• 9 minutes ago
Transcript
00:00There have been some developments.
00:03Developments?
00:04They are not firm, so Grandy's not going to hit the little button button yet, but I'd
00:09argue that the button is either going to come here sometime soon, or by the time we get
00:15back here tomorrow, maybe we've got official action.
00:19Let me take you through what has taken place.
00:21Yeah, as we were having that conversation, I can see you busy as a bee over there.
00:26Yes, yes.
00:27There is stuff.
00:28There is stuff happening.
00:29Yeah.
00:30Are you familiar with the name Liam Cohen?
00:32Yeah, oh yeah.
00:33He's a coordinator who decided, nah, Jacksonville, I'm good, I don't want your job, because you
00:38got bulky, I'm out.
00:41But wait.
00:42Wait.
00:43Now they don't have bulky, so Liam Cohen, offensive coordinator for the Bucs, would
00:49you like a reconsideration sensation?
00:53Shaching!
00:54Shaching?
00:56And while it is not finalized, the reports are that Cohen was called by the Jags and
01:02told we will pay you Ben Johnson money, and you may hand-select your general manager.
01:11That changed everything.
01:12You think?
01:13And conversations are now heading, reportedly, toward the finish line.
01:19Why are we so excited about that here at 95.7 The Game?
01:24You do look pretty excited.
01:25Because this has reportedly led to the expectation, sensation, that the 49ers are poised to rehire
01:42Robert Sala as their defensive coordinator for the upcoming season.
01:49I will simply read to you what those very close to the 49ers have recently written on
01:55Twitter.
01:56Mike Silver, 29 minutes ago, quote, I expect the 49ers to rehire Robert Sala as their defensive
02:03coordinator soon.
02:06He also refutes a report that Sala was on his way to Jacksonville via plane for a second
02:13interview tomorrow, many reporting that he was already there in Jacksonville when this
02:17all went down.
02:18Mike says Sala did, in fact, not fly to Jacksonville.
02:23He's waiting for this to all unfold, and it now is.
02:26Matt Barrows writes, if everything works out for the Niners and they land Robert Sala as
02:32D.C., he'll find just two of his former players under contract, Fred Warner and Nick Bosa.
02:40Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.
02:43Yeah, good players.
02:44However, we are moving in the right direction.
02:48If you're a fan of this idea and the buzz is officially out there in multiple places,
02:54that it appears the 49ers are on the verge of getting their guy.
02:58That's good.
02:59It's exciting.
03:00And when he was here as the defensive coordinator, they had a better defense than they did last
03:04year.
03:05And I'm also glad for Robert Sala if this, in fact, is how it happened, because I'm picturing
03:10him in the offices in Jacksonville and they get a call and it's Cohen saying, yeah, I
03:18want back in.
03:19And then they tell Sala, get out, pack your things, fly back to San Francisco.
03:23So yeah, if they do wind up with Robert Sala, that's great.
03:28And it will make me less angry, Mark, about the fact that they've been just chilling for
03:33three weeks.
03:34Well, good.
03:35But like, again, my argument about this, and by the way, 888-957-9570, Niner fans,
03:44let's ride.
03:45How does this make you feel?
03:46It's not done, but certainly there are those out there I trust who are putting their name
03:53right next to the idea that Robert Sala is about to be the Niner defensive coordinator
03:58again.
03:59You fired up?
04:00You excited?
04:02Are you wait and see?
04:04Where are you on this?
04:06I would love to hear from some of our listeners and 49er fans as word is they're about to
04:11get Robert Sala back.
04:14The point I've been trying to make in the conversation you and I have been having is
04:18that the 49ers exercising a little patience or caution or having a plan, not knowing whether
04:26it was actually going to work out or not, should not equal passivity.
04:33Or as you put it, and some others have, quote, not doing anything.
04:38You know, having the extra time that they were excited about and supposedly looking
04:44like they're just twiddling their thumbs, not doing anything.
04:47I would argue that, and I don't know, I don't know what they're doing behind the scenes.
04:51I just trust that they're not sitting there blowing this off.
04:55And if the idea all along was we really want Robert Sala, we think he's the guy, we think
05:01we have a legitimate shot at getting him.
05:05But I'm sure we've also prepared plan B, C, and D. But we're not going to go to plan B,
05:11C, and D until we know that plan A is not available.
05:14We don't know that yet.
05:15And now it looks like plan A is available.
05:18Is that not the right way to go about it?
