- 9 hours ago
Bucky Brooks of NFL Network joins Willard and Dibs to preview the 2026 49ers season.
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00:00what's the most impressive thing on this list um former player okay former scout yeah analyst
00:08nfl media fox sports fox sports radio head coach granada hills what's the most impressive thing
00:18you left out the single most impressive thing handsome bald guy i mean i don't know i don't know
00:27why that hits you so much because i aspire to be that like he is bald he's as bald as
00:33i am
00:34and he's handsome i hope to someday be a handsome bald guy in hpg there we go someday um yep
00:41river
00:42island's guest line it's it's bucky brooks what do you what do you think about his chances bucky
00:47look man
00:50he's a former scout yeah former scout you got a chance we can do this bucky you will remember
00:57this last year round this time we're sitting here with you we're breaking down the nfc west
01:04and we went back to this later in the year you wouldn't even know this it wasn't news that you
01:09picked the rams to win the division what was interesting to us was the tone that you used
01:15you were like oh the rams like duh now now first and foremost you were wrong uh they they did
01:24not
01:24win win the division but um i thought it'd be fun to get the exact same answer again this year
01:32yeah they should have won the division i mean i i hear you they're one they're 100 went into
01:38division this year oh damn you leaned in for that one man i saw how close you got to the
01:43camera for
01:44that one i mean i don't i don't i don't know if you you read the transactions but aaron donald
01:51had
01:51another workout at the facility uh he's just primed and ready to reappear and show up for them and so
01:57then you have to deal with the prospect of i mean you know they do down here in la like
02:01if you're
02:02gonna build a championship team in la it's about the stars you look no further than the dodges and
02:06how the dodges have constructed it when the dodges win they win with star power the la rams are
02:10certainly following the blueprint you think about miles gary coming over they get trent mcduffie
02:15they get jaylon watkins they already have matthew staff and then puka naku on the offensive side
02:18star power is everything to la and if they get aaron donald to go with the reigning defensive player
02:25of the year uh you can write the ticket that they're going to win the division and maybe more
02:30and what's the weakness then i mean is the puka naku thing still unresolved or beyond that like
02:35what do you see from the rams that makes them a little bit vulnerable well i mean look injury is
02:40always a big part of it and an injury to the quarterback an injury to one of those notable
02:44players certainly can help hurt them this is a team that typically builds their rosters where
02:48they're very very top heavy because if you're going to kind of live in the land of stars you're
02:53not going to be able to uh fortify all areas of their roster what they do to supplement that is
02:58they're unafraid to play young players and you'll notice that they'll play late round picks they'll
03:04play undrafted guys in prominent spots but they lean into their stars and they're going to rely
03:09heavily on their stars to do it so an injury obviously would be detrimental to matthew stafford
03:15or anything like that but outside of that if it comes down to playing ball and they have the majority
03:20of their guys healthy and ready to play it's going to be hard to beat the rams yeah we all
03:23know there's
03:23only one team out there that can withstand a bunch of injuries but anyway um how do you see the
03:2949ers
03:30and seahawks factoring into this division that is clearly going to be won by the rams
03:35i mean the seahawks will be right there they're defending champions now the hard thing is going
03:40back to back because now there's a different energy that they're going to face from the opponents
03:44uh that that play them they're now the measuring stick and so last year i got a chance to see
03:50them
03:50early in the year when they knocked off jacksonville they were able to kind of fly under the radar
03:54and if you really look at the way it was they snatched division at the end i mean the niners
04:00had it all right there form they were number one seed in the nfc going into the final weeks of
04:05the
04:05season and then seattle kind of jumps on top and and wins it it'll be different for seattle everyone
04:10will go against them they'll face a different level of energy and there's a reason why we haven't
04:14seen back-to-backs it is just very very difficult to do to bring your a game 17 weeks in
04:19a row when you
04:20look at the niners coming back from last year and mark had mentioned it where they had a bunch of
04:24injuries they had a backup quarterback start almost half of the games where do you think that
04:28their step up comes from this year with a team that gets nick bosa back and hopefully fred warner
04:34healthy and more no look man if their guys return like they certainly wanted the tougher teams here's
04:40the thing the division is is a heavyweight division uh those three teams the niners the rams the seahawks
04:46they all can win the big one the thing is it comes down to a war of attrition and unfortunately
04:50for
04:51whatever the reason the niners have always kind of been banged up and beat up and i know they've
04:55talked about changing their practice habits and some of those other things but they have got to
05:00get their guys to the starting line and to the finish line because if they're able to preserve
05:05the health of their stars there's not a team that they can't beat the issue has been they've been
05:10unable to do that so if they can figure that part out look the niners have as good a chance
05:15as
05:15anybody in the division to win it all nfl media bucky brooks uh former player former scout with us
