Nick Harris on Osa Odighizuwa's Leadership & Mike Evans Says He's the 49ers' Missing Piece

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All right, Papa and Silver with JD.

We are looking to make the connection here with Nick Harris.

He does a great job covering the Cowboys

for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

So work on that.

And if we're unable to connect with him,

we can go right back to your texts and your calls.

I know we had a couple of calls come in that I told to call us

right back around 1130.

So stay tuned for all of that.

We are trying to get the latest Intel

on OSA Odiggizua,

a pronunciation that JD has got crisp right now.

And Danny Dunn is certainly not going to clip

for when Papa comes back.

And we go down our mount F up more as we deemed it with Walter

while we just wait to see if Nick's able to connect.

We did have some great ones in the past.

Have you ever heard the Barclay Jonas Valentinus

from a long time ago when he was a young player in the league?

Oh, Barclays got quite a few of them

through the years.

Yeah, I mean, I'm going way back here,

but the one that always gets me is Harry Carey

trying to Hedecki Arabu.

And that is, that is, I mean,

you were probably a baby at that point.

But yeah, that was, or at least a toddler at that point.

I think that was like, maybe 1997, 1998.

I have gone down the Harry Carey rabbit hole before, though.

And it's a blast.

One name that's not hard to pronounce, though.

That's Nick Harris who now joins us on the Uma Guest Line

covers the Cowboys for the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

And is on the scene with all the moving parts right now.

Thanks so much for joining us, Nick Greg Silver,

John Dickinson on K and B.R. flagship of the 49ers.

How's it going this week?

I do a fantastic.

Yeah, shout out to my mother, easy name.

Yeah, I mean, come on, got to keep it pretty simple here.

As we are going through all the pronunciations.

And Osa Ozigazua.

So my full-time co-host on the show, Greg Papa,

is currently dealing with some medical matters.

He's going to be great.

But we have this whole bit on the show where he's like

scared of pronouncing certain names.

And when you guys played, it was Cowboys'

Niners a couple of years ago.

And yet the special team are Amani Oruariye.

He's like, please, I just don't want to have to deal with it

in the booth.

And so anyway, that's all to say it is going to be his problem now

because the Niners did give up a third round pick to go

and get a defensive tackle.

I know Todd Archer was on our morning show.

And it really sounds like this just came down to

having a bit of a surplus here on the defensive line.

And with the trade of Micah Parsons last off season,

there were some changes with the team

where it just felt like this was a time to move off the books.

But what can you tell us about the type of player

that's going to be coming to the bay for this defensive line?

Yeah, I agree with most of those points for sure.

And the sense that he was counting over 20 million

towards the books in 2026.

And he looked at the three defensive tackles

that they have on the roster in Quentin Williams,

Kenny Clark, and at the time, most said the Yizua.

They were scheduled to count as 63.8 million

just those three toward the cap in 26.

So something had to be done.

And we had been talking to Jerry and Steven Jones

throughout the off season about, hey,

what are the options here in getting these numbers down.

And they had talked to Osa de Yizua's representation.

And Indianapolis during the combine.

And it laid out like, hey, you know,

a re-structure is probably coming here

so we can move these numbers around

and make it more palatable for the 2026 cap situation.

And then as these re-structures started to pass along,

Dak Prescott got one, CDLAM, Tyler Smith,

Kenny Clark ended up getting one.

And Osa de Yizua did not.

It was kind of reading the TV's as far as, okay,

Osa de Yizua could be an option here on the trade market.

And sure enough, heard earlier this week

that San Francisco had checked in.

It wasn't only Matt Eber Flues

that gave the co-sign on Osa de Yizua,

but apparently he more is a big fan of Osa de Yizua.

And so, you know, one he's going to bring the San Francisco.

First off, he's going to be a captain style guy

in that locker room.

He was a captain for the Cowboys last year.

A big time presence in the locker room for that squad.

And then on the field, he'll give you three tech.

He can play out some five tech versatility as well.

But this is the perfect conversation

about pressures versus sack numbers.

You look at his total sack numbers through five seasons,

17 and a half, they won't blow you away.

But if you look at the pressure numbers

and how he actually does affect the depth of the pocket,

that front depth of the pocket, he is super impactful

among all NFL interior defensive linemen last year.

He was second and quarterback pressures.

And so, definitely going to be a piece

for the San Francisco interior defensive line,

young interior defensive line,

that I think will really be able to help benefit guys

like Alfred Collins and CJ West.

Nick, as you look at his, is he a three down player?

How is he best, best used?

And how did the Cowboys like to use him

to maximize his talents?

Yeah, he was a three down player for Dallas.

