• 7 hours ago
Transcript
00:00NFL Films, Greg Cosell, post-Super Bowl, out on the River Islands guest line, Greg, thanks
00:06as always for coming on, how are you this week?
00:10You know, I'm a little tired guys, I'm a little tired.
00:13Were you burning it up in New Orleans?
00:15Oh God no, I was in bed by 11 every night, I've been tired from the season.
00:22Those days have been way over for years.
00:25No doubt, no doubt, I think you speak for all of us.
00:29That said, Greg, I go back to our conversation last week, and I gotta say, you said some
00:34things that I think were still bouncing around in my brain as I was watching what the Eagles
00:39did when you sort of indicated that they had an advantage in the trenches.
00:45Yeah, it was really interesting, you know, when I watch tape, and particularly when it's
00:49one game like that where I spent actually four hours watching each side of the ball
00:54yesterday, so when I'm watching the Eagles defense, I was just saying to myself, wow,
01:00this is really interesting, I'm wondering what was in Vic Fangio's mind when he started
01:05preparation and he looked at this Chiefs offense, and what was going through his head as to
01:10how he wanted to play them, and basically, it was fascinating because they did not rush
01:16five one time in the game, Mahomes dropped back 42 times, 39 of those times they rushed
01:23four, three times they rushed three, and they basically lined up on every snap in
01:30a two high safety structure, and they didn't play two high safety every single snap, but
01:35a very, very high percentage of the time, and it occurred to me that they just said,
01:40you know what, our defensive line is better and more athletic than your offensive line,
01:47and we're gonna win that way, and then starting in the second quarter, they went to a whole
01:51bunch of different stunt concepts, and their athleticism just really showed up, and they
01:57dominated, they were in a sense daring the Chiefs to run the ball because they were playing
02:01out of a two high shell, and the Chiefs never really ran the ball.
02:04Yeah, and even when they tried, they couldn't, I think they had three rushes in the first
02:09half if the stats are, you know, refreshing me in the correct way, and Greg, I was thinking
02:14about the Niners watching that game because isn't that the construct that Robert Sala
02:19and company want, the ability to rush four, be disruptive, and have seven covering on
02:24the back end?
02:25Yeah, you know, in an ideal world, I mean, most coaches would love that, you know, sometimes
02:32you can't do that, but most coaches would love that for the simple reason that football
02:36is a numbers game, and if you can get home or impact the quarterback with four, you have
02:41seven in coverage, and you have seven in coverage versus five eligible receivers, maybe even
02:48sometimes four eligibles if the offense feels they need to keep someone in to help, so you,
02:53the numbers are in your favor, so I think most teams would love to be able to do that,
03:01and the Eagles were, as I said, they did not rush five one time in the game.
03:05What about the trenches on the other side, Greg, and I specifically wonder about this
03:10Eagles offensive line that is huge, you talked them up last week, and there's a lot of talk
03:14here in San Francisco about the 49ers needs on the offensive line, which underperformed
03:20this year, so what do you think the Niners may have been able to learn from what ended
03:26up happening in the Super Bowl?
03:27Well, it's funny you say that, because that was not the best performance by the Eagles
03:31offensive line this year by any stretch, they had some bad snaps, well, of course, the Chiefs
03:38have a pretty good defensive front as well, and they won some one on one matchups, and
03:44obviously the Chiefs did a really good job with Barkley, they had some run blitzes on
03:48early downs, they would bring safeties down late into gaps, so they'd show Barkley, hey,
03:54maybe there's a cutback, and then all of a sudden a safety would appear, but the one
03:58thing they didn't do was they didn't really load the box, as everybody automatically assumed
04:02that they would just load the box, they didn't really do that, in fact, they played a lot
04:06of snaps that are too high, but they have a really good D line, now the Eagles obviously
04:11have a really good O line, it's just one of those things, they've got tremendous size,
04:17they've got really good players, not every team can do that, this is just, this is what
04:21the Eagles have, would every team aspire to have a great O line, I think every team aspires
04:26to have a great O line, that's sort of a foundation of your offense.
