Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers Linebacker

Now joining us from the San Francisco 49ers on behalf of Experian is Fred Warner.

Fred, appreciate the time. How are you? Absolutely, man. Thanks for having me.

I'm doing great. Well, this year obviously, you guys are in that mode. You know what? It's Super Bowl or bust.

Of course. And when the season gets away from you early, it's tough to kind of get it back right and get things smooth sailing. When you look back at this group and you guys still have a Super Bowl window, I believe that just, what do you think factored into this year just not being as successful as you thought it was going to be? Yeah, I mean, everybody talks about the injuries.

And it was real. We sustained injuries at key positions. You know, you talk about losing to Christian McCaffrey to start the year and how crucial that is for your offense. You know, losing Jayvon Hargrave in week three with a torn tricep, not something that you can just, you know, come back from that ends your entire season. Like these were devastating injuries that we sustained all across the board. And so it was hard, man.

Just trying to compete every week and work through that, you know, no excuses at all, but it just wasn't our year. There were two national storylines, I thought, with the Niners this year. One, I think, was fair. The other I thought was ridiculous. They're never fair. No. Okay, I'll get to the fair one in a second. Yeah, I know you are. But let me start you off with the ridiculous one.

Sure. Kyle Shanahan being on the hot seat. The dumbest take, I think, in the sports world this past year where people like, oh, maybe Kyle Shanahan is going to get fired if he got fired. All right, he's still got to win a Super Bowl.

He'd be snatched up in a second, and the 49ers would probably regret it. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I don't pay no attention to that. That type of noise is kind of just silly talk to me. But everybody needs something to talk about, especially when your team is not doing well, right?

They're always going to find things to harp on and try to attack people. So I'm not surprised that people, you know, and the fair one. And we'll see if you agree and disagree with it. Just what Brock Purdy is, you know, what's the apex of Brock Purdy? You're on his team. You've seen what he's done the last few years. I think Brock could be a good quarterback. See, the same thing happens with Jalen.

They go, oh, all the players around him hot take. I think he could be a good quarterback. Would I pay him $55, $60 million?

You know, if he gets it, God bless. But no, I would not. No, I'd pay him a top dollar. And I'll tell you why. Because, you know, I've watched him up close and personal. I'm there day to day. I know exactly who he is, what he's made of.

And I watched the tape, too. You know, I think for anybody who sits there and studies the tape of what exactly do the elite quarterbacks do in this league, being able to create, make all the throws, process at a high level. He does all those things.

Every single week, you know, last year being his second year in his career, leading us to a Super Bowl, being a Pro Bowler in the conversation for league MVP as the mystery irrelevant, you know, last pick of the draft. These are all things that are unheard of. Like, you don't hear about them. It's not common.

It's irregular. So, of course, this year when he wasn't MVP status, you know, because of injuries around him and, you know, none of us were at our top tier. Because if we were, then we wouldn't be talking. I wouldn't be talking to you right here.

I'd be talking to you at a podium somewhere, you know, playing here. So, you know, at the end of the day, you got to look at the tape, what is real and what is not. And when I look at what's real, I know that he's the real deal. And he's worth every penny. And to be clear, we'll see if he can become great. But you have been established in this league. Everyone knows you're one of the best defensive players in this league.

I just got to see more at a Brock Purdy to get to that level of greatness. Yeah, that's the NFL. You got to prove it every single year. You know, you can't just be a one hit wonder.

And I understand that. I take pride in every single year having to, you know, prove it all over again. You know, it doesn't matter if you did it one time, two times, three times.

It doesn't matter. You got to do it every single season. That's what's so hard about this league is having to go back and do it over and over again. And to hear the more and more stories about how he won people over quickly means a lot because you either have that leadership factor or you don't. We see a lot of good quarterbacks not be good leaders.

Yeah. No, I mean, he's a phenomenal leader and he leads in the right way. You know, being exactly exactly who is supposed to be. And the ultimate leaders, they play at a high level to where it doesn't matter what you say that comes out of your mouth. Guys feed off of your actions and how you perform on the field. You know, that's what makes the best leaders, not just what you say in the pregame huddle. Yeah, he's been awesome.

You guys have so many players that have been around the league and you guys have been so close, but yet so far. I'm just wondering who's like the most interesting dude on the San Francisco 49ers. Oh, boy. I can go a lot of different directions with that question.