There were times where he would sub out on run downs just

because he is more of the undersized defensive tackle,

if you will, and his abilities are probably best

maximize during pass rush.

But he does have run game ability

and he's able to move in the run game as well.

But I think you're going to see him

on passing downs more often than not.

Talking to Nick Harris here on the Uma Guest Line,

getting to know the newest 49er, Osa Odigizua.

We talked to Jenna Lane of ESPN yesterday

who does a great job covering the Buccaneers

and she raved about the character of Mike Evans

of what he meant to the community.

I know that Odigizua, someone who has taken less money

to stay in Dallas before, obviously the emotional loss

of Marsha Nieland in the middle of the season.

He was a proud representative of honoring that legacy

with what, you know, the tragedy that struck over the team

in the middle of having to play a bunch of football games.

What was it like to cover him during his time in Dallas?

Yeah, stand up human and he was always, you know,

willing to talk after a win or after a loss.

And, you know, it's really insightful.

He's a smart player.

So he understands, you know, why things go right

or why they go wrong.

Fans will come to love this guy.

I mean, he doesn't have a huge personality

with a personality.

He does show.

He's a funny guy.

He's a big anime fan.

So if there's any anime fans and you run into Odigizua

on the street, he'll talk anime with you all day.

But just a really personable dude, Humble,

comes from Humble beginnings as well.

And, you know, he carries his family with him.

His mom and his brother, there are more often

than not by his side.

He wrote, I saw a tweet of yours about just the impact

of his leadership and the way he conducted himself

after the tragedy surrounding Marshawn, Neeland.

And that obviously was a huge and sad thing

throughout the NFL and specifically with the Cowboys.

How did he, in some ways, become kind of a spokesman

and a leader for just such a horrific loss?

Yeah, they needed guys in that locker room

that could just kind of pick up the pieces.

And he was an easy one.

He was able to do that and really galvanize

that defensive line room.

And for the rest of the season, they,

whenever the team ran out of the tunnel onto the field

to start the game, he would be carrying a big number 94 flag.

And he was, you know, very open about, you know,

the emotions that he dealt with that the team was dealing with.

You know, that was the unfortunate part, I think,

from our perspective as the media is like,

okay, man, this is a huge story.

But at the same time, it's really tough.

And human beings lives, you know, have been affected by this.

And so, you know, it was tough to be able

to go in that locker room and be like, hey, what are you feeling?

But also the easy one was right there and willing to do so.

And I really respected that.

And he didn't have to do that for me to respect him, you know?

And I think at the end of the day,

when you look back at that situation,

I think it was the perfect microcosm

of kind of the locker room impact that he had while in Dallas.

Well, he may have been more of a quiet reserved guy

when he first walked in.

By the time he walked out, you know,

he was respected by everyone in that locker room

and he was willing to speak on their behalf.

Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star Telegram,

the voice you hear with us on the Uma Guest Line

on Papa and Silver,

Nick, how far did the Max Crosby talks get between Dallas

and Las Vegas?

Because I know with that whole situation

and then think he was going to Baltimore

and then they backed out of it.

James later reported pretty quickly

that Dallas had just decided to move on.

So I don't know if it ever felt that close to begin with,

but I see that they're just moving forward now

with Rashon Gary.

Yeah, Dallas was certainly involved in those talks,

but an official offer was never made

with Oatsa Digi-Zoo's name thrown in that mix it was

and there was conversations being had

between Vegas and Dallas,

but it was more so about what parameters

of a deal could look like.

And Vegas understood that Dallas wasn't going to be willing

to part with Rashon picks

and that was the big determining factor there.

And Dallas was like, hey, we're not going to do it.

Go see if you can find it if you can't, we'll be here.

And it turns out that they did.

And so whenever the trade got a nod

and the Ravens backed out on it,

I think the really important context was

that the Ravens consulted the Cowboys team

physician, Dr. Dan Cooper, on his knee evaluation

and his MRIs.

And so whether the Cowboys had an inside look

at what that knee actually looked like to be able to say,

hey, we probably won't get back into those trading

conversations or if it was just as simple as like,

hey, we've moved on because Rashon Gary's going

to count 18 million toward the cap this year

and we've already brought on Jalen Thompson.

He'll probably count 11 million dollars.

And so things of that sort,

that's what made the timing really unfortunate

for both Vegas and Baltimore is that, you know,

money was already being spent around the league

and what is it four days in between the trade being accepted

and then an old.

As you look at just kind of a general Cowboys overall

question, they finished seven, nine and one.

We're always trying to keep tabs on teams

that potentially could be improving

and coming for that nine or playoff spot

that they got back in 2025.

How close or far away do the Cowboys

believe they are from being a legitimate playoff team again

if not a contender?