04:29You mentioned 1,700 pounds of pure man-just force on that line, is that the kind of line
04:36that the Niners can utilize based on what Kyle Shanahan likes to do with the outside
04:40zone?
04:41Well, I don't think there's a lot of guys like that, that's the thing, I mean, you know,
04:47you got Dickerson at left guard who probably weighs 350, you know, you got Beckton at right
04:52guard who probably weighs 360, you have Maial Atta who probably, at left tackle, who probably
04:56weighs 370, you know, there's not a hundred guys like that, so, you know, I think you
05:01have to be careful about thinking that a team, any team, can just automatically get
05:06guys like that, it's kind of a unique situation that the Eagles have.
05:09Greg, of course, coming out of the Super Bowl, there was the game, but the fan base here
05:15was a little bit more engaged with the fact that there was a Debo Samuel trade request.
05:21Let's start with this, what did you see on tape from Debo this year as compared to previous
05:26years?
05:27Well, I'll answer it this way, and I think that they probably will move on from him because
05:31assuming IUK comes back healthy, you're gonna have IUK, you're gonna have Pearsall, you're
05:36gonna have Jennings, so I think, you know, they probably feel that, you know what, if
05:40we do move on, and I don't know, is he still under contract?
05:44He is, I think one more year, yeah.
05:46Yeah, so that means he would have to be traded unless they would release him outright, so,
05:51you know, I think that within the context of how they see their offense moving forward
05:56with those three wide receivers, and ideally McCaffrey is back healthy, I guess that remains
06:01to be seen, but ideally if all that happens, Samuel would probably be in some way superfluous
06:08to what, you know, what they have right now, and, you know, given that he certainly did
06:12not put up the same production this year that he had in previous years, it would not surprise
06:16me if they see it that way.
06:18And you love Ricky Pearsall, I know you were high on him going into the season, and after
06:22he got better after his gunshot, you were mostly bullish on his productivity.
06:27Can Jawan Jennings, while IUK is out, step forward and be a good enough one receiver,
06:32the X receiver for a team in its passing game?
06:36I'm not sure he's an X, I mean, I really like Jawan Jennings, it's funny you say that, because
06:41I remember watching him in college at Tennessee, and he did not run well at all, and that's
06:45one reason why people were down on him, but he was so physically competitive in the SEC,
06:51and I knew there'd be a place for him in the league, but he's not a number one, and
06:54that's no knock on him, because I think he's a very, very good player, but he's not a true
06:59boundary X receiver, but he's really, really good.
07:04But as I said, I think they'll look at IUK, I don't know what his timetable is based on
07:08his injury, but assuming he's back, I really believe it would be IUK, Pearsall, and Jennings.
07:14There is a thought, Greg, that IUK might need at least a month or so before he's fully ready
07:20to go, so I'm not gonna ask you if you think the Niners should make some sort of a free
07:25agent move, but if IUK's not ready at the beginning of the year, do you feel like that
07:31room has enough, or are they a little bit short?
07:35Well, we still have free agency in the draft, guys, we don't know that right now, I mean,
07:40we'll see how they feel about it, they'll know, they certainly know his medicals a whole
07:44lot better than I do, so we'll see, I mean, they may feel that they want to draft another
07:48receiver, they may feel that they could get by with what they presently have, maybe they
07:54feel Cowen can become a guy, I don't know, this is stuff that they know way better than
08:00we do, Cowen's a guy that I also liked, he didn't get any significant opportunities this
08:06year as a receiver, so we'll see what they think of him, but yeah, I think that they
08:12certainly could draft one, I don't know how many draft picks they have, I'm not up to
08:18that point yet, so I don't know, although I am grinding away watching college guys,
08:23but I haven't looked at NFL teams and see what their draft situations are.
08:27Yeah, they got a lot of picks, especially in the third and fourth rounds, they got a
08:31lot coming, so we'll see.