05:21Depends on whether or not plan A actually happens.
05:23If Robert Sala would have had a job offer or taken a head coaching job, I don't believe
05:29or I don't have faith in what their plan B was because they certainly were not reported
05:36to have interviewed a lot of people.
05:38Brandon Staley reportedly got an interview, an in-house candidate.
05:42And Robert Sala, I'm sure they had a conversation with him.
05:45But outside of that, doesn't feel to me like there was much of a plan B. So yeah, it worked
05:50out.
05:51They got the guy they wanted.
05:53But if he wouldn't have been, if he wouldn't have been available for them to hire, I wonder
05:59what their pivot was.
06:00And I do believe that they probably had a list of guys.
06:03Yeah, why would you wonder that there isn't a plan B?
06:06Because if the plan B was Brandon Staley, that to me is not a great plan B. And if the
06:11plan C was Pete Carroll, you know, you heard a lot of rumors and conjecture about Pete
06:18Carroll, 72 years old, him coming in and getting the job.
06:21But who knows?
06:22Like, who knows?
06:23Right?
06:24Who knows if that's really, I have no clue if that's what was on their list.
06:27Right.
06:28But I also know that the reporters you just mentioned who are reputable and close to the
06:33situation, none of them were reporting on any other interviews that were happening.
06:38So it doesn't feel to me like there was much of a plan B outside of Brandon Staley.
06:43What if Brandon Staley was plan B?
06:46Then I don't like I again, and we can debate this all night long.
06:50I do not think that whatever Brandon was charged with doing last year suddenly means he's not
06:57a good defensive coordinator, especially when the last time he was a defensive coordinator
07:02in the league.
07:03They were number one in the league.
07:04It also doesn't mean whatever he did last year means he's a good defensive.
07:07No, it doesn't.
07:08In other words, I think it's irrelevant.
07:10Like I think last year and the idea of Brandon Staley as a DC, which by the way, is apparently
07:16probably not going to happen.
07:18Like I don't think it's relevant at all.
07:20As far as can he be a defensive coordinator?
07:22I do know, like while we're talking about Mike Silver being one of the people who is
07:27reporting on this, he's kind of getting into it with people a little bit on Twitter over
07:31the last couple of days now about about Brandon Staley.
07:36And all he did was he tweeted out a video from last July from a guy by the name of let's
07:41see if you've heard of him.
07:42Diamondo Lenore.
07:43Yeah.
07:44Who referred to Brandon Staley as a quote defensive genius and went through all of the
07:50things that he's learned from him.
07:52And he said that in July, right before he had a breakout season, which led to a gajillion
07:57dollars.
07:58Like, why are you not giving the job then if he's a defensive genius?
08:03I don't know.
08:04Maybe Sala is, too.
08:06I don't know what the fit is.
08:07I just think it's very fair for a little bit of a clap back on the idea that that we fans
08:16and I'm going to include me in this, that we know the ins and outs of of assistant coaches
08:23around the league just because Brandon Staley's Chargers experience was weird.
08:30I mean, mainly the thing that we criticized him for was going for it on fourth down.
08:33What's your defensive coordinator?
08:35No one even needs to ask you that.
08:38Your defense.
08:39So don't worry about going for it on fourth down.
08:42Like I just don't find the relevance.
08:44That's my only point.
08:45I don't think Brandon Staley's a bad defensive coordinator.
08:48He's done it once in his life and it was great.
08:49Right.
08:50Then, I mean, maybe he doesn't want to go out and get another defensive coordinator job,
08:54but you certainly didn't hear a lot of buzz from teams that had a D.C. opening.
09:00There weren't a lot of talk about Brandon Staley getting elevated back to defensive
09:04coordinator and here he was at best your second option because you wanted Robert Sala to come back.
09:11This whole conversation to me boils down to one simple thing that nobody's mentioning,
09:17which is you need better players.
09:20And this year, whatever Nick Sorensen did or didn't do, he didn't blitz enough.
09:25You didn't stop the run.
09:27All the other problems this defense had.
09:29They were more personnel than they were scheme, in my opinion.
09:33And this whole defense, they run a wide nine, which not a lot of teams run a 4-3.
09:39Nick Bosa, I think, needs to run a 4-3 for defensive linemen, three linebackers.
09:44It's a fair opinion.
09:45If you run a wide nine and your best defensive player is wide and he is the wide nine, you
09:52need the guys in the middle to actually be able to tackle people.
09:55Yes.
