Matt Barrows: "This is the BEST 49ers roster I've seen since 2002."

all righty let's get right to it all guests on 957 the game up here on the River Islands guest line isn't a time for you to discover the islands River Islands in lrop we're joined by 49er beat Rider Matt barrows of the athletic Matt thank you so much for joining us really appreciate it and let me start with this question how can the 49ers be a better team this year than they were last year well they spent the off season bulking up two spots that were big weaknesses on this team last year one was cornerback um we we know about the travails of the uh the third cornerback last year and that's a that's a deep spot this year to to the point where we don't really know who that third quarterback is but they've got a lot of options uh and then the second is that you'll remember at at midseason they had to go shopping for not one but two defensive end they weren't getting any heat off the edges um certainly not opposite mcosa um and so they addressed that I don't think that they address that to the same degree that they did cornerback but um you know Leonard Floyd is probably their best um bookend for Nick fosa since def Ford was here in in 2019 so those are two big areas where um they should have been poed and and of course they um you know hired a new defensive coordinator um in in mi hon someone who's really familiar with this Che Carol like defense that they've been running since uh 2019 as well so taking together you would think that this defense is going to be uh markedly better than it was a year ago Matt keep doing your thing I'm a fan of your work and I got one problem I just I can't let go of the past and last night NFL network was showing the ners um Super Bowl in Vegas against Kansas City for the second time and I came in and I told steiny you know what since the Baltimore game last year Matt I just felt like the ners offense as a whole and the team was just a bit different and that's why they barely beat Green Bay in Detroit and I know they did kind of had their best game against uh the Chiefs in the Super Bowl but Matt if I were to ask you why did the Niners offense why was it pedestrian in the postseason how would you answer that you know I I think that they went into malaise I mean um they really circled that December two game in Philadelphia um given what had happened the previous postseason they they uh that was their regular season Super Bowl let's put it that way and then you know the rest of the month yeah they won some games you know against the commanders and um then um the the the season finale was that nothing game against the Rams and I I just think that um it it went into neutral a bit and you saw that against Green Bay um I think that they were talent wise um Head and Shoulders better than Green Bay um but they you know they they uh they they barely came out of that game uh with a win and then the next week of course uh they they fell behind to uh a Lions team which is good but again I think they're a far cry from the 49ers as far as talent and it needed that that second H half burst and I agree with you I thought that they had sort of remedied that by the time that they played the Chiefs um that they were going at Full Tilt in that game uh but you know I I definitely kind of felt that was wondering certainly during the Packers and Lions game what is happening with this team you you pick the wrong time of the year to kind of Sleepwalk through the first half of both of those games Matt B is joining us on 957 the game he's joining us courtesy of the River Islands guest line Matt I I know you've covered the 49ers for for a while now and I'm just kind of curious about as somebody who's been in the locker room you know year after year after year how do you assess kind of their togetherness or their their uh off seon obviously I'm talking about Trent Williams and auk and now the latest thing with with Ricky Pier off is there any way to tell in real time whether whether this could affect the 49ers or not I mean I I would say that their togetherness is as good as any team that I've covered I mean the hardball teams absolutely had that in um in 2011 and 2012 I mean uh they were uh as Jim Harbaugh would put it a band of brothers and I think that they it's a similar Brotherhood on this team um you know and you saw that in the in the Ricky peaw um incident this weekend I mean um yeah I had a whole bunch of uh officials making a beine for the hospital as soon as they heard what had happened um they got pearsol on the phone on FaceTime from his hospital bed um so that he could make an appearance at this party just talking to the Players yesterday in the locker room um obviously they were they were affected deeply affected by it um uh an incredible roller coaster ride on Saturday afternoon but um I and I'll give John Lynch credit for kind of building that camaraderie that culture um that togetherness and um you feel it and and there was definitely uh an an excitement in the locker room on Tuesday uh Trent Williams had arrived CH all had arrived the uh the previous day uh players were still kind of buzzing about that this the remarkable nature of a guy who was shot in the chest on on Saturday and who um comes into work on Monday um so there was a real uh sense of excitement energy um I don't know if that's just kind of all the happen stance that happened over a very bizarre 48 Hours uh and it's whether that's something that can kind of um uh be carried into the regular season but that um you know that uh electricity and that togetherness that you referenced definitely was apparent in the locker room on Tuesday yeah good stuff Matt I got a question I was rooting for auk to get paid he actually got more than I thought the Niners were were trying to give him so good for Brandon but uh my eyebrows raised yesterday when he made the comment uh Brandon was talking to the media that this could have been done sooner but he was trying to I'm paraphrasing here Matt um you know he was doing some different stuff what what did you take from that what did he mean with that line at the end that what was he trying to do obviously get more money Matt more upfront money what did you what did you take from auk's words yesterday yeah I mean um I thought that the takeaway quote was that um he made it a little bit more difficult than it needed to be and I thought that that was in reference to what we saw immediately after the the deal was uh was consummated which was the you know the 49ers I think it was obvious it was coming from the 49 of saying that you know this is this is the deal that we've had on the table since August 12th um and here we are at the very end of August and this is now just getting done so I think IU probably realized that that okay um nothing was gained over the last what two and a half weeks before he did this uh just kind of speaks to the bizarre nature of the entire negotiation um you know one of the the themes was that okay what does Brandon you want does he want to