08:32And there's always receivers, look, there's always receivers, guys, you know that, because
08:36normally in every draft, normally, wide receivers is the most drafted position, and pretty much
08:43every draft, there's always receivers.
08:46Greg Cosell, NFL Films, this is an extension of what we were talking about with Deebo Samuel,
08:51I've heard some people say, look, the 49ers got away from their short passing game this
08:56year, and you've talked about how Brock Purdy was looking downfield more, and needed to
09:01scramble more, sort of off schedule, what's your thought on that, did they do less of
09:07their short passing game than they have in the past?
09:12I mean, it played out that way, it's hard to know why it played out that way, I don't
09:17think their entire offense changed, it's possible that Purdy didn't see it, you know, clearly
09:23this year, there were times I thought that was the case, and I think that's one reason
09:27why he scrambled more, you know, so we'll see, you know, as Kyle, because the first
09:33thing teams do, particularly teams that don't make the playoffs, is they self-scout, they
09:37go back and look at all their tape, that's where it starts, before they do anything else,
09:43they go back and look at all their tape, and they'll try to figure out, you know, what
09:47worked for them, what didn't work for them, they'll try to understand why what didn't
09:51work didn't work, you know, why it didn't work, so, you know, at their core, I still
09:57think that, you know, what Purdy does best is be a timing and rhythm passer, kind of
10:02in the short to intermediate areas, and then run after catch becomes a major foundation
10:08of what they do, so I think they'll go back and take a really hard look at that and see
10:14why it didn't play out quite that way this year as it did the Super Bowl season before,
10:19or even the year before when they got to the NFC Championship game, when, you know, they
10:23were so efficient in the past game.
10:25You mentioned free agent receivers and the draft and the rest of it, when you look at
10:28the tape from this past year and you see Devontae Adams, what did you see as far as
10:33his ability to still be that boundary X, that top receiver for a good passing offense?
10:38Yeah, yeah, I still think he's a good player, I mean, what's his age now, is he 32ish, yeah,
10:44so I still think he can play, you know, he had good moments with the Jets, are you talking
10:50about him as a 49er, is that what you're asking?
10:52Potentially, yeah, I mean, if Debo is traded and you look to shuffle the deck and you don't
10:56want to bring in another young player, perhaps he might be a fit?
10:59Yeah, I mean, he's a veteran, obviously he knows how to play in the league, he's still
11:04a really, really good route runner, he may not be as, he was never truly explosive, but
11:10he certainly had a vertical element to his game, but he certainly knows how to run routes,
11:15he understands defenses, you know, that kind of guy could be a one-year fit, depending
11:19on what else you have in mind, no question.
11:22What's his contract status, do you know?
11:24I think he's got another year or two, but it would probably, you know, it would be subject
11:29to a restructure and a spread out, would be my guess.
11:33So he'd have to become a 9er if that would happen in a trade?
11:37Yeah, I think so, unless the Jets do some sort of an outright release or whatever, which
11:43does not seem likely, they just got him.
11:45Right, right, so if that's the case, then yeah, he's probably going to be a Jet, I mean,
11:50obviously Aaron Rodgers is gone, which I personally think is the right move, but, you know, that's
11:55They think so too, obviously.
11:57Yeah, let's talk about that for a second, because we're all sitting here and I think
12:00that we might feel like we know otherwise, but for whatever reason, the betting markets
12:06think that the 49ers are one of three favorites to have Aaron Rodgers on the team next year.
12:12I think that's nuts, I think Brock Purdy is going to be the quarterback of the Niners,
12:15but how would you, just for fun, how would you compare those two players with what they
12:19put on tape last year?
