Extra: Full Interviews With Jimmy Garoppolo, Joe Staley, Mike McGlinchey, and Kyle Juszczyk

[0] Hey there, I'm Stephen Dubner, and this is a Freakonomics Radio Extra, our full, lightly edited interviews with four members of the San Francisco 49ers offense, quarterback Jimmy Garapolo, offensive lineman Joe Staley and Mike McGlinchie, and fullback Kyle Eustach.

[1] We interviewed them for our episode number 350, which tells the story of the 49ers attempt to reverse their fortunes after a few dreadful years.

[2] It's part of our special series called The Hidden Side of Sports.

[3] is one of several interviews with 49ers executives, players, and other football personnel that you can hear in their entirety exclusively right here on Stitcher Premium.

[4] This interview, like the others, took place in May during the team's first couple days of preseason practice, or what are called OTAs, organized team activities.

[5] We'll start with Jimmy Garoppolo, the quarterback who joined the team mid -season last year as they were on their way to losing their first nine games and who took over and helped the Niners win their last five games and was duly rewarded with a five -year, $137 .5 million contract.

[6] Hope you enjoy.

[7] Nice to meet you.

[8] Hey, Stephen Dover, nice to meet you.

[9] Yeah, congrats on everything.

[10] Thank you very much.

[11] Yeah, you're welcome.

[12] It's exciting.

[13] Yeah, our day's going great.

[14] Yeah, really fun.

[15] How's yours?

[16] Busy.

[17] Yeah.

[18] It's good.

[19] First practice.

[20] Was first OTA significantly different from everything else you've been doing here?

[21] It was just exciting.

[22] get back out there really.

[23] I mean, being a quarterback, you know, running and lifting, and it's important, but the practice is, you know, it's awesome, getting out there with the guys and everything.

[24] I bet.

[25] Yeah.

[26] What would you spend your off -season doing mostly, conditioning, et cetera?

[27] Mm -hmm.

[28] Oh, yeah, just your normal working out.

[29] Were you here?

[30] I was here initially, went to Chicago for a little bit.

[31] For home going.

[32] Yeah, I had to see the family and everything.

[33] And then we got the deal figured out, got out to L .A., and that's kind of where I do most of my training yet gotcha gotcha all right um so you have about 15 minutes we're here is that right yeah or more three hours whatever we'll take it no whatever we got we'll take it um if we'll begin just say i'm jimmy garoppolo and you're listening to freakonomics radio that's what's up guys i'm jimmy garoppel and you're listening to free economics radio okay so last year was a wildly unpredictable and dramatic um and successful year for you can you just walk us through it quickly from your perspective starting in New England coming here mid -season and how it ended?

[34] Yeah, you know, it was very unique.

[35] I mean, I clearly had never been in that situation, but it was exciting at the same time.

[36] Just I went, I took a nap, woke up.

[37] About 100 text messages, 100 missed calls.

[38] And, you know, next thing I knew that next morning, 5 a .m., I think, I was on a flight out west of San Francisco.

[39] So it just happened so quickly and suddenly.

[40] That's really the way it works.

[41] Yeah.

[42] Yeah, and it was three days, four days before my birthday, and it was a whole bunch of stuff going on.

[43] But, you know, you go through so many emotions initially because you don't know what's going on.

[44] I've never been in the situation before.

[45] And so your emotions are going wild, and then you get here, and now you're learning a whole new playbook.

[46] It's like learning a new language.

[47] You're meeting new people.

[48] You don't know anyone's name.

[49] So there was a bunch of stuff going on, but, you know, things really worked out well.

[50] After a week or two, things started to slow down, and you're getting kind of a routine.

[51] You know, it worked out well.

[52] Yeah.

[53] The first call wasn't from your agent.

[54] It was like, it was in the press before you actually knew that the deal was.

[55] No, 50 of those calls were from my agent.

[56] How long was your nap?

[57] Well, it wasn't that long, I swear.

[58] But next thing I knew, I was a 49er and, you know, the rest is history.

[59] Do you nap every day?

[60] No, I barely nap.

[61] That was rare.

[62] You'll never do that again.

[63] Definitely not during the season.

[64] All right.

[65] So, yeah, so just talk about, did you have any inkling that you might be traded, first of all?

[66] I mean, I know teams have been talking about you, right?