05:21here on withered and dibs 95 7 the game um are you a big dejan stripling guy what do you
05:27think
05:28i mean i was one of the guys that felt strongly about him i know the consensus boards went crazy
05:33when the niners took him in the second round there's a lot of outrage and consternation how could
05:38they take a guy that the world didn't know about but everyone on the inside was all on and i
05:44think
05:44early he's kind of shown you what people are excited about big fast and physical can make
05:49plays and even though i love hearing george kiddo talk about how shanahan kind of corrected them and
05:54kind of called him out and brought him down a peg i love what i'm seeing and i love what
05:58i'm hearing
05:59about how he goes about his business for the longest time and you guys took me to task when i
06:03talked about
06:03the wide receivers and lack of route runners and all this other stuff they got one he is going to
06:08be a
06:09good player because if the niners didn't take him he was going to be snapped up shortly thereafter
06:13he's a good player and i'm glad he's been able to show it in spite of all the naysayers coming
06:17at
06:17him early right up to draft day bucky just for fun i know we've all turned the page on that
06:22portion of
06:22it but why why was it so under the radar why like why was he hidden i mean look the
06:30media guys don't
06:31know everything well i mean all the media scouts and all the people that were that were prognosticating
06:36who was going to go and whatever he just flew under the radar but what i can tell you is
06:40and having
06:41conversations with scouts closer to the draft there's a lot of love in the streets for him
06:47and guys did a really good job of keeping their mouths shut and not talking to their sources or to
06:53their people outside because everyone kind of had him pegged as their guy particularly in the top of
06:58the second round so it's just one of those things that there's always a surprise or two a late riser
07:03in terms of the media world he was that guy but there were a lot of people that were on
07:07him
07:07and look man there was a conversation he was gonna be a first round pick so it's just one of
07:12those
07:12things he goes and when he went people are surprised but it's one of the reasons why we can't get
07:17caught
07:17up in like a group think tank the herd mentality sometimes teams are privy to more information than
07:24us on the outside and is part of that just the nature of like the big schools and the big
07:29names and
07:29the big guys that all of us amateur see on saturday versus somebody like dijon stripling who was putting
07:35out good tape in a lesser profile spot no it's just so much conversation right um and i love it
07:42right obviously like i've made a living kind of being a dravnik and kind of being on it but we're
07:48not privy to everything and sometimes things get lost and a lot of times on our side like we talk
07:55about herd mentality it takes one analyst to start talking about somebody then we all flock to that
08:00because there's this desire to be right on draft night where scouts in the world in the scouting
08:06community they're trying to be right two three years down the road and the reason why people were
08:12high on him is because of the physicality because of the speed because of the size and because he fit
08:18this offensive system because there's so many offshoots of the shanahan mcveigh system there's an entire
08:25faction of people in the nfl that loved him because he played like they want their wide receivers to
08:30play but the physicality and toughness to be able to block on the edge to make things happen when the
08:35ball gets in his hands and so the one thing that we're not privy to when we're media scouts is
08:40how
08:41teams plan to utilize him we can rank people on talent but fit and scheme is everything and that drives
08:47some of the movement on draft boards and that's why he might have been a hidden gem or an unknown
08:52commodity to so many of us on the outside uh bucky we'll circle right back to the uh the 49ers
08:57but
08:57my eye was grabbed by this piece that you did a week ago with regard to the running back comparison
09:04uh jameer gibbs and bijon robinson and you called it the toughest running back comparison that you've
09:10ever done i mean you can answer this as as an nfl answer or a fantasy football answer however you
09:16want
09:16but what did you come up with when you compare those two players man they are everything that
09:23you want in the running back and i'll say the guy that you have right in san francisco he kind
09:26of
09:26started the movement he and saquon barkley and almer kamar uh even when levy and bell and it's funny
09:32now that levy and bell won't get the credit but when levy and bell was holding out for more money
09:35and he talked about being a rb1 wide receiver to being a hybrid at the position well we've seen
09:41christian mccaffrey uh do it where he's had a thousand and a thousand he's had a hundred catches and a
09:46thousand rushing yards and those things these guys fall in line with that and when you look at
09:50jameer gibbs and bijon robinson uh it's a matter of what are you banking on jameer gibbs gives you all
09:56the pizzazz the splash plays uh as a runner and receiver bijon robinson gives you the steady production
10:02with some flash and some big playability uh to me it was really difficult because what do you hang
10:08your hat on and the only reason i nodded towards bijon robinson is because he's having to do more
10:14with less around him but shoot man jameer gibbs is a game changer and uh as long as you get
10:19those
10:19running backs that can do it in both facets uh that's the way that you have to have the modern
10:24running back and it's proven that the running back isn't there because i'm seeing them get those big