09:56I'm not going to say that Nick Bosa can't run the wide nine because they have before
09:59and he was phenomenal.
10:00Right.
10:01And he was phenomenal when they had good defensive tackles.
10:04Yes.
10:05And they need to shore that up.
10:06There's no question about that.
10:07Obviously.
10:09Indeed.
10:10The Javon Hargrave thing, quite frankly, for angry 49er fans, is the most under-discussed
10:14thing that's happened to this team in the last two years.
10:16It was a disaster.
10:17He got hurt.
10:18He got hurt.
10:19And before that, he was incredibly unproductive for premium dollars.
10:26It's terrible signing.
10:28Did not work.
10:29Yeah.
10:30Total bust.
10:31Well, when this defense was at its best, you had six or seven or eight defensive linemen
10:36who could rotate in and they all were good, whether it was DJ Jones and Eric Armstead.
10:42You had bodies that you could put in there.
10:44And so you didn't rely on just the one guy.
10:47All right.
10:48Let's hear from some people.
10:49Niner fans, let's go.
10:50It's not done yet, but it is certainly there's a very loud drumbeat that the Niners are about
10:56to get Robert Sala back as their as their defensive coordinator.
11:00Jonathan in the city.
11:01First up.
11:02Thanks for calling, Jonathan.
11:03What's going on?
11:05This is a bummer, dude.
11:06I thought you were going to say, hey, start scratching because Nikolai is on his way here.
11:11And I heard Robert Sala.
11:12And all I can remember is that loss play that he gave up in the Super Bowl for, you know,
11:16because he wanted to play a prevent defense.
11:19And don't tell me they're going to run the same trash system that gave up two ten point
11:23lead in the Super Bowl, man.
11:25This is just a bummer news, bro.
11:27Well, that's an interesting take, Jonathan.
11:29I mean, first of all, don't hang two Super Bowl losses around him because he was not
11:33here for the second one.
11:35And it's interesting that, you know, the play that you're talking about in the first Super
11:40Bowl.
11:41Thank you, Jonathan.
11:42What I've heard most 49er fans yell about that through the years is that Nick Bosa was
11:46held.
11:47Yeah.
11:48That's what I remember about that play.
11:49Right.
11:50And not not that it was apparently now the defensive coordinator's fault.
11:54He was in charge of what was unequivocally the best defense in football that year.
11:59And what we know now is that when you're playing against Kansas City, you're also playing against
12:04the officials.
12:05So, you know, and that's become this is from a guy who loves the refs.
12:08Yeah.
12:09And I don't know if that was such a thing back then, but but yes, I hear you see a pattern
12:12and you know, they they never call false starts on Kansas City in that Super Bowl, although
12:17they did actually call a couple this past weekend.
12:21And you know, they've got their right tackle lining up literally next to the quarterback.
12:25He's so far off the line of scrimmage.
12:27That was a weird deal.
12:28Yeah, that was a weird deal.
12:29It's OK, though.
12:30Mahomes said this week that they're not getting in advance.
12:32Yeah.
12:33So there you go.
12:34So it's OK.
12:35Yeah.
12:36And I love how we always boiled all these games down to just one play.
12:39Of course.
12:40You know, Kowalski Tart, if only he would have caught that interception that was thrown
12:44right to him, everything would have been different.
12:46That's one play.
12:47That's the nature of the beast.
12:48Of course, you're not wrong.
12:50That's the nature of the beast.
12:51I think it's an even another it's another level to do what, for instance, and Jonathan,
12:57I love you to death, but to do what Jonathan just did, which is here I am.
13:01Hi, my name's defensive coordinator.
13:05My defense is the best defense in football.
13:08We are marching all the way to the Super Bowl.
13:11We dominated teams throughout the playoffs.
13:15We got to the end and went against a man who now many think is on a shortlist for best
13:21quarterback of all time.
13:22And we held him to 10 points until the fourth quarter.
13:26And then there was a bad play and the dam broke and we lost the game.
13:31And so now I'm an idiot and I stink at my job, right?
13:35Come on, people.
13:39I'm thrilled that that this is about to happen if it is.
13:44This is the guy we've been asking for.
13:47First of all, there's a track record.
13:50Second of all, it's Kumbaya with the rest of the coaching staff because they've already
13:53worked together.
13:55And third of all, this is the sideline energy that we've been asking for since he left since
14:00D'Amico Ryan's left.
14:02I don't even necessarily know what that's worth, but I know every fan's been asking
14:05for it.
