Larry Krueger on Why He Dislikes Mike Evans Signing

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I think it's official by the way.

We have completely blown off fam out of buyers, 83 points.

We have the two stories.

The two stories have been the team USA disaster.

Last night, having Ron Votosal was great.

And the other is of course, the Max Crosby trade getting next.

And the effect it has all over the league,

including maybe the 49ers.

But shout out to BAM.

We'll get to you at some point score in 83, 83 points.

And guess what?

Third story of the day.

Guess what?

We're going to blow them off again.

Unless Larry Krueger has hot BAM out of bio take.

You'll listen to KNBR.

I am a KNBR FM service for these sports leader.

Who are you?

Who are you?

Who are you?

Who are you?

I'll give you a chance.

First of all, good morning, Krueger.

Good to see you on YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter.

I'll give you a chance to have a BAM out of bio take

just so we can give him some love or hate.

What do you think?

Well, I don't know.

I mean, I didn't see the flow of the thing.

But from what I heard, he kind of took over the game.

I don't know that it's up there in the,

in the Bill Russell, 100 points in Hershey P.A.

type performance.

But you know, he's an awesome player for sure.

I was actually coming.

My first thought was, hey, you know what?

My good friend Ned Coletti put together team Italy.

Yeah.

And you know, Ned's the guy who brought a lot of those

giant people together, Rags and Wotus.

And it was great to see them.

I'm very happy for Ned.

I'm sure he was thrilled for the upsell.

We just had you were preceded by Roy Ron Wotus on the air.

And he said, yeah, we're Coletti's collection.

We're Coletti's collection is what he said.

So I know that's your guys for a long, long time.

And so there was some red wine last night.

So with Ned and the boys and express all this morning.

All right.

Yes.

Said we got to get to the thing that was burning up the viral

airwaves yesterday that Larry Krueger is not high

on the 49ers signing Mike Evans.

We can get into it a little bit because I am high

on the signing, but Larry, you're our guest.

The floor is yours.

Well, it's not that I'm not high on it.

It's just that it's kind of like the warriors getting out

of the horror food, you know, it's like, OK, is Mike Evans

going to close the gap between what I saw and see?

I mean, I saw in Seattle.

And when I watched the all 22, the worst separation

I've ever seen from nine or receivers.

And now here comes an older player.

Now I know he was number two in the league in separation, blah, blah,

I saw that yesterday.

People are throwing that in my face.

But, you know, the highlight reel that I watched of him,

every catch he made was a contested catch.

Heck, I'm a big fan of Mike Evans.

I watched him back in college.

He's a tremendous player.

He's going to help them.

Overall, I was hoping for a younger guy.

I was hoping for a one-dale Robinson.

I was hoping for a Romeo dobs.

At the end of the day, though, it's a major win for the Niners

because it was money that they got back from paying a yuk.

And they didn't use all of it.

They used a portion of it to go get Mike Evans.

So, you know, knowing that what I yuk was going to be

coming off the knee injury, I got to think

that this is a more bang for their buck.

And also, it's going to be a very young room, right?

You're going to have cowing.

You're going to have walkins.

You're going to have maybe pier saw.

You're going to have maybe a draft pick.

And you need the culture in that room to be really, really good.

And I don't know that it's always been really good.

So I think it will be good with Evans.

I like it from that perspective.

I just didn't love it from the perspective of,

I think Mike Evans has already played his best football.

I'm really concerned about, I know he's coming here

to be the volume receiver.

But I kind of feel like if he gets the volume that he seeks,

he's going to play half the games.

Larry, not to go full, far, anxiety

and get too deep into the analytics.

But how do you view the difference

between the separation win rate versus the average

yardage of separation to be?

I don't.

I let other people have that to be.

But I will say this, there's separation.

You know how to get away from somebody

as far as you're a crafty route runner.

You're quick in and out of the breaks.

You sell it with head and shoulder fakes.

And then there's just separation.

I'm running a 4, 3, 3.

And I'm going to eat up your cushion and go right on by.

I think Mike Evans can create space in the short and intermediate.

I just don't think he has the ability

to run right by people like you did when he came out of A&M.

So and that was what we got used to seeing a little bit

for my you a couple years ago.

Now I don't know that we were going to get that version

of I you back.

So, you know, I'm really comparing him to a ghost.

I really like it.

He's a player.

He's a frickin' player and he's a great player.

And he has been a great player his entire career.

And other than last year when he broke a clavicle

and had a concussion on a weird kind of a freak play,

the prior year he had 74 catches for a thousand four yards,

which would be among the, if not the best

wide receiver production in the Kyle Shanahan era.

So I'm high and I'm liking it.

Larry, to me, it's Anquan Bolden.

Anquan Bolden came and again, it's not apples to apples.

They're different people.

But I see it as a similar impact.

And go look at Bolden's age 33 and 34 years as a 49er.

They're very productive.

So, will you buy that argument?

Yeah, I mean, I do, I do.

I think there's, you know,

I'm, you know, the KMBR digital team captured one answer

and we had a, you know, a far ranging

three hour discussion on this.