[67] There was rumors and everything, but, you know, during the season, especially as a quarterback, you're so locked in.

[68] There's so many things that you have to worry about for the next Sunday that I really didn't have time to really think about that.

[69] My agents would keep me notified, but they know for the most part I'm all football during the season.

[70] So, you know, there was rumors and everything.

[71] I didn't really, you know, know whether to believe it because, I mean, some of the stuff is hearsay and it turned out to be true.

[72] Would you think and know about San Francisco, the organization, the history coming in?

[73] Very rich history.

[74] You know, Joe Montana, Steve Young, those guys just, you know, paving the way.

[75] And, you know, they went through a little bit of a downstream there, you know, for a couple of years.

[76] But just the fans around here are pretty unique.

[77] It's, I didn't know that I'd never been out here before getting traded.

[78] So when I first got out here, though, the fans, the faithful, I mean, they really are faithful through the thick and thin.

[79] It's impressive.

[80] All right.

[81] So of all the weird and wonderful things about the way it worked last year, to me, the weirdest is that you share an agent with the guy that you were backing up.

[82] And then we know the drama of the drama of, yeah, I mean, I don't know.

[83] You can tell me as much as you want.

[84] I only know what I've read, half of which is probably true.

[85] But I don't know what your relationship was like with Brady.

[86] I'm happy to hear you say anything you want to say.

[87] if you want to take a pass on it, take a pass.

[88] But let's start with that.

[89] Yeah, you know, nothing that the media made it out to seem.

[90] We always had a good relationship, you know, initially when I was younger, kind of like an older brother type of relationship.

[91] But as I got older and, you know, matured through the NFL, we became closer and we became good friends.

[92] You know, we still text here and there.

[93] Jacoby was a good friend of mine, too.

[94] So the three of us always, you know, we're texting each other.

[95] And it was, you know, everyone said it was a terrible decision to have the same agent.

[96] but I think it worked out very well.

[97] Our agents look out for both of us, both of our best interest.

[98] But at the end of the day, it's the NFL, so it's a business.

[99] Yeah.

[100] We also read that Kraft made it happen or wanted it to happen and that Belichick was against it.

[101] Tell me what you can about that?

[102] I didn't know anything.

[103] Did you hear from Belichick after?

[104] Yeah.

[105] He was the one who actually told me that, I mean, my agents told me initially, but then coach Belichick right behind them told me and we always had a good relationship you know very both of us are very straightforward people really no BS or anything so I always appreciated that from coach he he kept it real with everybody whoever you were practice squad or the starting quarterback you know and you got respect him for that so everything I've read and heard about you coming in you know we know the kind of details we know that that Shanahan originally said let's give them time to get up to speed you may not even see can play this year.

[106] Then, of course, you do come in relatively soon.

[107] And as far as I can tell, you've never actually lost an NFL game that you've started, right?

[108] You won two.

[109] Two with the that's right?

[110] Great.

[111] But from everything that we've heard from everyone on the exec side and on the player side, you're some combination of like Y -A Tiddle and Superman and Jesus Christ, like people just gather around you and love you.

[112] It's a pretty good combo right there.

[113] So tell us, I'm sure you can't be that good.

[114] What are some things that you work hard on that you struggle with that you're trying to get better at?

[115] As far as football or life?

[116] Football and also being part of, I mean, it's a huge thing.

[117] You came in, you won five games in a row that you started, and then you're given what was at the time the biggest contract ever in football got surpassed, but it's still pretty big.

[118] So it's natural for both the team and the fans and maybe even in the league to look at you as a kind of savior.

[119] That's a lot.

[120] So I'm just curious how you process that.

[121] Or, you mostly ignore it?

[122] You know, for the most part, I just go out and do my thing.

[123] You know, everyone sets high expectations and tries to predict things.

[124] But at the end of the day, no one really knows anything or what's going to happen.

[125] And I set a higher standard for myself than anyone ever will.

[126] So I kind of worry about that more than anything.

[127] You know, all the outside noise is just noise.

[128] So you really got to stay focused on, you know, your craft and all the things that we have going on in this building.