You know, I don't know how much time you got, but there's a lot of different cats. You know, I think people talk about George kid all the time and you know how much of a character that he is. But I mean, we got characters all over the team, man.

There's so many different personalities, but it just works because we're all made of the right stuff. We all love the games at such a high level where we're willing to put it all on the line every single week for the common good. You know what happens when you go on long playoff runs and you have a season like this. People go Niners Super Bowl window. It's over.

It's done. They had too many battle wounds. They couldn't get to the top of the mountain. I didn't see the look in your eye when I say this. What do you say to people that believe the Niners can't get back here and finally get the job done? Yeah, I mean, it has nothing to do.

Like other people's opinions have nothing to do with what we're about to embark on, right? Like in my mind, the season was over. As soon as we didn't make the playoffs, you know, it was time to regrouping and get back to what we know and who we are and the standard that we created and built for the 2026 season.

2045 2026 Super Bowl, right? You know, what is that going to look like? It's going to take everything. You know, it's going to be miserable.

Honestly, it's never easy. You know, those years where you are coming off of a down year. You don't just snap your fingers, sign a couple guys, draft a couple cats and all of a sudden you're back. Like I look at what Philly had to go through just to make it to the point, you know, Sirianni having to go through the fire, people calling for his head and all sorts of stuff. So it's like you got to go through the fire, you know, in order to make it.

So, yeah, that's what I'm looking forward to. So last year I said about you guys, I said, I think the Niners going into this game or the better team from one through 53. I picked you guys, but Mahomes is Mahomes, right? Is that just how you look back at it? That you have Patrick Mahomes, one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, and you guys could play a good game and it still may not be good enough.

Yeah. Listen, Patrick Mahomes, phenomenal. One of the best to ever do it. It's never just going to be about all one person at the end of the day. You know, people want to make it about Patrick Mahomes at the end, but it's a team game. You know, Andy Reid, Spagnola, their defense, Chris Jones, like there are all these players that are unsung heroes that don't get the attention.

Of course, and like I said, Patrick Mahomes deserves all the attention because of the things that he's able to do in the clutch moments to help them win these games. But it's the combination of everything, you know, and so that's what makes them so good. And there's something to be said about having been there and done it one time, their first time back in 2019. Now they have the recipe. They know how to win these tight games because they were down and out in that game against us in 2019 where we're thinking we got them. And like they came back and they won that one in a big way. Now that gives them all the confidence of the world where it's like, it doesn't matter if we're up or we're down in the game. We know we always have a chance as long as we got everybody involved, you know, on the same page.

So I have to peel back the kernel a bit. When you sat down on my Twitter feed, it was Deebo Samuel in an Eagle Jersey. Now, I don't think people and I are ever going to be sending each other Christmas cards. He hung up the phone once on me in an interview when I was pressing about things that he said about the Eagles. I couldn't believe when I saw him walking around here in an Eagles Jersey, Kelly Green, AJ Brown. That's something I did not believe with his history with that. He was in AJ Brown Jersey.

Not I'm assuming it was. So he's just repping his brother out here at Super Bowl week. So you go in the Niners locker room. I just want to ask you this. I'm enamored by Grant code on social media. What are the media interactions like? Cause I get it.

A lot of beat reporters. You see him every day. Some days you like him, some days you don't.

That interaction in particular, I always think is a polarizing one of the nine. Yeah, Grant. He, you know, he's obviously brutally honest, you know, to the point where he's gotten under some player skins. But at the end of the day, man, if you're playing so good, where he can't say anything negative about you, then that's all that really matters. You know, you got to give him good things to write about, you know, by your play on the field.

Don't worry about what the bad things that he's saying. I don't know, but it's their job to create a story at the end of the day. So it is what it is. Yeah.

So I know this game, right? It's marketed offense, offense, offense, Mahomes, Kelsey, Reed, Jalen Hurts, Saquon, AJ Brown. The defense is though in this one with Jones, Carl of this, what happens with the Chiefs on the back end of the Eagles, Jalen Carter, Nolan Smith, you go on and on and on. I think that's the difference in this game. It's going to be the Eagles defense up against that Chiefs offensive line.

