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00:00And here we go, River Island's guest line, our good friend, T.J. Houshmandzada.
00:04What's up, T.J.? What's going on, man?
00:06Man, Mark, what's going on, baby? How you doing?
00:09I'm doing good, man, and can't wait to talk this out with you.
00:14Should a 49er fan be concerned or not? What do you think?
00:20Oh, yeah, I'm concerned if I'm a Niner fan.
00:22I got a couple of buddies.
00:23Hopefully they listen and they hear this voice.
00:25They're going to stay tuned in.
00:27Yeah, I'm concerned, man.
00:29I don't know in any profession where you lose good workers
00:33and you remain a good team.
00:36Like they're losing good players.
00:38You get rid of Debo.
00:40Hufanga leaves. Greenlaw leaves.
00:44Your best receiver is B.A.
00:47He's coming off an injury.
00:49McCaffrey, I believe, missed 13 games last year.
00:53Kittle missed a few.
00:54Trent Williams missed the last seven.
00:55Brock Hardy was one in six against playoff teams.
00:59That's concerning.
01:00When all those guys were missing,
01:02Brock Hardy couldn't carry the team
01:04like you would want a franchise quarterback to carry it.
01:07So that tells me, and I've said it on here,
01:09I believe Brock Hardy is a top 12 to 15 quarterback.
01:13But can you pay him that amount of money
01:15if he can't carry the team
01:16when our best players aren't available?
01:20Well, don't you have to, TJ?
01:21Isn't that just the cost of doing business
01:23in the National Football League?
01:26No, that's what y'all do.
01:28When I say y'all, I don't consider myself the media.
01:31I consider y'all the media, right?
01:33Oh, well, I mean, even though you are one of y'all now,
01:36but I get that.
01:37You played in the game,
01:38and I had a few fewer catches than you in the league,
01:41so I guess I am part of y'all.
01:43No, you know what?
01:44I just feel like I don't like the narrative,
01:47oh, he's the next quarterback, so it's his turn.
01:49Are you better than the guy that's making X?
01:52If you're not better than the guy,
01:53like, I think Brock Hardy's a good quarterback,
01:56but I'm not paying him over 50 million a year.
01:59I'm not paying him more than 47 million a year.
02:01That's just me.
02:03Because last year was an eye-opener.
02:06Guys were hurt, guys were missing,
02:08and he went one and six against playoff teams.
02:11And so when we needed him to carry us
02:14because the Trent Williams weren't playing,
02:16IU wasn't playing, Kittleman missed a game,
02:19McCaffrey missed a ton of games.
02:21He couldn't carry us, so why now will I pay him
02:24and expect him to carry us when he showed me
02:26he couldn't?
02:28TJ, I saw the clip when you said
02:32you wouldn't pay him over 47,
02:34and immediately my mind went to,
02:35where'd you get that number?
02:37Why 47?
02:40Ah, just, I just don't feel like,
02:44if once you start paying the quarterback
02:46more than 50 million a year,
02:47it's hard to keep the team around him great.
02:50Like, trust me, Brock Hardy will take 47 million.
02:54His agent doesn't want him to take 47
02:57because it makes it look bad on him.
02:59It makes him look bad.
03:01Now how is he gonna recruit the next Brock Hardy
03:03when the next agent, look what he got Brock Hardy.
03:05Brock Hardy didn't even get what I would've got him.
03:08That's the biggest problem.
03:10It's not the, I just came upon 47
03:13because you can still sign other players.
03:16You could've kept a Hufanga,
03:18even though he's been injured the last year
03:20and season and a half of green loss.
03:22Same thing, but football is the ultimate team game.
03:26The ultimate team game.
03:28As long as Kyle Shanahan is calling them plays,
03:31you got a chance,
03:32but there's gonna be times where the quarterback
03:34is gonna have to do more and be the reason why.
03:38He's gonna have to be the tractor and not the trailer.
03:43Shout out Robert Taylor, rest in peace.
03:45Tractor trailer from Michigan.
03:47But how much do you look at last year
03:49and you look at an offensive line that was porous
03:51and you give Brock Purdy a little bit of a pass
03:53knowing that you didn't have CMC,
03:56you didn't have BA who only played four games
03:58and you had a diminished Debo.
04:01Do you still put that on the quarterback?