[129] It's, you know, if you get caught up in all that stuff, you're going to have a tough time NFL's hard enough as it is yeah um Kyle Shanahan knew you pretty well he'd worked you out when he was with the with Cleveland right for the draft so just tell me about that relationship going back and what it's like now uh you know we had a good relationship I met with Cleveland a bunch they were looking for a quarterback that year and they ended up taking Mansell trading up to take him right did they well that's what I read but then I thought when did Cleveland never have to trade up to get the 22nd pick no serious well I am a Steelersram but still That's probably like their fourth first.

[130] Yeah, maybe that was their fourth.

[131] Sorry.

[132] So anyway, we'll move on from that.

[133] But anyway, so he'd work you out a couple times.

[134] We had a good relationship really from the start.

[135] I mean, he worked me out at Northwestern, I remember.

[136] And he was a young, energetic coach.

[137] And we were very similar at personalities.

[138] And I can remember going home and telling my parents that.

[139] And, you know, I didn't know where I was going to go or who was going to draft me. But just you meet coaches throughout the, the process that you get along with better than others.

[140] And me and Kyle had a good connection right off the bat.

[141] So, again, if you don't know football and you read about the kind of offensive mind he has and that he just tortures defenses by being dynamic and creative, et cetera, et cetera, can you just talk for a minute about what that means for you as a quarterback and how that fits for you?

[142] It's a – I always use complex as the word.

[143] It's a very complex offense.

[144] It's just, um, how you call a, call a play for us here, for instance, and tell me what each term means.

[145] Each term?

[146] Oh, gee, we'll be here for a while.

[147] Really?

[148] So, like, you could go on, go north -right clamp, three -jet, Y -C -O, bow.

[149] That's one play.

[150] That's a shorter one.

[151] Okay.

[152] So it's a, you know, it tells everyone what to do, but at the same time, you could get into different packages where it's one word tells all 11 guys what to do.

[153] And it's just, that's the complexity of the offense.

[154] And now you've got motion moving around, the defense is looking at 100 different things.

[155] You snap it all of a sudden, and they're messed up, and it makes my job that much easier just by, you know, a simple little thing that we did before the ball was even snapped.

[156] And that goes back to the coach's film study and all that.

[157] And it gives me a lot of confidence in the whole offense as a whole.

[158] You go into that game, and you know the coaches have done their studying and done their homework.

[159] And it's just, it's nice having a game.

[160] game plan like that.

[161] Yeah.

[162] Let's assume you turn out to have a really long and great Hall of Fame career, right?

[163] And if you were to look back on like this time now, as you're beginning with your, you know, as your starting career, what would you attribute it to?

[164] Because there are a lot of guys who physically, I'm sure, like you or close to you and so on.

[165] So what do you think it actually makes you successful at this level?

[166] I've always, you know, relied on the extra work.

[167] The day ends at two o 'clock say you try to be here till eight o 'clock you know what physical anything and everything okay yeah it's uh i mean one day it could be more physical than mental you had a hard day something like that now it's more mental than physical yeah it's just uh everyone has their own routine and you know being in the NFL for four years now going on five i have a pretty good routine that i've gotten used to and you know during the season it's uh it's a long tough season so you have to have a good routine that keeps your body healthy and it keeps your mind sharp for all 16 weeks.

[168] What are some things you do physically that like a lay person could do to keep their body a regular person, not a studly athlete?

[169] Well, I do things for quarterbacking.

[170] So it's different than your average athlete.

[171] You know, I have to stay loose, be able to throw 100, 200 balls a day every day.

[172] And, you know, if you lift a ton of weights and get real big, it's tough to do all that.

[173] So it's a little different than normal stuff.

[174] What's your diet like?

[175] Good.

[176] You cook for yourself or now?

[177] No, they make phenomenal food here.

[178] Is that why you're here like 18 hours a day?

[179] It doesn't hurt, man. It doesn't hurt for sure.

[180] What did your folks do for a living?

[181] My dad was an electrician.

[182] He just retired three, four months ago, something like that.

[183] And my mom was kind of a cook chef, I guess you could say.

[184] And she's looking to retire pretty soon too.

[185] Are they going to move out here now that you're here?

[186] I don't think so.

[187] You have other siblings?

[188] I have three brothers, yeah, two of which are moving out here.

[189] Oh, wow.

[190] And then the third is an architect in Chicago, so he's killing it right now.

[191] It's awesome.