12:22Well I'm with you, I don't even think that's a possibility, that Aaron Rodgers is going
12:27to be a Niner, I mean, the problem with Aaron Rodgers is that he controls your whole organization
12:32and that's a problem, so I don't even think that's realistic, I mean, Aaron Rodgers obviously
12:38still knows how to play, he's an incredibly smart player, he still can throw the ball,
12:42he doesn't have the same movement ability he once had, I thought last year, though,
12:46that his ball location, which has always been a great strength of his, I mean he was such
12:52a precise ball placement thrower, I didn't think it was as good last year, now I don't
12:57know the reasons for that, maybe there were issues with being on the same page, you know,
13:01those are things sometimes you don't know, but the bottom line, the way it played out
13:05watching tape is he was clearly not as precise with his ball location as we've seen him throughout
13:11his career.
13:12We talk about recency bias and our lasting memory of Sam Darnold is not a good one, the
13:17last regular season game, the playoff game, but when you look at the totality of his tape,
13:22what do you think the market will be for Sammy D this offseason?
13:26Pretty good, because it's not a great quarterback draft and I think that, you know, he's a quarterback,
13:31he's coming off a really, really good season, you know, he's played in the league, so it's
13:36not, you're not getting a guy that you're uncertain as to what he is, which you always
13:41are a little bit when you draft a quarterback, so my guess is the market will be pretty good.
13:47Now obviously he played with a great coach in Kevin O'Connell, I mean, Darnold last year
13:51was phenomenal throwing the ball down the field, think about this for a second guys,
13:56on passes that went 20 yards or more in the air, in the air from the line of scrimmage,
14:02okay?
14:03Darnold completed 56% of those passes, by contrast, Patrick Mahomes completed 26% of
14:10those passes.
14:11Interesting, interesting, and while we're talking about the quarterbacks, I don't want
14:16to fully leave the Brock Purdy conversation yet.
14:19From what we're all hearing here, the 49ers are completely convinced, but it's fascinating,
14:24out there at the Super Bowl, yet again, Fred Warner seems like he's publicly almost pleading
14:29with everybody to understand that Brock Purdy is an elite quarterback in the NFL.
14:35Now you can define that however you want, but what would you say, both you've seen on
14:41film and if you have any hesitation about his future as a true number one quarterback?
14:50Well, there's two parts to that question, because the bottom line is, he may not be
14:57Patrick Mahomes or Josh Allen or Joe Burrow or Lamar Jackson, okay?
15:02And those would be considered the four best quarterbacks in the league.
15:06So now, if he's not that guy, what are people saying, that the 49ers should go get another
15:12quarterback?
15:13I think I may have joked with you guys a few weeks ago, there's not a quarterback store
15:16where you just go get another quarterback.
15:18Brock Purdy is a quality NFL quarterback.
15:21As you said, you can define elite any way you want, but let's assume for a moment, let's
15:25assume for a moment that Brock Purdy all of a sudden is not the 49ers quarterback.
15:30Then what happens?
15:31That's a good question.
15:32I was going to ask you the same question based on what you've seen in your early deep dive
15:38on the college quarterback.
15:39She said it's not a great quarterback draft.
15:42I mean, Shadur Sanders and Cam Ward, is there anybody there that you see that you would,
15:47if you were the Niners, reach out and say, yeah, that guy's going to be great from what
15:51you've seen on film?
15:54You know, I've done, you know, I'm in the process of that.
15:57I've actually finished doing Ward, Sanders and Jackson Dart.
16:01I've also done Tyler Shuck from Louisville, who's a really interesting player.
16:06But you know, I would say that based on my film study, and again, I don't get to talk
16:10to the players, so I don't, you know, I don't know the answer to that, but I like Ward the
16:14best.
16:15I think Sanders has a lot of things that he needs to clean up and work on.
16:21So you know, I mean, I think that you have to be careful because quarterbacks, I mean,
16:28look at Caleb Williams.
16:29Okay, Caleb Williams put up good numbers, but if you talk to people in the league, they'll
16:33tell you that he really had a hard time this year.
16:35So you have to be careful about that.
16:38You know, you have a quarterback, by the way, that's a pretty darn good player in Purdy.
16:42You know, he was in a Super Bowl in his second season.
16:44He was in the NFC Championship game in his first season.