04:04No, and then that's why I say football's ultimate team game
04:07because when a quarterback doesn't have weapons,
04:09what does everybody say?
04:10Oh, he needs weapons.
04:11If you give him weapons, he'll play well.
04:13And as soon as you give him weapons,
04:14you forget that a year ago you said he needed weapons
04:17and now you wanna give him all the credit.
04:19I don't think there's very, very few quarterbacks
04:22that can do it without help.
04:24Very few.
04:26I'm gonna just say the big four
04:28and to me are the best four is Burrow, Mahomes,
04:32Lamar, Josh Allen, no order, those four.
04:35I think they can do it with anybody.
04:37But we haven't seen Joe Burrow play
04:39without great players around him
04:41at least at the skill position up front, yes.
04:44And so I believe Purdy can play.
04:48But last year, it kinda gives me reason
04:52to pause a little bit.
04:53If you won six against the playoff teams of last year,
04:57and you had Debo, you had Kittle the majority of the year,
05:00you didn't have McCaffrey and BA,
05:02but you still had players.
05:05I will say this though, let me say this.
05:08The fact that Robert Saleh is back is gonna matter.
05:10That dude can coach his ass off.
05:12That dude, he's a special defensive coach.
05:15Never met him a day in my life,
05:17but I respect his football mind, his acumen.
05:20He really does a hell of a job coordinating defenses.
05:24The Niners are gonna be better and that may matter.
05:26That may help Purdy also that they have him back.
05:30And so maybe the Niners know this
05:33and say, let's get him done now
05:34because with Saleh, we're gonna be much better.
05:37But 47, that's my ceiling.
05:40TJ Hoosman's out with us here on Withered and Dibs.
05:42How is BA, how's he doing?
05:46Man, I haven't seen him, obviously.
05:47I don't know when he'll start getting on the field.
05:49You know when a guy goes through those type of injuries, man,
05:53obviously, knock on wood, I never had an ACL injury.
05:57You got to give him space.
05:58You got to let him just get through it mentally.
06:02I think that's the hardest part,
06:03is mentally getting over that hurdle.
06:07You get over this hurdle,
06:08now you got to get over another hurdle, man.
06:10But when he's out there, we be ready to roll, man.
06:11It's out here raining in Southern California.
06:14And we was on the field there a couple hours,
06:17race leader slow, we got to get it in.
06:20I'm curious about the rest of his 49ers tenure.
06:24TJ, I wonder if you're even aware.
06:27There have been a lot of reports in recent weeks
06:30that the brass with the 49ers looks back on that deal
06:35and they are regretful.
06:36And not just the numbers, but the way it all went down.
06:40It got so contentious.
06:42Last summer is viewed by many in the organization
06:46as a mistake.
06:47That's just the reality of the situation.
06:49Plus, then Brandon does sign, he comes out,
06:53he's got some bad games, some bad drops,
06:55then he gets hurt.
06:56How do you think his relationship with the organization,
07:00with its fans, how do you think that's going?
07:04And is it recoverable?
07:07You know, fans are fickle.
07:08When you play well, they love you,
07:10and when you're not, they don't.
07:11That's very simple.
07:12When you play well, they're gonna love you.
07:13They're a fan of the team.
07:14They're only a fan of you because you on the team.
07:16We gotta always remember that.
07:17They love you when you play with them
07:19and they hate you when you go somewhere else.
07:22I'll say this.
07:24The contract negotiations, I thought,
07:26got a little tenuous.
07:28I felt like it somewhat got personal at times.
07:33But if you're the Niners,
07:35to me, when you start leaking these reports
07:39that you're thinking about trading them, you regret it,
07:42you gotta be careful because he hears that,
07:44he reads it, he sees it,
07:46and then if he starts to play well,
07:48they're gonna be back to kissing his ass again.
07:50Nah, don't come kiss my ass.
07:51You just, you really didn't want me.
07:54And so, because we're human too.
07:56We're players.
07:57D.A. wasn't trying to play bad.
07:59He just had a, when you get that money
08:01and you don't make every play,
08:03you start to put the pressure on yourself.
08:05And so, I'm sure that's what he did.
08:10I just feel like,
08:12I didn't like the way the contract negotiations went.
08:14I wasn't involved.