[192] And then, but my parents, you know, they, I don't know, we're a very tight -knit family, and they like, you know, I don't know, they're locked in it back in Chicago.

[193] So it will be tough to get them out of there.

[194] I see.

[195] They'll be out here every week, though.

[196] Is that right?

[197] Yeah, yeah.

[198] Tell me, you may not think about it yet.

[199] since you're young but a lot of guys come into the league with all kinds of promise and even success and then afterwards it can be a really hard adjustment because you've been doing this one thing since you were six, eight, 10 years old and kind of had people taken care of things.

[200] Can you just talk about what you think about the afterlife of an athlete?

[201] Again, I realize it's not the right phase in your life to ask you this question but I'm just curious, your thoughts.

[202] People you've seen do it really well and not well maybe.

[203] Yeah, it seems like you know, I have no idea for myself.

[204] That's hopefully a long ways away.

[205] But it seems like coaching is a way that a lot of guys go.

[206] I have a bunch of guys that I went to school with at Eastern that, you know, they get into coaching because they miss that, that atmosphere, that family feeling.

[207] And so, you know, every one of them that I've talked to is they love it.

[208] And they say you get just as much joy out of that as you do playing.

[209] So I don't know.

[210] Hopefully that I got a long, long time until I even have to start thinking about that.

[211] Yeah.

[212] Do you have a prediction for this season, either in terms of number of wins or how deep you get into the playoffs?

[213] Do you have any idea in your mind, whether you want to tell me or not, of like, what would constitute a successful season for you?

[214] Or how would you describe it?

[215] I mean, there's a million things that go into that.

[216] Like, what would, like, at the end of this season, if they're, like, name three or four things that would need to happen for you to consider this a successful season?

[217] I think we have to have a good OTAs first.

[218] Okay.

[219] You're talking about successful season.

[220] We've had one practice.

[221] We've got a long way to go.

[222] Then we'll get into training camp, and that's really where your team starts to come together, and you start to see the mold of the team.

[223] And we're just trying to create a good team right now, good standard that we set for each other, and I think we're moving in the right direction on that.

[224] Everything I've read from every player says that you're, like, you know, the natural leader that people gravitate toward you in the locker room and on the field.

[225] Is that something you learn to do?

[226] Is it your natural way of being?

[227] I'm curious about it.

[228] Yeah, I think, you know, I've never really tried to fake it or, you know, be, I don't know, someone that I'm not.

[229] Because, you know, everyone says this guy's a great leader and you should be like him.

[230] But I think if you start, you know, going out of your comfort zone and doing things you're not used to, guys, I mean, especially in NFL locker.

[231] And they see right through that.

[232] They're not dumb.

[233] So you just have to be yourself.

[234] I don't know.

[235] I've always thought myself as one of the guys.

[236] And I think that plays a big part in it.

[237] Where are you in the four brothers?

[238] Like age -wise?

[239] Number three.

[240] Okay.

[241] So when you're under brothers, are you still in a leadership role or are you like the little brother that gets kicked?

[242] Yeah, I got two older brothers.

[243] They'll never let you forget it.

[244] That's just, and I'd be upset if they did.

[245] You know, I don't know, that's just how we were raised.

[246] I'm sure it's maybe a better person, having them around, you know, keeping me humble and everything.

[247] Well, thank you.

[248] Good luck.

[249] No problem.

[250] Hope you win a bunch of games, win a Super Bowl.

[251] Hell yeah.

[252] Yeah.

[253] The only thing is, again, I do have one issue is that as a Steelers fan, I can't let any team get more Super Bowl trophies than us, and you're one of the few that are...

[254] So you can get a one or two, but we have to keep...

[255] So if we can toggle between the Niners and Steelers, that's fine.

[256] Yeah, I don't know.

[257] Okay, good luck to you.

[258] Thank you very much.

[259] Yeah, no problem.

[260] Next up, our interview with one of the larger and more colorful members of the San Francisco 49ers.

[261] My name is Joe Staley.

[262] I am the left tackle for the San Francisco 49ers.

[263] I've been on the team for this in my 12th season coming up.

[264] So only played here in San Francisco.

[265] Right.

[266] And you're easily the longest tenured veteran here.

[267] And the best.

[268] And the best looking, yes.

[269] Best looking, yeah.

[270] Your nose, I have to say, is what kind of would say?

