know, if you’re you’re going to force me to take a big picture look, I the I think it’d be extremely beneficial for the 49ers to just find a way to get these rookies a playoff game this year. And even but I I hate to take big picture looks like that because I’m focused on covering the game against the Falcons. See what they can do there. I could see the 49ers going three and 0 over the next three. I could just as easily see them going 0 and three because uh the defense they put out there after Fred Warner got hurt was complete Swiss cheese the other day. But I can also see a an offense approaching the elite ranks if they can get some of their guys back who are scheduled to get back this year. So they’re going to and plus the special teams is now good since they have Eddie Pineros. So uh there’s there’s a lot that could happen in this league. Other teams can suffer catastrophic injuries as well. There are still 11 games left to play and I think if you put one foot in front of the other, you’ll be entertained and that’s all you can ask for. Yeah, David. We also know that a lot can change and happen within the next couple weeks leading up to the NFL trade deadline. Of course, everybody’s looking for that big blockbuster trade now after Bosa and Fred Warner go down. But my question is, do you think these injuries make the 49ers more or less likely to go out and make one of these trades now? I I don’t know if they were ever interested in a rental for this year. I think that and especially now they’re they’re not interested in a rental. I think that that they’ll be active on the trade market and then we’ll see if they can get a move done. But the the scope of what they’re interested in is a player that’s under contract through at least 2026 because they they they want to make this team better, not just in in some some short run. They want to make sure that whatever they’re doing is fitting with the the bigger picture. So, couple guys that I mentioned were Quincy Williams, linebacker with the Jets, and Germaine Johnson, who’s a defensive end with the Jets. both of them under contract through 2026. Both are Robert Solah guys. And you know, even if we’re going to put that long-term lens on and say the 49ers are unlikely to win the Super Bowl with uh with Fred Warner and and Nick Bosa both out, I would argue that they hurt their future prospects in 2026 if they let the bottom of this defense completely fall out. And that’s something that I’d be afraid of if I was Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch and Robert Salah after watching that game on Sunday. Now, they’re going to have a chance to regroup and game plan without Fred Warner. So, so we we’ll see what they look like against, you know, what could be an explosive Falcons team. We saw them against the Bills last night. So, we we’ll see what the 49ers look like on Sunday. But one thing that could I think really damage this team moving forward is if the bottom completely falls out because they don’t have the talent necessary defensively. And you know 2024 was not a fun ride down the stretch for that defense. The 49ers made sure to to overhaul their roster over the course of this off season uh to to prevent that that kind of thing from happening again. Now obviously injuries might have thrown a wrench in it. So, if it’s going to take a couple moves, like a move for Quincy Williams, Germaine Johnson, Bradley Chub, I you you name the guy, uh to to make sure that the bottom doesn’t fall out, then I think the 49ers have to seriously consider that because that could have big-time damage on the development of of these rookies and their confidence moving forward into 2026. All right, interesting stuff here. David Lombardi saying you got to fortify and uh and let these rookies play with some good players who can who can make some stops and and like you said it is, you know, for all the sports talk narrative and blogging narrative about like are the Niners cooked? They got to play the Falcons on Sunday and see what happens in that game. That said, who would be the quarterback on Sunday? I know we don’t know, but is are we approaching a dire situation where M. Jones is getting really banged up and Brock Pur’s foot or toe may not be right for a while. I don’t know for a while with Brock Pury, but I know that they’re kind of right on that border to where he he might be able to play, but maybe he won’t be 100% and then I think you’re risking, you know, what happened against Jacksonville. He comes out of that game sore and and and because he wasn’t fully healthy for that game, but they had to play him because M. Jones wasn’t ready. And then you could start to really find yourself in purgatory, right? just shuffling between these two guys. And I mean, if there’s one pathway for the 49ers to be uh a really legit contender this year left, it is the elite offense, good special teams, and then just like bad defense, not terrible defense pathway. You know, that that’s the one that I’m kind of looking at. And they they owe it to the locker room. They owe it to themselves to to pursue the the pathway that’s possible, right? That’s that’s what competition is is all about. So I if if the way forward if that’s your narrow way forward, you got to get Brock Pury back healthy. You know that there’s there’s no if ends or buts about it. You saw the the lack of Brock Party against Tampa Bay the other day. Todd BS was blitzing all day and and Mack is fighting, but Mack just doesn’t have the mobility that Brock Perie has. And uh this league that there’s a reason they they paid Brock Purie that contract because in this league mobility at that QB1 position is the the difference maker to be able to sidestep those blitzes to be able to create with his legs and if you’re just getting 80% of Brock Pury out there and then and then he’s risking aggravation you could just be stuck on this carousel forever and you’re not going to be able to get the quarterback that can help push that offense to an elite level. So I think the 49ers need to play this game really carefully. I think that maybe a big picture view, even if you drop this one to Atlanta, if you could get