08:15I didn't like it.
08:16I was just like, man, either get it done or don't.
08:18Like, this back and forth, just get it done.
08:21And so, I can get where the organization is coming from,
08:24but you gotta understand as a player,
08:26John Lynch was a player, a hell of a player.
08:30When you feel like you aren't wanted,
08:32that can cause problems in the locker room,
08:34especially when you start to play well
08:36and now, they're back kissing your butt again.
08:39They're only saying it's because he didn't play well
08:41and then he got hurt.
08:43If he would've played well, then he got hurt,
08:44they'd still be upset,
08:45but they would have something to look forward to.
08:47And so, you gotta be careful
08:50when you do this to players that are emotional.
08:53I was an emotional player.
08:54D.A. is an emotional player.
08:55You gotta be careful when you do these type of things.
08:59Were you saying before that you were out there
09:00with D.A. today in the rain in Southern California?
09:03No, no, no, no, I was with my other guy.
09:07I got some guys, if the Niners had them, they'd be right.
09:10I'm like, man, we on the field, man, rain, sleet, or snow.
09:14We working, we trying to get better.
09:16Any of these players who might be free agents
09:20who the 49ers might want,
09:21because I don't know if you've heard,
09:22but they got some vacancies now.
09:25They all locked up, man, they all locked up.
09:27Yeah, and that's a shame.
09:28I got a couple coming out the draft,
09:30though, that the Niners can go get.
09:32Got a couple of them.
09:33Anybody you wanna mention,
09:35because it's not tampering if it's just me and you, T.J.
09:37We're all friends now.
09:39I got some guys, and again,
09:41I don't believe the 49ers will draft a receiver
09:43in the first or the second round.
09:47Trey Harris, extremely smart guy from Ole Miss,
09:50would've probably won the Boletnikoff
09:52had he not got hurt towards the end of the season.
09:55Taz Johnson should've run 4-3-3 at the combine,
09:59had a little knick-knack
10:00and thought he could run through it and ran slow,
10:03but extremely explosive fast.
10:05I'm gonna give you somebody
10:08that not many people talk about,
10:10and I don't know if you know the name,
10:11Treshawn Holden from Oregon.
10:146'3", 2'10", he can run, and he is quick.
10:17He's quick like a little guy.
10:19Special, special, like he has a lot of twitchiness
10:22in his body, and the way that Shanahan is the coach,
10:25I've met Shanahan a couple times,
10:26like he in your face,
10:27he ain't gonna take nothing from the players.
10:30He's the type of coach that Treshawn will thrive under.
10:34So just those guys off top are the ones that come to mind,
10:37but I got like six guys.
10:38Matt Golden, the Niners aren't gonna draft him,
10:41but Matt Golden is special.
10:44TJ, our technical director went to Oregon
10:47and he's losing his mind listening to you talk right now.
10:51Hey, no lie though, Treshawn Holden is underrated.
10:54I've been doing this a long time, he's underrated.
10:57He's underrated.
10:58With his size and quickness, underrated.
11:00TJ, let me ask you about the Niner wide receiver room.
11:03Like take everything into account.
11:05Debo is gone, and Brandon is probably
11:09at least not gonna be himself
11:10for a little ways into the season.
11:13You've got Pearsall, you've got Jawan Jennings,
11:16cowing from last year's draft,
11:18and they just signed Demarcus Robinson.
11:21What's your, how would you rate that room,
11:23and does it need more?
11:26I would be concerned, that's just me.
11:29But the league, this is how it works, man.
11:32I'm sure when I was playing,
11:34and now I'm gonna be a starter,
11:36people were concerned like,
11:37what is this guy with this long last name
11:39gonna do in his long hair?
11:41And so, that's normal because we haven't seen it.
11:45I haven't seen Jawan Jennings be consistent,
11:48be consistently good without a Debo or a Uke
11:50on the field with him, and a Kittle.
11:53Can he do that now when now you're the starter,
11:56now you're gonna be relied upon every game?
11:59Can Pearsall do a game in and game out?
12:02We just don't know, because we haven't seen it.
12:04Now, they may end up doing it,
12:06but until they do it, there's gonna be question marks.
12:10Should they go after Cooper Cupp,
12:11or is that too crowded?
12:15I don't know if you go after Coop.