And so, you know, I'm kind of pigeonholed into,

you know, I didn't love it.

But I've just really preferred a younger player.

I mean, you know, I mean,

but I do understand the dynamic of their room this year, right?

You know, in the past, they maybe needed youth

to go with some of the veterans that they had.

Now you, all the veterans are gone.

So now you, you may need that one veteran

to balance out the room.

I mean, the one thing you can say for sure

about the wide receiver room, it's got a compliment.

You know, these guys got a compliment one another.

So you can't have five guys who are all go patterned guys

and you can't have five guys who are all gadget guys.

You got to have a mix.

And my guess is Debo's coming back.

I've said that a few times to you guys.

I think he'll be the short and intermediate gadget guy.

I think Evans will be the, you know,

the intermediate guy for the most party catches

the volume of the passes.

And I think that, you know, whatever the rest of the guys

are, Cowing, Watkins, Peer Saul, anybody they draft,

I think are going to be more of the deep routes in the group.

Larry, you mentioned Mike Evan's strongest attribute,

the ability to win the jump ball, the contested catches.

So how do you think that upgrades the 49ers offense,

specifically when it comes to red zone opportunities?

Well, you should be a really good red zone threat.

I mean, they're going to need him to be a great red zone

threat because they don't have Kittle.

I mean, it's going to put a lot of emphasis

on Brock Perty's accuracy because Mike Evans is the kind of guy

that you got to throw it to him even when he's covered, right?

Because he's, as you just said, I mean, he's like the three

flies up champ.

He's the guy that he high points the ball.

He wins at the catch point.

It's almost uncanny.

So, you know, that's the thing about Brock.

You know, to me, the most interesting part about this

is that Evans will chew on a quarterback.

I, we saw it when he was playing with Tom Brady's,

yelling at Tom Brady.

And Brock will chew on a receiver.

So I think it's going to be really interesting

to see these guys' relationship,

which I think is going to be spectacular.

But there may be some, there may be some yelling and screaming

in the early portion of their field work together.

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I want to make this interview about the digital guys.

We've all been at they'll clip, they'll clip,

and they'll go viral, and then you got to wear it.

We've all been there Larry, we've all been there.

Gotta get those numbies.

Yeah, you know what?

Loader's gonna loader.

You know, you gotta, you know, where's the context, man?

Where's the context?

It's the, I mean, I guess it's Ross and Fred.

You guys want to sit around up in that studio up there

and tell old KBR stories, it tells me this guy's got a few.

Oh man, Ross.

We were on a break, it's kind of the same context.

I said other things, said, Larry, I said more things

than that.

If we're going behind the scenes on Tony Sal's stories,

it tells me I've got a few of them.

Tell them good stuff, man.

Yeah, by the way, Krueger needs to be on the off air pod.

Oh, I'm guessing that's in the world.

Yeah, you get in and get loose on that.

Okay, listen, so we've, Mike Evans, Ground, Well Ploughed,

we've all established our takes on that.

Let's move on to the next move, which is, you know,

I don't even know if you want to comment on this,

because it's not super sexy at all,

but they've signed two offensive linemen.

Neither is sexy.

Vendory and Low is a backup swing tackle.

I don't know where you see his role.

Last night they signed again in Brett Tauth,

who's an interesting character.

He actually went to West Point.

It was an army officer, but then they changed the rules

about army officers coming back to the NFL.

And he's had a mildly productive career.

I checked in with my Eagles fan last night.

He goes, it's actually a pretty good interior linemen

center guard.

Do you see that as worth talking about at all?

Brett Tauth, Vendory and Low.

I don't see these as, you know, Trent Williams

level moves, obviously.

But what did you have a reaction to those?

Well, I mean, they really love Chris Fuster.

They think he's a great teacher of whole line play.

He's got a great reputation.

And I'm sure he likes these guys.

I mean, I'm sure, you know, the one thing about Tauth,

you know, he said he's, you know, he was at West Point.

He ran, you know, he's a great run blocker, right?

They got that triple option.

But he's very versatile.

He can play center.

He can play guard.

He can play tackle.

He can play the right side.

He can play the left side.

And he's mobile.

He's flexible.

He's a hustler.

He's a high character guy, you know, leader.

So they, you know, they, they're, I think they,

they got burned on the chase young, you know,

signing our trade where they brought him in

and he kind of cataloged it.

And I don't think they want to take any more.

And in the same with Devandre Campbell,

where he just came in and went south on him,

I think they only want to dabble in the best of the best

when it comes to character.

So I think you're going to, like if they go get a defensive

alignment, it's going to be guy with a really unbelievable

high motor that just plays with his hair on fire.

And Tauth is a, it was a college tackle

who's now playing inside.

He was a all-state tight end in the, in, in South Carolina

before he went to West Point, but he's really smart.

He's got 10 and quarter inch hands.

He's, he's considered to be a quality backup.

I think what they're looking for is they're not sure

what how the draft's going to fall.

So they're not sure if they're going to find that

left guard there.

So they want to give themselves some backup options at tackle

and some, you know, options at left guard.