10:28paychecks so i feel good about running backs being a big part of the championship puzzle no doubt and
10:34also one thing that we've all been talking about here bucky is the idea of christian mccaffrey and oh the
10:39touches last year and you got a bubble wrap them it can't be that much is it different when you
10:44see
10:44a guy with 102 catches among his touches are those touches less i guess aggressive and violent than the
10:51running touches yes and the reason why you can feel confident in paying a christian mccaffrey or
10:58jameer gibbs or bijon robinson is because i always talk about being able to age gracefully so when they get
11:04older and they're not necessarily able to run between the tackles with the same vigor what you can do is
11:09you can put them out in space you can throw option routes and swings and those things and then it
11:13goes
11:13from being one guy against 11 to one on two two on two a blocker and so the the contact
11:21isn't as
11:22violent as it would be when he's running between the tackles so for christian mccaffrey i would expect
11:26to see it kind of flip maybe fewer carries more receptions same production because at the end of
11:33the day for the first like like the last five years you hear coaches talk more about scrimmage yards
11:39as opposed to rushing yards and scrimmage yards is a combination of rushing and receiving yards
11:44that you total out more guys are focused on the scrimmage yards totals as opposed to just what
11:49they're able to get on the ground bucky how do you read the christian mccaffrey situation right now
11:54um he has mispracticed for about a week they're just calling it tightness they haven't even told us
12:00tightness of what um and some have noticed that the timing of him watching practice just came
12:07right after jameer gibbs and bijon robinson both got new contracts
12:13he's gotten paid i think christian mccaffrey is probably suffering from what uh the three of us
12:18suffer from when you get old you get some of that soreness and tightness i get tight just for no
12:23reason like it's it's a monday so maybe christian mccaffrey is suffering from uh aging but i don't
12:32think it's a direct um shot at like what's going on with the running back position but i do know
12:38he had a lot of yards he had a lot of production and the one thing that makes all the
12:42owies go away
12:43a direct deposit that crosses the screen this has a bunch of commas and a bunch of zeros so maybe
12:49just
12:49maybe they can uh get that uh bank masseuse to kind of help him loosen up some of those
12:55muscles uh the old bank masseuse i mean bank masseuse i do too i might remember that one
13:01i mean seriously like you don't even need to tell you just need to like get that that app on
13:06your
13:06phone and you look and all of a sudden you feel better i wonder what you think bucky about the
13:11upcoming trip to australia where the niners are going to go eight days in advance and the rams are
13:15looking to just get in and get out as a former player which one makes more sense to you
13:22uh i've seen it done successfully both ways um going with the jaguars broadcast team i've seen
13:28teams come over and spend a bunch of time over there and kind of say that they want to get
13:32acclimated
13:32and then i saw the rams last year go over there and i don't even know if they spent 36
13:37hours right
13:38in london and issued a straight beat down so i think at the end of the day it'll be the
13:43result that
13:44tells you who did it right i know the rams have tried to minimize the amount of time that they're
13:49overseas and that's worked for them but that's not to say that their way is right i think ultimately
13:54you try to put your team in the best position to play at their best we'll see look it's an
14:00oddity
14:00because you're going so far away to play a game in the middle of the week it's just a different
14:05thing
14:06but look i'm sure the sports science has given the niners uh an indication of how this will turn out
14:12if they do it right we'll see if it plays out like the science will say um there are a
14:16lot of
14:16question marks around individuals i know this game is still three and a half weeks away um kittle is
14:23giving a shot right now that he may play i know the nfl is still reviewing things on the puka
14:28nakua
14:29situation let's look at that one for for a second how how different would the rams be in that game
14:35if
14:35nakua is not going well the one thing that sean mcveigh is is he's a masterful uh play designer and
14:43he will create opportunities for whoever steps in that place and that'll probably be devontae adams
14:48you'll probably see more run action uh with karen williams and blake horn you'll see them find a way
14:53to get the ball to devontae adams and one of the things that the rams have done that the league
14:58is
14:59copycatting uh all those tight ends on the field at one time 13 personnel one wide receiver three
15:04tight ends one running back they have done that and they'll continue to do that if they don't have
15:09uh the big fella out there but look it's going to be a rock'em sock'em robot type game
15:15anyway when
15:15these two teams get down they don't really like each other it is a bit of a robbery even though
15:19the niners may not see it as a robbery but down here in socal they certainly uh circle that game
15:26because it's a big one and so i think it'll be one of those games where we'll see the best
15:30of both
15:30teams regardless of the personnel that's available you mentioned the 13 personnel one running
15:34back three tight ends what does that do to a defense when you see that personnel package come
15:38in do you have to automatically just get into your base because you're afraid that your nickel won't
15:43be able to stop the run if they choose to run it there's so many different things that teams can
15:49do