12:20Obviously, he gonna get open, number one.
12:23He's going to catch the ball.
12:25So, anytime you get a guy that's gonna get open
12:26and catch the ball, yeah, you go after him.
12:29But one, would Cupp do it?
12:32You know, that would be very interesting.
12:35But if you pay him enough, he'd do it.
12:36Anybody that can help you win, that can get open,
12:38you go after, so yes, you go after him.
12:41I just don't know if they will.
12:42You're shedding money, but now you gonna bring in
12:44more money, you know?
12:46You get rid of Debo, because he's getting a little
12:48older, quote, unquote.
12:50You gonna bring in an older guy?
12:53Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense,
12:54but I'm just gonna go back to your previous question
12:57that you asked yourself about JaJuan and Ricky Pearsall.
13:00Can either one of them be the X receiver,
13:02be the boundary guy who can get you those eight catches
13:05that B.A. can at his best?
13:08When you draft Pearsall in the first round,
13:10he has to be that guy if B.A. isn't healthy.
13:13He has to be that guy if B.A. isn't healthy.
13:16And so, if he can't be that guy, you may be in trouble.
13:20Pearsall has all the traits.
13:21He's big, he's fast, he's quick, he can run routes.
13:24But can he do it consistently?
13:26And that's, we don't know.
13:28We don't know, but when you draft a guy in the first round,
13:31specifically a receiver, you expect and you need him
13:35to be that guy when a guy like B.A., who you paid
13:37to be that guy, goes down.
13:40So you look at the 49ers right now,
13:43and some are like, dude, is this a rebuild?
13:46Is it a reboot?
13:48However you wanna label it.
13:49What kind of a chance, in this moment,
13:52I know they're still building, but in this moment,
13:55what kind of a chance do you give them
13:56to compete next year?
13:59I would say they're retooling, not a rebuild.
14:01They're retooling, reloading.
14:05This is my honest assessment.
14:07If we're looking at NFC, I would put them behind
14:11the Eagles, the Lions, the Commanders, and the Rams.
14:17And then it's everybody else,
14:18because there's always gonna be a team or two
14:19that comes out of nowhere.
14:22The Niners, to me, now are in that position.
14:24I believe the Rams are going to win the division.
14:28The Rams have the best quarterback in the division.
14:31They have the best defensive division,
14:33but Salah will have an answer for that.
14:35Like, Salah's special, man.
14:36Like, to me, he's the wild card.
14:37That dude is special as a coach, man.
14:40And I don't think people realize that.
14:41Look at the Jets.
14:42They were good on defense when he was there.
14:43They were good on defense when he was there.
14:45And then the dumbasses fired him and didn't look at him.
14:48They're dumb.
14:49But Salah can coach, man.
14:50I'm a fan of that dude.
14:51Yeah, and we are, too.
14:52But I wonder about, like, personnel
14:55versus coaching and scheme.
14:56Don't you have to have the players, though?
14:58Or can a coach really make that much of a difference?
15:01Yes, because they trust him.
15:03When he says this is, when they're in this formation
15:06and it's down to distance, let's expect this.
15:08When you trust it, then you're gonna play
15:11to what your coach has told you.
15:12You're gonna trust what he's telling you
15:15and you're gonna react faster.
15:17That's why the best players are better than other players.
15:20They see things faster, they react faster,
15:21they understand it.
15:22Luke Keighley would, oh, they're in this formation,
15:24this split, the quarterback, oh, okay,
15:26they're gonna be doing this.
15:28Because the coaching has helped you out along the way.
15:31But with that being said, I mean,
15:34how can you put them in front of those four teams
15:35that I just named?
15:36How?
15:38Well, Vegas does.
15:40Isn't that crazy?
15:41How does this grab you?
15:42Vegas puts them in front of who?
15:43The 49ers right now are the sixth favorite
15:46to win the Super Bowl in the whole damn league.
15:49Vegas gonna lose money.
15:50They gonna lose money.
15:52Eagles, Ravens, Chiefs, Bills, Lions,
15:55that's the list that's ahead of the Niners.
15:58Hey, they gonna lose money or Kyle Shanahan
16:01is about to really earn his pay this year.
16:05Thank you, brother, appreciate you always.
16:08Yeah, y'all take care.
16:09Yep, TJ.