Because at times they looked really good last year,

at times obviously that defense was pretty atrocious.

Yeah, and that's going to be the biggest

underneath factor, right?

Is that defense?

And however they recall that defense

will tell the story of how successful or unsuccessful

the Dallas Cowboys are in 2026.

They tire new defensive coordinator, Christian Barker.

They feel really good about his philosophy, his ideologies

and not only scheme and putting guys

in the best position to succeed,

but specifically right now when it comes to roster construction

and putting all the pieces in place

because man, Christian Barker, he basically bought a house

that is completely destroyed, it's infested with termites.

He might have like a really good marble countertop.

That's point Williams and Demardy and Overshow and Kenny Clark.

But he might, and this is part of it.

Oh, so did you do, it was part of that marble countertop too,

but there was mold underneath that countertop.

He's gonna have to rip that countertop off too

and build it up how he sees fit.

It's gonna be a long process for him,

but if they do it right and they do it the right way,

they really just need an average defense

to get into the playoffs

because that offense was so good a year ago.

I'd be curious to see what this defense looks like

in week one versus today.

Yeah, Nick, I was gonna get into a very similar discussion

with the question I had for you.

JD kind of laid out some of it,

but I was curious about the conversation

around the NFC East from a Dallas standpoint

because the NFC East to me really is the wild card division

heading in the next year.

And I mean that in the literal sense,

I think you can count on probably two teams

from the NFC North definitely with the NFC West

were thinking at least two if they can all stay healthy

and stay on track.

But if the NFC East, whether it's Washington,

whether it's Dallas, whether it's the trendy pick

of the giants being the Patriots of 2026,

getting back into the mix.

If they can take up one of those playoffs spots,

that could be trouble for competitive teams within

any of those divisions where it's like, wait a minute,

maybe there's not space for three in a division

like there was the last couple of years.

Yeah, if you're ever trying to guess

what the NFC East divisional order will look like

at the end of the season,

I think you have better luck just spending a wheel

and throwing guards than you would actually

putting sod into it because that is the NFC East every year.

You never really know who's gonna end up with it.

I mean, the Eagles were the first repeat champion

to the division in the last 20 plus years this last season.

In a nutshell, that is how much parity

that this division does have.

But yeah, you're seeing teams around them

improve Washington while they are adding talent.

I, it looks like it's at the sacrifice of some age.

It looks like they're picking up some aging players.

I'm curious to see, you know,

what they're trying to do to maximize

Jaden Daniel's window.

I think the giants have a window now with Jackson Dart.

He looked really good in his rookie year.

I want to see how they maximize that.

And then with the Eagles, you know,

how are they able to keep their pieces in place?

And if they do move on from AJ Brown,

what do they get in return?

There's going to be a lot of moving parts

with all three of those teams.

No, that last one for you, Nick.

Has there been any noise around George Pickens?

I know that Steven Jones said we want him here for a long time.

They use the tag on him.

There were rumors out there that maybe it would be a tag

and trade kind of situation.

Is there any new developments on the pickens front?

It sounds like the Cowboys have no intentions

at all of moving him.

And that's as of last week.

And that continues to be what we hear out of,

you know, from behind the scenes and the Dallas

for an office about how they view George Pickens.

It's going to take time to figure out this contract situation

and to be completely honest guys.

I'm not sure it does.

If you had to ask me right now,

I think he ends up playing on the tag in 2026.

And then we have the same exact discussion next off season.

But as of right now, the Cowboys have no plans

of moving him.

They want to have part of their future.

Well, thanks so much for coming by with us.

Not only the easy name, but a lot of great answers

and giving us material to sort through

for the rest of the show.

So you should give him a follow Nick Harris

of the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

And you can do so at Nick Harris FWST.

Thanks so much and we'll connect some point down the line.

Yeah, I really appreciate it, fellas.

Y'all have a good one.

Absolutely.

Nick Harris of the Fort Worth Star Telegram

does a great job covering the Cowboys.

And again, had a pretty early lead on the fact that

Osa or Diggy Zua might be a trade candidate

for the San Francisco 49ers.

All right, so he's a big anime fan.

He can give you that front depth of the pocket.

He was second and quarterback pressures.

And interestingly, it wasn't just the Eber Fluce Connection,

JD Rahim Morris also advocated to go and bring in this player.

And it also sounds like he's just a hell of a human being

and a hell of a leader and somebody that's really going

to be a great cultural fit in the 49ers locker room

in addition to, and I know fans are maybe less concerned

about this, although it makes a player easier to get to know.

It sounds like he's a great interview, as well,

for those that are going to be around the team

and covering the team and in that locker room

on a weekend, week out basis or day and day out basis.