him back 100% the next week for for Houston and then the New York Giants and then obviously the Rams, may maybe that’s the better play for the 49ers. But again, I’m not like I’m not the doctor here. I don’t know exactly where his pro is. Yeah. Yeah. And David, to your point, I I agree with you. I think if Brock Py’s mobility was out there Sunday, then maybe they don’t get sacked six times by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But it was M. Jones back there getting sacked six times. The interesting part is the five games prior to that, they had allowed a total of seven sacks on the season. So, David, what is your current breakdown of this offensive line? Well, it’s not just offensive line. It’s it’s the whenever there’s a blitz, you know, sometimes that blitz is a free rusher and and so that’s on the quarterback. Sometimes it’s on the play call because the ball’s not getting off quick enough. There was the Jaml Dean blitz, which was a corner blitz from Tampa, which came right around Luke Ferrell, the the tight end. the the line so far has actually been good at the tackle positions. Trent Williams and Colton McKivots have been more than fine for the 49ers. The interior is where the struggles are coming and we expected them at left guard after Ben Barge got hurt because they tossed in a rookie Connor Colby, a seventh round pick. And I think the 49ers can scheme their way around uh one interior lineman struggling. What what’s surprised everybody I literally everybody is is that Dominic Pun has dropped from if you look at the grade on PFF and you compare it to other guards, he was an 89th percentile guy last year. So he I mean he was at the top of of those grades, top five, top six. He’s down to 24th percentile this season. And that I think that’s something that the 49ers just didn’t factor into the the math this year. Just change the math of the offensive line. They’re not getting Ben Bart back yet this week. So KBY is going to have to continue just grading through it as a rookie on the left side and they’re going to have to hope that Pun turns this around. He had a knee injury in preseason. I think that definitely was part of part of this. But uh they can’t go by with with suboptimal play from two guards. I don’t think Jake Brendle was was good, especially blocking in the open field either on on Sunday. So, um, you know, with the sacks before this this game, and sorry, I’m in I’m in an airport right now, so it’s a little bit loud. But with the sacks before this game, they had avoided those because they a they had Pery who just doesn’t take sacks because he’s he’s he’s elite in terms of avoiding sacks if you look at the pressure to sack ratio. And uh, if you looked at the LA game, M. Jones was releasing the ball in 2.3 seconds. It was the old Jimmy Garopppolo game plan against the Rams. This past game, they had to push it downfield a little bit more. And against the Blitz, with M. Jones not being as mobile as Perie. They really open themselves up. Yeah, good stuff. David Lombardi, SF Standards. A couple more minutes here. Kind enough to check in from an airport just to give us thoughts here. Just a little bit about Tatum Bthoon. He’s going to be the guy now. Number 48. I mean, we had Demo Lenor say Fred Warner has had him breaking down huddles this year, accelerating his leadership path. I mean, I I I don’t you know, it used to be Dre Green Law and Fred Warner, and now it’s going to be Tatum Bthoon and D Winters. Uh just is this just a cataclysmic drop off or is there hope that Bthoon could become a dude? I think the drop off from Fred Warner to anybody is huge. Fred Chase Lucas said he thinks he’s the best player in the history of football last week. And yeah, it I think it’s really hard to actually compare guys from position to position. But I I will agree with Chase and that Fred is a revolutionary player. I mean, they they call him the the Terminator, right? He’s 6’4. remember when he was covering CD Lamb, one of the best wide outs in football in that divisional playoff game a couple years ago, like tra like just blanketing him 20 yards downfield. This is a player that didn’t exist just a decade 15 years ago, right? Somebody who’s 6’4 who could cover receivers and then also play the run at linebacker. Then he’s so smart and then and then the punch outs that he’s able to deliver. I mean, this this league is is so dependent on high leverage plays. Here’s a crazy stat for you. 49ers have a negative point differential. They’re the only team in the NFC West with a negative point differential. Yet, they lead the division. Why do they lead the division? Because that they’ve delivered at at the highest leverage moments. And Fred Warner is the type of guy that just knows how to deliver in those moments. In fact, three of the four divisions in the N in the NFC right now, the leader doesn’t have the best point differential in that division. I never seen anything like that. And I think what’s happening in the league is uh it there’s such thin margins. There’s insanely thin margins between these teams and there’s three or four plays every game that that if you deliver on those plays, you’re going to win. Like the Alfred Collins strip, you know, whenever Fred Warner strips somebody like Alvin Chimera against the Saints in in in week two, those are so big. So if if your replacements for Fred Warner aren’t making those plays, then then yeah, the the the drop off is going to be huge. And I will say that that D Winter’s play has fallen. I don’t know if he’s hurt, but he was much better weeks one and two than later. That’s why I go back to a guy like Quincy Williams, maybe a Demario Davis, somebody to help the 49ers from having the floor fall out from underneath this defense. Yeah, it’s good stuff. Good stuff to chew on and discuss. So, we appreciate you, David. We’ll keep reading you in the SF Standard Safe Flight and thanks for hopping on. Yeah, thanks David. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Yeah, David Lombardi SF Standard making a compelling case for you. You got to beef up somehow someway. That’s

Big 49ers UPDATE: Fred Warner surgery, new signings and tryouts