16:47He's a really efficient player.
16:49I mean, I guess I struggle with all this.
16:52I mean, I don't know what people think's going to happen here.
16:55Do they just think a quarterback's going to fall out of the sky?
16:58I mean, to me, this is such a silly conversation.
17:00Agreed, Greg, but yeah, like, no, nobody thinks that a quarterback's going to fall out of
17:06the sky.
17:07Nothing against you guys, but this is sports talk radio meaningless stuff.
17:11I mean, Brock Purdy is a really good player.
17:14I got kids to feed here, Greg.
17:15I mean, what are we doing here, Greg Cosell?
17:18I mean...
17:19No, but you're, like, Greg, I think you're completely right.
17:23Then again, we have an audience, and this is what people are talking about.
17:29And I'm telling you, I have friends who have college degrees and watch a ton of sports,
17:33and this is what people do.
17:35They don't run it through the prism that you're running it through.
17:37They go, I wouldn't pay Brock X.
17:41And they bring that, and I'm like, I don't even know what that means.
17:45Like there's a thousand ways to structure a deal.
17:47So let me ask, let me tell you something that sort of plays into this.
17:51So the Eagles last season, not this year, lost their final six of seven games, as you
17:56may recall.
17:57Yes.
17:58Okay.
17:59Then they were two and two going into their bye week this year.
18:02There was major talk within the organization, within the organization, they didn't know
18:07if Jalen Hurts was the guy.
18:08Right.
18:09They didn't know.
18:10They didn't know.
18:11Okay.
18:12So now, what do we think about Jalen Hurts?
18:15Should the Eagles look for another quarterback now?
18:16He might be the guy, Greg.
18:17I'm not sure.
18:18Yeah.
18:19I mean...
18:21I don't know, Greg.
18:22I need to see more.
18:23Right.
18:24There you go.
18:25So I mean, these conversations get a little silly.
18:26Yes.
18:27Yes, Greg.
18:28They do.
18:29But at the same deal.
18:30Yeah.
18:31You know me, guys.
18:32I'm a little realistic about this stuff.
18:33You know, it's, yeah.
18:34Yeah.
18:35Too realistic for sports talk, quite frankly.
18:37That's probably true.
18:39That's probably true.
18:40Well, Greg, give us this on the way out the door, even if it's a little uncomfortable,
18:44because I know it's not, like, I know you don't want to act like you know more than
18:48Kyle Shanahan.
18:50But honestly...
18:51I don't know more than Kyle Shanahan.
18:52I know you don't, but you're out there grinding through tape, and you watch everything the
18:58Niners did this year.
19:00If he came to you and he was like, Greg, what is our biggest position of need?
19:05How would you answer that question?
19:09On the offensive side, I'd say offensive line, for sure.
19:13I think that needs to be kind of reworked and rebuilt.
19:17Does Trent Williams still have the good stuff, or no?
19:21You know, he didn't play the last whatever number of games.
19:24He certainly...
19:25I spoke to someone who said that, hey, farther time catches up with everyone.
19:29I don't know.
19:30You know, does he want to come back and play?
19:34I mean, as far as I know, yes.
19:36Yes, he does.
19:37Yeah.
19:38I mean, so that's a hard question to answer regarding him.
19:42Obviously, Banks did not have a very good season after having a pretty good season the
19:46year before.
19:47He's not very good.
19:48I don't think the center played as well as he played.
19:50I think Poonie's going to be a good player, a real solid right guard.
19:54I've told you guys that I feel like they need a right tackle.
19:58So I think three positions, whether it's the same guys or whether it's new guys, three
20:03of the five positions need to be meaningfully better.
20:06Oh, so only three of the five.
20:07All right.
20:08That's not that bad.
20:09Oh, it's a lot.
20:10Greg, thanks so much, man.
20:11You're the best.
20:12Appreciate you.
20:13All right, guys.
20:14Appreciate it.
20:15Thanks so much.
20:16Okay.
20:17That's Greg Cosell.