So, I mean, top notch, it seems like the Niners

are getting a good one by all accounts, both in terms

of the player at a position of need.

But somebody, and we know the 49ers

are always uber focused on getting quality people

to add to that locker room.

And so it seems in many ways.

Yes, they gave up a third round pick.

Yes, he is a relatively expensive player,

but it sounds like the 49ers are getting a good one here.

Well, and look, let's be fair.

You always want high character players.

And it doesn't mean that those who have had their fair share

of off the field issues or have been involved

in not ideal situations, doesn't mean

that they can't be productive in the NFL.

We've seen this all the time.

But with the unpredictability, say,

in what they're dealing with right now

of trying to figure out what to do with Brandon.

I you can when to release him.

You would like the security of knowing that this is a guy

who's not only played 87 of 88 games,

but to be a valued leader in a locker room with again,

a lot of young players in that position group too,

I think is a big plus.

And it's not everything, but it's an added bonus

that I don't take as nothing.

No, yeah, you definitely can't take anything.

So good stuff there from our guy Nick Harris

and again, we'll see if the 49ers make

Osa Odigizua available today.

Mike Evans had his introductory zoom here

within the last hour.

We'll try to get some cuts to play.

He had a pretty good quote or two

from what I've read here early on.

So we'll try to get some audio from that coming up here

as well on these sports leaders.

We also had a couple of you wanting to join us

on the phone lines at 415 808 5627

timed up with a lot of you.

So light them up right now.

This is your chance to go back.

KBR, let's go 808 KBR.

You know the drill.

We'll take some calls, read some texts

and continue this discussion when we come on back

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can feel overwhelming, but you can count on real doctors,

real nurses, real people, providing quality

around the clock care when you need it most.

They're in your corner.

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your lifelines, right beside you,

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1-8-Hound Regambler.

It is Papa and Silver.

We got JD hanging out with us and we got some good news for you.

The audio from Mike Evans speaking to reporters is pretty crisp.

So we're going to play that for you coming up before the end of the hour.

And the great part is with any of these shows, you can listen to the whole thing.

We got the hours on podcast form.

We've got the rewind feature on YouTube and Twitch.

We're going to have individual cuts JD.

I don't know about everybody all the time,

but I'll say that me, you Walter Curly,

young tone back there in the studio.

We got you covered on this Thursday.

It's going to be good.

Yeah, we got you covered.

We're excited.

And yeah, you'll hear from Mike Evans coming up here at 1150 on these sports leader.

And we'll see as the signings come in,

maybe we'll also get a chance to hear from OSA.

Oh, Dick Azua.

A Dick Azua.

Oh, I messed it up.

Anyway, I thought I had it.

I've been almost, I mean, I've hit it four or five times already,

but then I then I with you know, this isn't like a wonder one analogy,

but you know how they say if you're in the forest and you're with a bunch of people

and you're running from a bear, you don't have to win.

You just can't be last.

I feel like the way I view it in terms of pronunciation.

That wasn't a bad enough with JD to be something that we can like clip and laugh at.

Like you got to be so far off.

No, you're right.

Yeah, I think you're fine.

You're totally covered.

That shouldn't happen.

No, I think we're beyond that point.

I think it, look, this is one, believe it or not, that I, some, it looked,

some that you wouldn't, I don't think it's really that difficult, honestly,

but it's just, you know, sometimes you spell something out phonetically.

And I think it's, that's what's gotten into my head is the phonetics.

I might need to just get rid of spelling it phonetically.

Sometimes that will mess with some of the, you know, the emphasis on certain points.

And so I think, oh, sir, oh, diggy, Zua, like, I just don't, like, don't, I didn't look

at my phonetic.

I just looked at the, I just looked at the actual name and the actual spelling.

I think that there's, there's a, I brain component to, to, to just verbal, just saying it

and just having some confidence in it.

Yeah.

I mean, it is one of those things that I'm writing it out right now.

I was going to tweet out one of the quotes from Nick Harris.

And it's one of those, you can really confuse yourself if you just look at the spelling,

but if you really just sound it out, not too bad at all.

So, you know, it's not like Jonas Valenciano Unis or whatever Barclay called him or Asmuga

Namdi for Namdi, Asamua, Paul Tagli, Boo, May he rest in peace.

We could go up and down the list as a recurring elements of the show.

But selection into 2003 NFL draft, the Oakland Raiders select Asmuga Namdi.

What do you say?

Precisely.

Right.

By the way, so we were going through what were the worst mess-ups and I think we did settle

on that one in the end because we're like, you're the commissioner of the NFL.

It's a draft.

Let's say there's a pool of like 50 players are going to be selected on day one.

