Ian Williams, Former 49ers Defensive Lineman

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So get started and download the free Odyssey app today. Zian, how you been? Zach, now I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Hanging in there. So I know we talked about a month or so ago, right when the Brock Purdy run was really getting started.

Now it's gone to a completely different level. Just how do you react to the way that Brock is not only playing, but just the way he's been so cool and calm about it? Well, I told you this was going to happen, right? I came on and I gave praise to this team. I gave praise to Kyle and I gave praise to the young man Brock Purdy for going out there and playing so well. Obviously, him being able to have Deebo Samuel out there and George Kittle and be able to have so much talent around him helps for him to be able to go out there and succeed. And him also making plays and them just feeling comfortable and then also having a defense to be able to get from the ball back and know that he can go out there and make mistakes and it's not going to truly hurt the team because Fred Warner, Eric Armstead, Nick Boseman, that defense is so good. So it's really an explosion of all this talent that you're seeing right now for the 49ers and then with Brock Purdy being able to come in and be a young man coming into a system and being able to get this team in and out of every down, make plays, make the right decision. And this is why we're talking about them in a divisional round and possibly a Super Bowl football team is because of this young man and also everybody else buying in to this guy being the leader of the team. Are you ready to say that Brock Purdy is going to be the starting quarterback for the Niners game one next year?

Let's see how he finishes out. I can't say that he's going to be the starter because I can believe this. Kyle Shanahan, I've seen enough from this young man to be able to give him a chance and his contract is very cheap. So having him, Jimmy Garoppolo, possibly under contract and then you have Trey Lance under a rookie contract, it's a pretty good situation for this team to go into next year. Maybe Brock does win the starting job. But I think at the end of the day he gives Trey Lance coming back from his injury and Brock a chance in training camp to be able to win that starting job and we'll see who comes out in August, the winner of that job.

But it's really too early to tell. But I can tell you one thing, if this young man goes out there and he wins the Super Bowl, it's going to be very hard to put him on the bench starting next season. It kind of shows you with how great their system has been that the Trey Lance move with all the draft picks that they gave up seems a little unnecessary at this point. I mean, it led to all this.

So you can kind of say things are unnecessary. The injury to Jimmy Garoppolo wouldn't have led to Nick Bosa being a part of their defense because without that injury this team is deeper in the playoffs and they don't draft Nick Bosa. So certain things happened where Trey Lance was out there and he had his injury but now because of having a young quarterback and they felt that they had watched enough film on this young man at Iowa State that he was going to be able to come in and make the right kind of plays.

So they got a steal in the draft, the last pick in the draft. And then for him to be able to come in and pretty much just wow, literally just be like a 10-year veteran out there and he just looks so calm and poised. This tells you how Kyle has done a great job at making the offense understandable for a rookie to be able to come in and implement his game but also stay within the confines of the offense.

Be able to make the right checks at the line of scrimmage and still be in plus territory when you're trying to move the ball up and down the field. So this young man has done a great job so far. I just wonder how Trey Lance is handling this, Ian Williams, because when a player is hurt you obviously don't get to hear much from him. But I saw that post on Instagram the other day when Ran Karthon got the job with Tennessee to be their next general manager and Ran was in the Niners organization since 2017.

You did have a little fingers crossed emoji getting put up there by the 49ers, one of their quarterbacks and Trey Lance. And it makes you wonder, is Trey Lance for some reason get a little frustrated with the team? I don't think he's frustrated. I think obviously he wants to be out there playing right now. Guys are going to get promoted and this is obviously what happens when you make great draft picks and you have a last pick in the NFL draft turn out to be able to get your team through two injuries at quarterback and still be able to get to the postseason and talk Super Bowl winning team.