14:06Right.
14:07Where's that juice on the sideline?
14:08Well, it's back.
14:10Yeah.
14:11If it happens.
14:12And does that really matter when it comes to like getting a stop?
14:16I mean, only the players can say yes, certain players.
14:19Yes.
14:20Maybe certain players.
14:21No, I think certain players love to have that rah-rah energy and, you know, Robert Sala
14:25with the all gas, no brakes tagline.
14:29I would love to see that return.
14:30I don't necessarily need him going full McVay and like pumping his fist and, you know, at
14:36a boy and guys.
14:37I just want to see a defense get back to when they were feared.
14:41And this past year, this defense was not feared.
14:44This defense was gashed many times.
14:48Let's keep going.
14:49888-957-9570.
14:52There is a drumbeat that Robert Sala is about to be named the defensive coordinator of the
14:5849ers again.
14:59How does that make you feel, Niner fans?
15:00Rich in Fremont.
15:01Hey, Rich, thanks for calling.
15:02Hey, guys.
15:03Thanks for taking my call.
15:04It's been a while.
15:05So I was able to call in.
15:06Yeah, man.
15:07I'm going to tell you right now, at the end of the day, I don't know what that caller
15:12was saying.
15:13Bring Robert Sala to our defense and do it now.
15:16OK?
15:17Because understand that defense when he was there was crisp.
15:20As a matter of fact, when offenses got on the field, they knew, OK?
15:26We got a problem.
15:27If this defense is tight, it doesn't break, it's not loose, and it accelerates.
15:35So if you got a chance to bring Robert Sala back as a defensive coordinator, you get that
15:38done.
15:39OK?
15:40You sign him, you get that done, and guess what?
15:43You will see a defense rocking just like it was when he was coaching here.
15:48You do not allow him to get away.
15:50You make that happen.
15:51Thanks, fellas.
15:52Rich, thank you.
15:53Thank you, Rich.
15:54I mean, again, sometimes I think we look at this, and I get it, but we're looking, it's
16:00a results-based industry.
16:03So we look at it, and it kind of goes directly to, OK, what kind of defense does he run,
16:08and how's that going to blend right now?
16:11What about this?
16:12Here's one of the reasons this makes me very, very comfortable, which is, what about the
16:17people side of the hire?
16:20Like, yes, Matt Barrows is right.
16:22There are very few players left from when Robert Sala was the defensive coordinator,
16:26but guess who is still here?
16:27The two best players.
16:29And so from a leadership standpoint, a connection at the top, where you want your organization
16:35to all be on the same page, Robert Sala comes back, stands next to Kaj Shanahan, and runs
16:41a defense that is centered around Fred Warner and Nick Bosa.
16:44I already know that that works.
16:46I already know that that works.
16:48So those people are working together.
16:51Does that mean that it's obviously going to be perfect?
16:53Of course not.
16:54You're right.
16:55You need better players in certain spots.
16:57But that's comforting to me that that leadership group has made music together before.
17:04It worked when you had really good players on the field, and I believe you had Richard
17:07Sherman on those teams, and you had Eric Armstead, and you had Dee Ford on one of those teams.
17:13And so you look at a defense that ultimately is only as good as the players you put out
17:19there.
17:20So you have the coordinator and the scheme.
17:22And I do like the idea of, you know, Kyle Shanahan's going to have somebody who he's
17:26worked with, and he's going to be comfortable with him.
17:29And so you're not starting at square one.
17:31When you hired Steve Wilkes, Wilkes was not from the Shanahan tree.
17:35And so there was a certain amount of a learning curve from Shanahan and Steve Wilkes to even
17:40figure out what Shanahan wants out of his coordinator.
17:43And with Robert Sala theoretically coming back, it's not confirmed yet, you don't have
17:48to start at square one with him.
17:50Absolutely.
17:51And I also love, he was the, I love that you mentioned Sherman.
17:54He was the defensive coordinator when the 49ers went from two interceptions in an entire
18:00year to then spilling over to being an absolute turnover creation machine that went all the
18:06way to the Super Bowl.
18:08That was under Robert's watch.
18:10I love that.
18:11Curtin Hayward-Hills is on the line.
18:13Curt!
18:14What are you doing?
18:15Hey!
18:16Hey fellas!
18:17Hey!
18:18There's the two boys, the best sports boys in the Bay Area.
18:23You got it boys.
18:24And you said it.
18:25Bring Robert back.