I mean, it's not that many names that you got to figure out, you got to get right.

And if you went Namdi, Asmuga, be like, okay, that's not great, but you flipped the first

in last name.

It's like, buddy, what are we doing here?

Yeah.

Well, that clearly was either it was written wrong on the card or he read it back or you

know, you'll have like last name, comma, first name.

Right.

And so maybe there was that format.

Again, I don't want to get to in the weeds on this, but I think that may have been improperly

written on the card that he had to read anyway.

Anyway.

RIP.

Yeah, I know.

Hey, look, it was somebody's fault somewhere and created some great content for us to perpetuate

throughout these shows.

And so Osa, oh, Diggazooa is the proper name that is the proper player that is coming

here to the Bay Area.

And again, the note I liked from Nick Harris was that I wasn't just Matt Eberfluss in

that obvious Dallas connection, but Rahim Morris was also advocating for bringing this

player here to hit to the Bay because when I, when Rahim Morris came over and a earlier

Texter brought up the secondary and what they need to do in free agency, I've said

from day one, the secondary is the unit that's going to be the biggest challenge and probably

the most important for Rahim Morris to figure out.

It's a lot of young players.

It's a lot more unproven talent.

And that's one where you don't really look at and say there's an obvious key player coming

back into that unit.

You don't have a Fred Warner coming back for the secondary.

You don't have a Nick Bosa or a Michael Williams.

So it's not just the secondary now, but it's also he's really looking at the defensive line

and what type of scheme he's going to want to run on the interior.

And the fact that this has been a solid player who again, we'll say it over and over,

but 87 out of 88 games for a team that says old as they are and for a team that's been

as injured as they are, that's definitely not nothing.

And I would argue that's a big something.

Now it's a big something to be sure.

I mean, again, the question came in earlier, have the 49ers improved.

And I think the answer is is absolutely yes.

Now we'll get into coming up after we play the Mike Evans audio in the back half of

the show here into those areas at which the 49ers still need to improve if they want to

set themselves up to be contenders coming off of the 12 and 5 season and the springboard.

And so I think it'll work to be done, but they still have a bunch of draft picks coming

up.

The first rounder at 27, the second rounder at 58.

And then their own fourth rounder at 127 plus the three compensatory picks in the fourth

round.

133, 138, 139.

And of course, I think you would think that the Niners would probably look to maybe trade

a pick or a couple of those picks to acquire more picks.

You know, fit the six, the six, the sevenths and get opportunities to continue to try and

add depth.

And in areas of the draft where the 49ers have proven to be a lot, a lot more fruitful over

the Shanahan Lynch era.

All right.

808 can be our is your number where you get some calls that are coming in and out.

I know we had a couple who wanted to speak around when Nick Harris was here.

If you missed us, we're going to be around all the way up until two o'clock.

And when we come on back, we do have the audio for you.

It's about eight minutes.

It's Mike Evans and had a lot of really good quotes that are already circulating around

social media.

So I want to play that for you.

And then we're going to do a lot of reaction to it as well.

Papa and silver with JD and you'll hear from newest 49er Mike Evans when we come on

back on the sports leader.

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Oh, you know who's feeling supersonic Mike Evans coming to the bay.

We're going to play you that full audio in just a bit.

You said we're going to go at noon.

Okay.

We're going to do this at noon.

Got you.

We got Walt and young Tony and Curly and yours truly everyone just scrambling back here

a little bit as we're getting ready to play the whole thing because we want to give you

the good product.

Right?

We don't want choppy.

We don't want bad audio.

We want you to be able to hear it.

And we want you to be able to enjoy it.

But while the focus of the day has been a lot on Osa, Ozyg Azua.

Now we know that Mike Evans is officially a 49er in this matters because we've seen

deals fall short and whether it's someone like a Max Crosby or an Eric Kendrick's.

It can be something that falls by the way side.

But Mike Evans clearly wants to be here.

He wants to be a 49er and he had a couple eye opening comments about really wanting to

come to this organization.

You know, we talked to Jenna Lane about it yesterday and it's crazy.

When the Niners went to Tampa Bay and played the Bucks, that was right up there with worst

days of the season.

JD, normally you and I are both pretty locked in to 49er games.

And I think Papa was back and we had done the show after that one together or maybe he

wasn't.

I think we might have had a show together that week.

But we're as tough as we we did, right?

We did the show after the Tampa game from I was in Tampa.

I remember that.

That's right.

We did the Monday after the Tampa game together.

Yeah.

Right.

And normally Mondays during the football season, it's so easy because you know exactly what

you're going to talk about and you pay attention to the game and there's so much to unpack

in a four hour span.