Also drafting a tight end in the fifth round and then drafting Deebo Samuel and then Nick Bosa and then finding a steal in Fred Warner. I mean these guys are going to get promoted and be general managers for other teams because they did a great job at weeding through and finding the diamonds in the rough. So I don't think he's frustrated. Obviously he's just talking about or tweeting certain things that he has going on with himself but I don't think he's frustrated. I think he's excited about the team winning right now. Obviously it hurts to see another guy go out there and do it how you should be doing it and people questioning are you going to be the quarterback of the 49ers the next year. It's very difficult for a young man but I think he's handled it pretty well.

Obviously they're going to try to tell him to stay off of Twitter. We're not over here talking about it but I think he's done a great job with how the season has gone and his injury. Ian Williams here with us. McCaffrey, all he needed to be was healthy. We know how great a player he is but with Shanahan that seems like a match made in heaven.

It really does. Oh yeah. It was right there and it was friction between those two because one, Kyle Shanahan doesn't want to give the defense a tell on what he's trying to do. If he's going to outside zone, inside zone or he wants to flex out that running back to be able to put a stress on the defense and also show a tell if a linebacker walks out there or safety walks over there to cover that running back. But if you have a running back that has receiver type skills which is why you have Deebo Samuel at running back.

He's interchangeable certain guys out there. But having a guy like Christian McCaffrey really puts that scheme into effect because now a defense can't really understand who's the running back in this form or in this situation or in this scheme. So it puts a lot of pressure on the defense having a running back who can do pretty much everything. He's all purpose. He's not just power.

He's not receiving. He's not just an elusive back. He kind of does everything very, very well. So Kyle Shanahan was obviously very excited. It was a great trade, one of the best trades in NFL history. If we talk about this team going to the Super Bowl and possibly winning, it has to go down as one of the best trades.

And this is why you have certain personnel in the GM in the front office getting promotions and also going to other teams so that they can implement their style of play. So hats off to Kyle Shanahan getting this guy in the house and then Christian McCaffrey also staying healthy. He's done a great job getting to the ground, making his plays, get out of bounds and then also that offensive line. Trent Williams, Mike McGlinchey, that offensive line in the interior, the two young guys. Brunskill has done a great job having this guy come in mid-season and be able to mesh so well especially in the scheme and George Kittle getting out there blocking.

It's been a great sight to see for a former player like myself. Ian Williams, what concerns you the most about the Cowboys when you look at this matchup? Oh my God, that defense.

So Micah Parsons, okay, all right. He has had a great past few games, but he's still capable to do what he's done all season long and which is why he's in the argument of defensive player of the year because of what he's shown in the past. So anytime he's out there lined up across from you, he's a threat and I think that defense has gotten a lot better, especially up front. Carlos Watkins has done a great job, you know, that's making that interior more stout. This is what they struggled with the past few years, not being able to stop the run. So having those guys in there, having Leighton Vander Esch back and that secondary looking really, really good.

Jayron curse. It's more that defense that scares me. I think offensively that Prescott, you know, if you can force him to have to nickel and dine you down the field, he's going to make a mistake. But I think another thing that not a lot of people haven't paid attention to was the switch from Tyron Smith to the left side to the right side. And I think having those two tackles and possibly Jason Peters being out there and playing, you know, he kind of had his injury situation this past week.

So I don't know how much he's going to play this upcoming week, but having two tackles like that, that can block Nick Nick Bosa and Charles on the outside and having Zach Martin on the inside to be able to black block Eric arm set. That's what gives me worries with all the depth chart with the Dallas Cowboys, but I think at the end of the day, the Niners weather the storm there at home, and I think they end up winning the football game. Does it at all surprise you that this team has won? I know how great of talent that they have, but 11 in a row like that. This is starting to get absurd. That's how they built the team.

Come on now, but 11 in a row with three different quarterbacks. It's crazy. I know. I know you're like, Oh, no big deal.

That's a big deal. I can tell you one thing. When I played with these guys earlier last decade, there were certain games, certain seasons, like I just felt so confident going into games, knowing I had Justin Smith and Patrick Willis and Vernon Davis. I had the confidence that we were just going to win every game.