And I think both low and Tauth kind of represent,

you know, guys that could be in the mix at left guard.

He's interesting.

I was on Eagles, like sort of Twitter and they were kind of

bummed to lose him.

I mean, it's not a sexy name, but hey, maybe a decent piece

for an interior line.

Yeah.

And Larry, we can't let you go without asking you about the

biggest story in the NFL right now.

The Max Crosby situation with the Baltimore Ravens backing

out of the trade.

And I guess my question to you would be to tie with the 49ers.

Does this drop the ask and price low enough to the point

where the 49ers get into the conversation to potentially

trade for a guy like Max Crosby?

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, they had two number ones.

I mean, first of all, Eric DeCosta is as respected as almost

any executive in the game, right?

He's a highly respected executive.

But this move is going to be scrutinized for a long, long time

because nobody's believing his excuse.

Everybody's believing that he saw the market pivot on

tray Hendrickson and that he found a way out of the Crosby

deal so he could save those number one.

So you got to remember the Ravens historically use their ones.

They don't trade them.

So they may have had some buyers remorse there.

So as far as the Niners, I got to think that the price tag

is still going to be, you know, a one and a two.

I can't imagine it would drop and do the Niners, you know,

the Niners of Max Crosby away.

And then Crosby is one of these guys that, you know,

I mean, you're a rater guy, he plays hurt, right?

And that's great.

But unfortunately, it sounds like he's hurt right now.

And that's going to make getting two number ones

from anybody really problematic.

I would say somebody else is going to jump in at a lesser price

than two number ones and it won't be the Niners.

So your prediction would be Raiders do eventually trade him?

Yes, yeah, because he doesn't want to be there anymore.

I think he's made that perfectly clear.

I think they'll they'll they'll wait to the smoke clears

and they'll get what they the best deal they can get.

My guess is it'll be like a one, a two and another pick.

Last one, any smoke to Drey Greenlaw possibly coming back?

I don't know. He's out there.

He's out there and, you know, you know, you know,

the Niners love him.

And I do think the door would be open if he wanted to come back

for a prove it, you know, low, you know, low dollar figure deal.

But he's probably still looking to get some kind of a bag.

And my guess is it's not going to be here.

Okay. Well, I would love to see him.

And I love you.

One of my all time favorites.

Oh, great guy.

He's an incredible dude too.

I mean, this guy is an amazing guy.

I've done some interviews with him.

Over the last few years where, you know, I'm looking for him.

I'm, and I'm, I say, great, Drey, you got a minute.

He's like, hey, man, I'm a, I got to take a shower.

I'll, and then all of a sudden, you know, I'm interviewing somebody else.

And he taps me on the shoulder.

Hey, man, I'm about ready to take off.

But I just want to let you know we can talk now if you want.

That's all you know what? That's all you need as a media guy.

That guy's gold. That guy's gold.

And for there's exactly, let me ask the last one on the way out, crew,

because you got, we got kids generally the same age.

Are your kids following World Baseball Classic at all?

Yeah. Yeah.

Are they? Because I had a skirmish last night at my home.

My kid came out saying Team USA's boring has no aura.

And he can't really get into him.

I was like, what are you? Are you kidding me?

What Paul schemes is boring?

He goes, yeah, he is.

I said, Aaron judges boring.

He goes, yeah, he is.

I, have you heard any of this from your kids at Team USA?

Doesn't have quote, aura?

No, but my, you know, my kid was giving me the, the catcher.

What's it? The dumper or whatever?

Wouldn't, yeah, the shake hand thing, wouldn't, wouldn't, wouldn't,

to dapp up his own teammate, Randy Erosarena.

He said, you know, so he was like, dad, the plan for keeps, you know, the plan for keeps.

So I like it.

I kind of wish that it wasn't in the preseason because it kind of changed, you know,

the flavor of baseball in March is very, you know, it's very cash.

And now here's this super intense, you know, nationalism, feelings and all that.

I think it would be cool if it was like maybe a little bit more of a prime time spot,

like in the summertime, but, you know, baseball's not going to do what the NHL did.

They're not going to shut down their league, you know, they're just not going to do it.

Well, save your text, buddy, because I think you're on in like 50 minutes.

So, uh, yeah, thanks for hopping on, Larry, be good.

All right, guys, have a good day.

Yeah, Larry, I just look Kruger's on at 10.

We better let him go.

He's going to go gargle.

Geez.

Why do we book him then?

I mean, I love having Larry on, but man, give him, give him some time off, John, John,

the Kruger leader here.

So anyway, all right, that was fun.

All right.

So we're doing cooler content next.

Are we doing at 930?

What do you guys think in terms of, uh, what's the plan here?

Cause, uh, let's do cooler, what sees the day, you're asking me to talk to me.

Talk to me.

Let's do it.

We can do it next.

Carpe Diem Tony.

Do you know that, buddy?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah.

All right, there you go.

Uh, we can do it at 930.

We're open.

It's going to be a longer break.

So is it going to be a longer cooler that we have a lot of stuff in the BAM stuff in

all of it?

We do have a long cooler.

Yeah.

Cooler at 930.

930.