But watching that whole game just felt so strange because when Fred Warner went down like

the energy of everything and you were there in the building and saw how quiet it got on

the road, it was like, wait, for all that's happened with the 49ers, we never watched

them play without Fred Warner minus one single start in his career.

Even when he said a fractured ankle, he played through it last year.

And so at that time, it's thinking like the 49ers season might be over and we don't

know what's going to happen after they missed the playoffs the previous year.

Tampa Bay meanwhile, they were five and one Baker Mayfield looked like an MVP, even with

a mecca, a book a hurt Mike Evans hurt for that game.

You're thinking, wow, this could very well be on the short list of NFC contenders.

And then you fast forward to how it all ended.

And the 49ers shocked us in the way of winning 13 games with all that they lost and then

beating the defending champions on the road and the wild card around and Tampa Bay shocked

us with how poorly that thing collapsed to the point where when all was said and done

and free agency came around the corner, Mike Evans was like, no, you know what?

I want to go to the Bay area because that gives me a better chance of winning than the

situation I have here.

That would have seemed completely foreign back when these two teams last faced in October.

Yeah, without a doubt.

When you look at it, they were five and one at that point after that win, Tampa.

And I go back to the last two years that the 49ers played in Tampa because it was a

crisscross both times.

I remember in 2024 being there and the 49ers got the overtime win in Tampa and you're

thinking, wow, this could be potentially a major lift for a team.

I think they were five and four at that point.

In Tampa, I thought was broken and down and just devastated at, I just remember them

walking off the field, the Buccaneers in 2024 and it was a complete flip in 2025.

The Niners walking off the field, having laid it all out there, knowing that Fred Warner

was going to be done for the season and it went the opposite direction.

In 24, the Niners, you felt like we're going to be able to use that to, you know, have

them, you know, finish the season strong.

They won one more game between then in the end of the year and Tampa was able to get

it together to a point where, you know, they ended up, you know, making the playoffs

as well before they ultimately got beat.

And then last year it was the opposite.

You had Tampa riding high, five and one, the 49ers kind of broken and down and it flipped

the Niners were able to gather themselves.

So both these teams, I think, have similar or have proven to have similar DNA in terms

of the ability to withstand adversity.

So I think it's interesting, though, to look at Mike Evans, given the fact that, and

players always know, like players who have won Super Bowls and Mike Evans comes in as

somebody that's won one, going back to the 2020 season, guys who know, because they've

seen it, know when a team doesn't have it.

And so I do think it's a statement to Mike Evans saying, hey, we had something a few

years ago that's gone now and I want to get another ring.

I, after going up against this team, the last couple of years and the Niners and Bucks

have played a lot, even beyond the last two years in Mike Evans career, I like what they

do.

I've seen them get to the top of the mountain or close to it, but not all the way over

the top.

I think the way they operate is something that I want to be a part of.

So I think that truly is coming from somebody who's done it and played through it and

gotten to the top and won.

I think it's actually more meaningful to have a player like that look around at a team

that hasn't been able to get over the hump and believe that he can be that final piece.

He also chose to go from while we were on the division talk with Nick Harris.

He chose to go from the NFC South to the NFC West.

Now the league is very fragile and volatile.

So whatever you saw this year isn't necessarily going to be the case going into this next

year.

But think about that gap between those two divisions at the end of the regular season.

It was ridiculous.

I mean, the 49ers were head and shoulders above the best team in the NFC South.

That ended up being Carolina as far as the standings go and the playoffs.

But look at that division and tell me you don't think it's winnable.

Even if you don't think Tampa is that stronger but team.

New Orleans certainly ended the season on the right foot with Tyler Schuck showing some

strong play in Kellen Moore in year one.

And maybe they continue to make some strides Atlanta ended the season playing really good

football.

But then they made a bunch of changes got rid of their coach and now we don't know which

left he is going to be throwing the ball between Michael Pentax Jr often injured and

two often injured.

And then you've got Carolina who sure are build something and you like the weapons they

have on the outside between a team back and and cocker and they did pick up some good

players on the defensive side between Jalen Phillips and Devon Lloyd.

But Tampa Bay.

It's not a stretch at all to think that they can go and take this division to go and join

the 49ers in the NFC West.

Yeah, that absolutely is a boost for them.

But you also got the Super Bowl champions and you got the team that everyone sees as the

true runners up with the NFC championship game and the LA Rams.

Oh, and by the way, they're going for it pretty hard to right now.

So I think that speaks volumes to where Mike Evans views the 49ers and how quickly they

can get right back in the mix for competitiveness.

Yeah.

And you know, he saw again firsthand those teams as well with Tampa getting eviscerated

by by the Rams and obviously they were one of the teams that beat Seattle last year up

in Seattle early on in the season along with the 49ers before the Seahawks got on that

run.