18:26I've been saying that to him for a while, bring him back and you know what they're going
18:31to do?
18:32They're going to pay him the most money out of any defense coordinator in the league.
18:36You watch.
18:37Bring him back boys.
18:39I'm so glad Robert's going to come back.
18:42I mean it's not 100%, but this man had all the kind of things that a defensive coordinator
18:48has.
18:49Toughness.
18:50He was always patting the guys on the back when they get off the field.
18:54He is the man and that's why the 49ers have been waiting for him to come back, fellas.
19:00Bring him back, 100%.
19:03Don't let anybody call in and say anything different.
19:06They don't know what they're talking about.
19:08Curt, yeah, it's pretty strong.
19:11I mean, we don't need to answer those calls.
19:15You can answer those calls.
19:17We already had one of those calls.
19:18Yeah.
19:19Did you want to say something to Jonathan who said this is bummer news?
19:23Hello.
19:24Let me tell you something, Nick, you're out of here.
19:31All right, Nick.
19:32Whatever.
19:33Hey, Curt.
19:34Thank you very much.
19:35I think he thought he was actually on the line with Jonathan.
19:39Jonathan has not been on hold for 22 minutes.
19:41I mean, it's all good.
19:44I always give you points for the effort because you always try to get Curt to that spot.
19:48I try.
19:49I'm like, you know, I'm trying to lead everybody to water.
19:51I can't make him drink, but you know, he said his signature line.
19:55That's all we really want.
19:56It's the payoff, yeah.
19:57What would you say to those callers who aren't happy about the news?
19:59Get out of here.
20:00I'd say hello.
20:01Exactly.
20:02Hello.
20:03Troy.
20:04Do you want to say something to Jonathan who said this is bummer news?
20:09Hello.
20:10It's even better the second time.
20:15Hello.
20:16Let's go to Troy and Campbell.
20:19Hi, Troy.
20:20What's good?
20:21Thanks, Willard.
20:22It's a pleasure to be on with you.
20:25I know Jonathan and even the respectful gentleman, Curt, who are on more often than I am with
20:32you guys.
20:33I love their calls, but yeah, no, I couldn't disagree with Jonathan more.
20:38I don't think a personnel thing is an issue.
20:41I think the way Salah runs the defense, right, he's going to get the guys in there and put
20:46them in position to win.
20:48So get out of here with Curt.
20:51Get out of here, Jonathan.
20:53Bring Salah back and let's go.
20:55Troy, thank you very much.
20:57Love that.
20:58Look, I think that this is largely going to be greeted with a lot of excitement.
21:04There's comfort there.
21:06I only have two concerns, if there's any concerns that you want to throw out there, and one
21:12of them is a little bit abstract.
21:14The number one concern, the not abstract one, I think really just kind of pairs with what
21:19you've already said, which is I don't care who the defensive coordinator is if you don't
21:26get another corner and some defensive tackles that are going to plug that middle up and
21:35do a better job on the defensive line and probably get somebody, not probably, either
21:40Drake Greenlaw re-signs and performs at a high level or somebody else does next to Fred
21:46Warner.
21:47Robert Salah can be the DC.
21:49Bill Belichick can be the DC.
21:51Won't matter if you don't do that.
21:53The only other concern I have, and this is the abstract one, I don't know how easy it
22:00is to recreate the past.
22:04I think most of the time when people try to do that, it doesn't look like you thought
22:10it was going to look.
22:13Maybe that's not even really about Robert because he's a good coach and he's coming
22:18to a team, a good franchise, and maybe it'll be great.
22:22But usually when you go back home, it doesn't go the way you think it's going to go.
22:29And they always say you can't go home again.
22:32And when you're the coordinator, I think it's a little bit easier and he knows Kyle and
22:36he's worked with him.
22:37But your first point is the one that I'm really most focused on.
22:41And I also can't help but wonder if this doesn't mean for sure that Drake Greenlaw comes back.
22:49Drake Greenlaw, he sure looked like he was going to be playing great when he was healthy
22:53for those two quarters or two and a half quarters.
22:56And so he's a guy that Robert Sala absolutely loved coaching.
23:00And he's a guy who thrived here, especially when Robert Sala was the coach.
23:04So to me, it signals that he's coming back.
23:07But you mentioned it, a corner, linebacker depth, probably an edge rusher and at least
23:13two defensive interior linemen.
23:16Let's start with that.
23:17And then we can all talk about what Robert Sala could be in his second stint here.