be here does he want to be in Pittsburgh does he want to be in Washington does he want to get traded to New England um I think that the 49ers were trying to sort of force the issue there at one point early August so that he would just be forced to make a decision one way or the other um and that may have been what was kind of holding it up and and making it um a bit odd uh throughout the whole um the whole ordeal Matt bar is joining us on 957 the game he writes for the athletic he covers the San Francisco 49ers Matt I this is going to be something I think we talk about a lot and that is you know brocke and and what will he eventually get paid and with the question I have for you and I don't know how much detail you'll be able to give me on this but obviously they just paid auk they just redid Trent Williams Christian mcaffrey also uh this summer they're going to have to pay pery what do do you have any sense for the type of decision they're going to have to make down the line with who can still be on this team once perie gets paid you know what I mean like what do you have any sense of of the tough decisions that they may be looking at a year from now I I think that they are in a position where they can let this year dictate what they do um it it does seem like they're going to have to do something like they can't uh you know there was talk about uh you know Trent Williams playing until he's 40 yesterday when when Trent Williams came in you can't have all these guys playing until they're 40 right it's not it's not going to happen so um you know just logic would dictate that some of these uh older players um will have to um you know uh you know hit the exit at some point like I said I think think the season will dictate a lot of that some of these guys are scheduled for free agency um Dre green law charvarius War diamor Lenor Kalo fonga um uh some of them will not be back the 49ers will let some of them um hit the exit um Aaron Banks uh is is another one um you know that's one I feel pretty confident saying they're not going to go out and pay Aaron Banks a lot of money that he's probably gonna um exit via free agency just like Lincoln Tomlinson did they don't pay guards a lot of money and by the way they've got a really goodlooking one and Dominic Cooney right now who played left guard in college and is playing Right Guard this year but to me it seems like the 49ers have earmarked him for left guard all along as the a parent to um Aaron bank so that's just one I I have a hard time thinking that they're going to be able to resign charvarius Ward uh that's two they they've drafted a lot of young linebackers over the years so green law to me is a question mark so that would be three I think that they would love to get huanga and damor Lenor back if I'm deamor Leno's agent though um you know I'd love to see you know him get to the market and see what he can fetch um he's a guy that is poised for the kind of season on defense that Brandon auka had on on offense last season had a very very strong offseason spring summer probably was the best uh best player in Camp so uh again uh the 17 games are gonna kind of uh point the 49ers to some conclusions on who they can keep around Matt I'm always uh telling my partner here tomorrow's not promised you look at how blessed you mentioned it Ricky peaw was with the situation he went through and came out of it healthy um over the weekend but I I I refer to Kyle Shanahan on days as a genius he can scheme him with the best of them I know this and then there are days Matt where I criticizes play call in like the 2019 Super Bowl the last Drive since 19 the ners are up there outside of the Chiefs better than any other team in regard to winning and I want Kyle to win it because he deserves to but how do you watch this Quest that Kyle is on with his Brilliance but yet getting so close no cigar and now you got contract the money all those things Matt how do you watch and process this Quest from Kyle I mean it's all set up for success I mean you can't you know you can uh you know take a a magnifying glass and and find a couple of cracks on this roster but it's the best roster in the league and it's the best one that you know i' i' I've covered since uh and I started covering this team in 2002 so um you know there there's that this this team has a an excellent chance of winning the Super Bowl luck always is a huge factor in this and may maybe the 49ers will get lucky this year and a team like Houston or somebody else in the AFC will knock off the Chiefs knock Patrick momes out of the running um to me that's that's the difference in the two Super Bowls that they lost that the Chiefs have a once in a-lifetime player and Patrick Mahomes who excels in fourth quarters who just puts the game on his shoulders and and wins games and and U you know nobody else does um I think it's as simple as that you know you talked about Kyle Shanahan and kind of missing that Super Bowl win uh in his career that that was Andy Reed uh 10 years ago yeah you know offensive genius who keeps missing out on the big game and and Reed by the way was was worse than Shanahan um you know not getting to the Super Bowl blowing it in the playoffs etc etc and now he's uh the the most vaunted uh head coach in in all the land you need to get lucky um sometimes and and Reed certainly got that luck when the Chiefs trapped at Patrick Mahomes hey real quick Matt do you think this and just to I want to make sure I I heard you right do you think this roster this year's 49ers teams better than last year's I I think so I mean uh I I think uh you know you you can argue about it um like I said um you know the uh blatant weakness last year was was that third cornerback spot that that bothered them throughout the season they started uh Logan Ryan at at nickel cornerback in the Super Bowl a guy who was on a a Disney cruise in uh November of last year um and you know that that ended up being critical at times um so I think that they shorted that up uh the defensive line that that you know despite all of the the things that they've done at that spot in in the draft in free agency in trades it's still light and it still could come back to haunt this team but um you know I think that the offensive line is better because puny is better than the right guards that they've had at that spot um you know uh you know there are a few other places tight end uh I can't say if that's better or worse uh running back potentially could be a weakness if Christian mcaffrey ever gets hurt but these are all things that any team you know throughout the history of the NFL is going to have to deal with um I I think it's as good or perhaps better than last year's Squad fair enough hey Matt barrows thank you so much appreciate it man all right anytime guys talk to you soon yes sir that's Matt barrows and all guests on 957 the game up here on the River Islands guest line isn't it time for you to discover the islands River Islands in l through Matt barrows uh the athletic covers the San Francisco 49ers