Again, the greats and we've seen this through the years with the Warriors, you know, and

I think at times it's been like when you when you know what it takes to win a title, you

equally know what it takes when the team doesn't have a shot to win a title.

And I think at times that's maybe led to the the Warriors not always pushing to be the

best version of themselves with some lesser teams.

But the players individually who are a part of teams that are able to get over the hump,

they know what it takes.

And I do think their judgment as to, you know, how close or far a team may be away from

from a far is one that I would tend to trust a little bit more.

And then there's also the element because we have a comment in the YouTube chat where

it says, well, you're not winning anything with Todd bulls as your coach, unfortunately.

But bulls aside, it does show how important this season was for Kyle Shanahan because we've

seen the overly injured 49ers teams where it all just crumbles upon them after a run of

the Super Bowl.

And then they go six and 11 and they don't make the playoffs.

But nobody's looking at it as an indictment on Kyle Shanahan, but then take the difference

for what he saw this year.

And the fact that he was right up there for coach of the year when we had guys like Jeffrey

Chidea on our airwaves thing that he voted for him for coach of the year, I think that

also speaks to going and joining someone and just kind of furthering the proof in the

belief of where Kyle Shanahan stacks among coaches in the NFL.

Yes, he has not won the big one.

Yes, you can be frustrated with how some of these fourth quarters have gone.

And yeah, you can point to the fact that his teams, when they've won, they've often been

more front runners than having to come from behind.

I'm not arguing the facts in this case, but it's also a pretty well known opinion by

this point that, okay, it's Kyle Shanahan, the singular coach that you would want in

the entirety of the NFL.

If you were starting a franchise today, I don't know.

That's a question for a debate.

Is he a top five option?

Yeah, I think that's pretty clear now.

Well, and yeah, to that point, I mean, for Mike Evans to say, hey, I want to go there.

It gets back into the discussion that we were having with with Jenna Lane about, you

know, Mike being an older player and a player that sees the way the 49ers operate in particular

offensively.

It shows to me a belief that coming to the 49ers and coming to Kyle Shanahan's system

is going to make Mike Evans look like the best version of his 32, 33 year old self.

And it also is another statement to the belief that he has in Brock Purdy as somebody that's

faced Tampa a bunch of times here through through the years.

If if Mike Evans didn't think Brock Purdy, what was capable of being a super bowl winning

quarterback, then I don't think Mike Evans winds up signing with the 49ers when you look

at what was the money quote from him in this in this zoom media availability that we're

going to play the audio from here coming up shortly.

Yeah, you're going to hear all about that right now because enough of us yapping and us

prognosticating about what the season might be and trying to extrapolate on what it all

means for Mike Evans.

Look, let's hear from the source himself.

Great work behind the scenes from Walt from Curly from young Tony to get this together.

You are listening to KNB R and KNB FM San Francisco these sports leader a cumulus media

station.

And let's go out and hear from your newest San Francisco 49er Mike Evans.

Hi, welcome to Santa Clara San Francisco.

My question is, it seemed like a lot of people around the league thought that you would stick

to Tampa Bay, just given how many years you played there, how successful you were there.

Can you tell us about your decision to leave Tampa Bay and why the 49ers made sense?

It was always going to be hard to lead Tampa, and I was there 12 years, a lot of friends

out there, my family has friends out there, my kids built a life there, my wife.

But football wise, this was the best spot for me, for sure.

And I've always appreciated how the Niners went about their business on the football field.

And I got some guys here that have always told me great things about this organization.

And I've always loved the way Kyle calls the games.

Mike, this is Matt Melco from NBC Sports Bay Area.

I would assume you had a Zoom call or a video call with the 49ers on Mondays.

Would that be correct?

On Monday?

What's today?

Today is Thursday, no Friday, no Thursday, Thursday, no, we talked, yeah, we talked Monday.

Okay.

So during that call, what was impressed to you about the specifics of how your playstyle

would fit into this offense?

Actually, well, first off, I did my research on a lot of teams that I was looking at.

I was looking at, you know, contenders, guys with good quarterbacks, obviously.

So I was looking at here, Buffalo Bills, you know, teams that needed a number one row

receiver.

But when I got on, I like this place, this is my number one spot on my own.

And then I talked to John and Kyle and it's solidified it for me.

So I've always been a fan of Kyle, like I said previously.

And he just talked about how he sees me in this offense and it just made me even happier.

And there was a no brainer really after I got on the phone with him.

Hey, Mike Nick Wagner from ESPN here.

You mentioned that this from a football standpoint, this was the place that mattered the most

of you are fit the best for you.