We weren't going to lose a game. So now looking at this football team, Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, you know, all these guys out here on offense and defense. You know, Brock Purdy going to step in that situation, be like, man, I can make this thing go to all I need to do is be a conductor and get the ball out to the receivers and not make mistakes to hurt my defense.

And that's pretty much what he's done. And then he also made a couple of plays, which is surprising people because the plays that he's making is what you draft the first round first overall pick for scramble out the pocket, scrambling to the right and getting the ball to Brandon. Are you who's supposed to catch the football to make the great play really, really happen.

But, you know, you're like, wow, you're watching a master at work and a young man looks so confident. So this is why this team is 11 wins in and pretty much in the argument for the best team in the NFL right now. So hats off to Kyle Shanahan, his offense and his defense that had really bought in. Are you surprised Harbaugh is staying at Michigan and not coming back to the NFL?

How much is his contract? He's not he's not going anywhere until somebody breaks and pays him more of what Michigan is paying him. I was I was talking to him a little bit when we had the alumni game will be when the 49ers played the Chiefs earlier this season.

They had a lot of the guys back from the 2012 championship game. So I had a couple of moments with him, stuff like that. And I could tell you one thing is he's excited to be in college and be able to coach those young guys and be able to get them to the next step, which is what he did so well, you know, playing in Indianapolis. So I think he's excited being with within the college program. And, you know, he had a bad loss. But, you know, I think he's done a lot of good things with the Michigan program, which is, you know, really down and out before he got there.

So here's the thing. His contract at Michigan, it's like he took the pay cut, then got a little bit of an increase because they started to win more. The NFL teams, they could top that contract in a second. And it's only three million dollars to get him away from Michigan. What the buyout would be.

I'm just starting to wonder. And he was great in the NFL for four years as a coach. You know, three NFC title games got to a Super Bowl last year. Minnesota didn't want him. And then this year, you know, I don't know what happened with Denver. I guess some of the reports say that Carolina, he wanted Carolina, but Carolina didn't want him back. I just don't know what it is, why there aren't teams that are offering him a head coaching job with the last two years. It seems like he wants to go back to the NFL. Well, I mean, if he wanted to go back to the NFL, he would have gone back to the NFL. I think right now he's in a great situation, his alma mater.

He's building a program back. And then he also has all hands on deck at Michigan when he comes to an NFL team. He's not going to have control of the whole franchise and what he wants to do at Michigan. It is what John or Jim Harbaugh wants to do. What's Coach Harbaugh want to do? What are we doing here, Coach Harbaugh? It's all that you come to the to the NFL franchise. And now you have an owner. Now you have a GM. Now you have all these other things at play, which is why there was such a demise from 2014 and 2013 and so forth, because we lost and we had everybody trying to have their hands in where Coach Harbaugh wanted to just have his hands on the football program with us. So I think he has that with Michigan. And I don't see him coming back unless somebody really throws in the cash like that.

Really feel like he likes the hands on the fact that he's 18 to 22 year olds. All right. Last thing I'll ask you, Ian Williams, the game this weekend. I know you're picking the Niners, but tell me how this game plays out and how close of a game it is. Give me a score. I'm not going to give you a score, but I am going to tell you the Niners are going to pull this one out. It's going to be a close one in the first half because both of these teams are very, very good. And I feel like they're both going to be able to get after the quarterback, even if the offensive lines are really good for both teams. But I think both teams score over 20 points and I think the Niners win 31, 32 to maybe 24.

I think it's going to be a close game within 10 points. All right. You got it. Thanks so much, Ian Williams. Appreciate it. Oh, yeah. Niners game. Let's go.

Your playoffs, your Odyssey get in the game and download the free Odyssey app today. I'm Larry Mullins, host of the podcast, Your Weirdest Fears, the show that explores the odd things that make your heart stop. I am so scared of the Grinch.

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