Yeah. I mean, I could look, I could sit here. I could, I could break down every single matchup in terms of position versus position or group position, group versus position group, you know, because then you flip it the other way. It's like, man, I'm interested to see how, how the Chiefs defense goes against Saquon. Like what's their plan there in the zone read in the RPO and that whole ball game, right? So, I mean, there's so many matchups to be clued in on. And I know the announcers do a good job of kind of, you know, paying the picture for the fans who are watching the game.

Obviously Tom Brady calling the game. So that's as good as it's going to get. But yeah, it's going to be, it's going to be a great game to watch. Last thing I'll ask you and we'll talk about experience in just a second. For you, you are now established. You were considered one of the best defensive players in the league. I think one day you'll eventually be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. When did you start to think, okay, I'm getting that national respect and I'm not just viewed as a good player, you know, under the radar player, I'm now viewed as one of the top guys, not only but my peers, but a lot of people in this building view you that way. Yeah, there was a moment in my third season, which I'll always remember and always have great respect and admiration for Aaron Rodgers because we played them. I want to say it was a Thursday night game in 2020 and they came to town and we were beat up and they took it to us.

You know, they beat us up when we were down. But, you know, up to that point, I had been playing pretty good. I was coming off of a good finish to my second season and I thought I was playing at a high level, but you never really know until you, you know, you hear from some of the greats. And this is the Aaron Rodgers, you know, of course, and after the game, he comes up to me, he's like, man, you know, you're the best. You're the best in the game.

You deserve to be all pro. And I happen to be mic'd up. He didn't know that, but I have the mic.

Yeah, I know. Yeah, so it was captured on the mic and just, you know, and that right there kind of just surfaced and everybody saw it and it helped me kind of elevate now to that, like you mentioned, that national level. We forget sometimes that athletes are human beings, too. What's your phone like when that clip goes down?

Yeah, no, it blows up. Listen, first of all, I mean, aside from all that, I mean, I'm, it doesn't matter how many provos or all pros I make, I'm a fan, true and true, true and true to the game, like into all these guys who have been just phenomenal in this league, even, even the young guys who are ascending, like I'm still a fan, like at heart. So when I have Aaron Rodgers coming up to me, I'm like, yeah, I know we just competed against each other, but like, man, you're Aaron Rodgers, like this means, this means the world to me. And so, yeah, of course, my mom and, you know, brothers and everybody, like everybody who is involved in my life, like hitting me up, talking about like, wow, can you believe this? And yeah, no, it's just surreal to even just be in the NFL, to be honest.

You got the great polo on. Tell us about the work that you're doing today. Yeah, man, Experian, you're talking about saving time and money, which obviously all of us are always trying to do, right? The great thing about Experian is their app, right? You go on their app and they're able to cancel subscriptions that you don't need or use to help obviously save time and money. We're all, we all fall victim to it where we're always subscribing for something. I get an ad for this app at least once a day. I need it. I know.

And everybody does. And it's so simple, too, because it's like these little subscriptions that you fall for where it may have been helpful for a little bit, but then you just forget about it. But it was a low enough cost where you kind of kind of slides under the radar. But it's $5.99. I'm telling you, that $5.99, it adds up over time.

So then they do a great job on the app to be able to just take all the descriptions that you don't use or need. Much respect to you. I really appreciate you doing this. Thanks so much for stopping by. Absolutely.

Appreciate you. There he is. Fred Werner joining us on the Zach Gelb show on the Infinity Sports Network. Appreciate Fred stopping on by. And we'll see if the Niners can get back in the big game next year with what they've been able to do in the league so far. Really an impressive team. And I'm not just saying that because he's still sitting right next to me.

But geez, the San Francisco 49ers have been unbelievable the last few years. So we do appreciate obviously Fred stopping by. Coming up in hour number two, we got Micah Parsons. He's going to join us. Also, Miles Garrett is going to stop by. And I know a lot of people are going to be interested about that one because we're going to try to figure out where the heck Miles Garrett's going.

He's still here. You got a prediction? The Niners interested? Hey, 49ers. What's up? Miles Garrett. And we'll be joined by Damaria Davis and Warren Sapp as well. So we're live in New Orleans. 855-212-4227 is the number to jump on in. 855-212-4227. You can always get at me on Instagram and Twitter at Zach Gelb.

That is Z-A-C-H-G-E-L-B. We're going to have a lot more coming on back live from New Orleans after these short messages.