Can you just expound on that?

What specifically you mean from a football standpoint?

Why this was the right landing spot?

A team that always, they always compete, even with the injuries last year.

I think they went 13 and 4.

I mean, I feel like they were one piece away.

And I think that I'm that piece and I look forward to coming here and improving that.

Hey Mike, your agent had come out in his statement when the report came out saying that this

was not about money for you.

At this stage in your career, what went into that criteria and make, like guess, not prioritizing

that for you right now?

Yeah.

I mean, I love money, obviously, like everybody else, but, you know, that's true.

The money was not the biggest factor for me.

Like I said, it was this football and something that I can be excited about.

I'm super excited every time I come to leave my stadium and I see how the crowd is and

I see the energy energy that they bring and the rich history of the San Francisco 49ers

it just excites me.

So I feel like it's giving me a second win in my career.

And that's why I chose to come in.

Hey Mike, this is a Cam in the middle of the San Jose Mercury News Bay Area news group.

You say you talk to, um, talk to Kyle and John, did you talk to some other veteran players

to try to recruit you in here and what kind of relationship, um, are you going to try

to, or maybe even reach out to Brock Pertia?

I'll talk to most of the guys already on the team.

Um, great, great players, great dudes.

I knew, I knew a lot of them from pro balls and just, you know, seeing them around the

league after games and things like that.

But George's was the biggest salesman.

I mean, George sold it big time.

And he's a, he's a big reason why I'm here just because the type of player and teammate

that he is.

Mike, you mentioned how when you got the, the zone calls, I know, hey, Mike, I'm

Jennifer Lee Channa, NBC sports Bay Area.

You mentioned how important a quarterback is to you.

What have you seen from Brock Pertia?

How do you plan to build a rapport with him during the off season?

Uh, he's true, true professional, really, really underrated player.

He's first started was against my, my book in years back in 2022.

And I saw right then and there that if I play with him, I can, I feel like I can help

him out a lot.

And, you know, he's already a really good player.

I just, I hope I can help him get to where he wants to go in his career.

And that's, you know, be a Super Bowl champion, you know, potential MVP and just have a

great career here in San Francisco.

We'll take these last two with Eric and Tracy.

Hey, Mike, sorry, my computer's all jacked up, but you are known as an anti-Deva wide receiver.

I just wondering, like, did you ever get like, I don't know, in Pop 100, did you throw

a tantrum or, you know, I'm not getting the ball?

Or is that just part of your upbringing or do you not agree with that?

I mean, do you have debit tendencies?

Well, I will say I do understand when receivers throw tantrums and do that because there, everything

that we do, like, we're relying on somebody else.

So if we got shut down or we have a bad game, like, you know, I mean, the quarterback or

the old line, like, it's easy to kind of throw a blame.

I've never been that type of guy or player, but I kind of understand like some receivers,

you know, their livelihood and their reputation is on the line.

So, you know, I get it, but I've thrown tantrums before for sure.

Like, y'all have seen it.

It's more of a night getting the ball, just not winning, it kind of, or officials.

So that was a lot earlier in my career, things I've had to deal with, but I've matured a

lot since then.

Hi, Mike Tracy, SanLearn, Fan Girl Sports Network.

You mentioned that with all the injuries last year, the team still competed, you talked

about George.

What do you know generally about this locker room and kind of the tight Nick group they

are that help lead to success on the field, even with everything they went through?

I mean, it just seems like the culture is great here from afar.

Like I said, I know some of the guys, but I'm not in that locker room, but you can see

the product on the field, the way that they play, gaming, game out, no matter who's in

the game, guy stepping up.

You can tell us the culture in the locker room.

That's the only way that you get that type of success.

So I look forward to even adding to that with my veteran presence and leadership.

All right, Nick, we'll squeeze that last one in, go ahead.

Yeah, Mike, you obviously had success for so long, so many consecutive years.

I'm sure last year was frustrating for you in a lot of ways, not that you have anything

to prove to anybody, but is there a little extra fuel on the fire just coming off of the

year that you had last year and being where you are at in your career right now?

Absolutely.

I always feel like I got to prove something.

I always feel like I can be better.

And I want to show that I'm still, you know, who people believe that I am.

And that's one of the best to ever do it.

All right.

Thank you guys.

Thanks, Mike.

Thank you all.

I'll see you all later.

That is a very, very locked in, Mike Evans, and we will recap some of this audio coming

up in just a bit.

A lot of good quotes from your newest 49er in his Greg Silver, John Dickinson, Walter

Eka Balsetta, shout out to the morning boys for working overtime behind the scenes.

JD.

Lots to get into.

We'll do that next on the sports leader.