15:49out of that and depending on uh the complementary skills of the three tight ends that are in the game
15:54normally what you have is one guy that is a true blocker another guy that is a true wide receiver
16:00and then the third guy is like a mixed player and what that does is it makes you it forces
16:04you to
16:04make tough decisions if you put all your bigs on the field the wide receiver the receiving tight end
16:10is going to give you problems because they'll empty it out they'll put them out wide and then you have
16:14him against the overmatched safety or a linebacker if you put the little guys on the field in
16:18anticipation of the passing game they're going to run right at you and the part that people don't talk
16:23about the extra gaps that are created when you put all three tight ends beside each other on one side
16:28now you're dealing with basically an unbalanced formation how do you bump to that how do you
16:35handle that and then when you get the motions and shifts and all the different things that you can do
16:39it's a headache but because they unveiled it last year when people weren't ready for it this year
16:44everyone spent the off season preparing for it they'll be better prepared to face it but knowing
16:50mcveigh and some of these other coaches they're already on to the next thing they'll break something
16:55else out that'll send everyone running to the sideline to figure out how to make an adjustment
16:59to some unforeseen formation that they're trying out um while we're nerding out on x's and o's i
17:05wanted to make sure i got an answer from you on this one bucky brooks nfl media and for people
17:10who
17:10don't know you were a former db and the dbs here in san francisco are singing the praises of raheem
17:17morris not shots at robert sala but they think that this is going to be better set up for them
17:22and i was looking at last year's dvoa for teams rams had the number one offense niners were number two
17:29rams had the number four defense niners were number 27 talk to me about what you think raheem
17:36morris is going to do differently and what the niner defense may end up looking like because of it
17:42well obviously his viewpoint right robert sala saw the game from uh front to back whereas uh
17:47raheem morris may see it from back to front meaning that he'll think about the coverage and then build
17:53the front around how he wants to play in the back end what i will say like raheem morris is
17:58one of the
17:58best uh defensive coordinators uh that this league is seeing and one of the best defensive back
18:02developers that has seen so what he's going to do is put these guys in a situation to play tighter
18:07i expect them to be very similar to how they've been in the past they've more from being a cover
18:12three team a 3d team that was running a lot of the old seattle seahawks system to being more quarters
18:18based and what that does is playing a match-up zone where you can match up and pass things off
18:23on crossing routes and those things you can get tighter and stickier when they're running vertical
18:29things so they'll do that i just think they'll have maybe a little more diversity in the back end
18:34to maybe give uh quarterbacks more problems but i'd also know this cal shanahan wants to see
18:40certain things on defense raheem uh add his own touch to what they were doing but i'm gonna say
18:46this man they've had a lot of success for a long time with an offshoot of that seattle-based system
18:51i think it'd be very similar to that he'll just put his own touch on it bucky either conference give
18:56me one team right now you think is laying in the weeds no one's talking about them but you think
19:01they could be dangerous laying in the weeds you know i'm gonna say this man i know the
19:06niner fans are gonna be mad at me because this is a bitter robbery that goes all the way back
19:10i'll say it them cowboys the cowboys i agree with you i think i think they win the division
19:17yeah the cowboys are gonna be a problem and i know it's been 30 years since they hoisted the
19:20lombardi but this year they got a legitimate chance to do it because defensively christian parker coming
19:26over from the philadelphia eagles is going to give them that big fangio system where they don't give
19:31up explosive plays and offensively if you know with dak prescott and company if they can get 30
19:36now it's about just making sure that on defense you don't give up the big plays you die slow death
19:41and
19:41you find a way to take advantage of the turnovers the cowboys are solid and legit and i know every
19:47year man it's like the boy that cries wolf i go into the building like this is the year the
19:51cowboys
19:51are back but legitimately this is the year that cowboys might be back i feel you i feel you and
19:57i hate saying it you're right but i feel you um no no no no no no you should never
20:01hate saying i've
20:02been so right so many times no you should just be like you know what the don is here you
20:07just like
20:08not about you it's about the cowboys i don't like the cowboys i like you bucky we work together we're
20:15fine we're fine i mean i mean you don't like me no but i mean the la snooty thing gets
20:21is a little
20:22the rams and the cowboys like man yeah i'm just saying rams like hello la has stars like like the
20:31niners the niners don't have stars like the niners don't have stars bucky they do like they get
20:38mccaffrey and like this is a different this is a different thing it's just a different thing like
20:45you know how it is like wine and cheese up that way it's just a different thing like hollywood
20:50you just got to come equipped a little differently down here in southern cal you know what's wrong
20:54with wine and cheese delicious i mean it's it's cool a little bougie little
21:03you guys you're the best brother thank you for coming on hey man i appreciate you thanks bucky
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