[271] It leads to the right.

[272] Yeah.

[273] Yeah, I've been broken a couple times.

[274] A bunch of times.

[275] You can do that with a face mask.

[276] So, yeah.

[277] So this funny story, we were in Green Bay.

[278] And I had this old school helmet from like, you know, 1984.

[279] Is it legal?

[280] In the last year of being legal, I was kind of grandfathered in.

[281] I'm actually switching face masks this year.

[282] But in 2000, I think it was 12, they tried to get me to switch face masks.

[283] And so I was trying out this new helmet.

[284] And very first game, we're playing the Green Bay Packers.

[285] I'm going against Clay Matthews.

[286] And he's a big time bull rusher, you know, kind of just like runs down your face.

[287] And my helmet was not fitting properly because it was a new helmet.

[288] and I have kind of a weird shaped head.

[289] And it was just slamming my nose over and over.

[290] And there's a bunch of pictures.

[291] I mean, the thing was broken and like all the skin from the top.

[292] I still got the scar up there.

[293] It was like flapped open over my, over the bridge of my nose.

[294] It was a miserable game.

[295] So that was broken then.

[296] I got broken.

[297] We did a one -on -one pass rush back in college with no helmets for some reason.

[298] And I caught a spin move, heavy elbow to the nose.

[299] Nose was completely like on the side of my face.

[300] trainer came over and was like oh you're good it's like all right seems pretty official it looks good now though yeah you've grown into it growing into it got that big head uh so how big are you now uh six foot six i'm about 295 3905 yeah so when you started you thought you needed to be heavier yeah yeah yeah yeah i came in the NFL was pretty light um out of college did someone advise you to get heavier you just thought that was the way to go when i came out i came out in 2007 it was kind of going through a transition between like offensive linemen being big bruising like yeah type players and I was very much on the you know the light spectrum of that scale of what guys were supposed to weigh when they came to the NFL and so I just continued to gain weight like I was in college and kind of stopped I was about 235 or 335 pounds at one point 330 pounds and uh was that was way too bit yeah felt miserable couldn't move basically was losing everything that That put me into the NFL was my athleticism and my foot speed.

[301] So one off season, this was like, oh, screw this.

[302] I'm going to try it the other way.

[303] What do you have to do to put on that much weight?

[304] I mean, I was just eating everything.

[305] So, I mean, I was a tight end when I got to college.

[306] I was about 220 pounds.

[307] And new coaching staff came in.

[308] Brian Kelly, he's not in Notre Dame.

[309] He came in and said, you know, we don't have tight ends in my offense.

[310] So I want you to play tackle.

[311] Just gained as much weight as you can.

[312] And so I was just eating everything.

[313] He's like, I don't care what you eat.

[314] Healthy or not, I was a man on a college meal plan, basically, and also I had a couple bucks to go get a burger or, you know, $5 pizza at Little Caesars.

[315] And so I was stuff in my face.

[316] And then also I was working out pretty heavily.

[317] I would do two workouts a day pretty consistently on the offseason and then working on every day on top of practices.

[318] And also you're young in college.

[319] Yeah.

[320] You never played linemen before that, though.

[321] Nope.

[322] Yeah.

[323] I got top of the position.

[324] And how did you like it?

[325] when you started?

[326] Hitted it at first.

[327] No, I was just different, you know, and I wasn't really a, I wasn't a blocking tight end either.

[328] I was brought there to catch passes.

[329] I was fast for my size, so it was a transition for me. I didn't really know anything, so they kind of had a clean slate to work with.

[330] I didn't have any bad habits as far as blocking and took coaching pretty well.

[331] I mean, your career obviously turned out great.

[332] Do you sometimes think I wish I could have stayed a tight end, though?

[333] No, I would have never, maybe I would have been in the NFL for like one or two seasons.

[334] Really?

[335] No, I wasn't fast enough for a tight end.

[336] You know, I was fast for alignment, really fast enough for a tight end.

[337] So I don't have that explosion with the guys here.

[338] Yeah.

[339] So for people who don't know football at all, left tackle, just describe kind of your A primary missions, especially relating to protecting the quarterback and also like what you actually do with your body.

[340] Yeah, so I play left tackle, which is considered the blind side of the quarterback made famous by that movie.

[341] Hey, a book before a movie.

[342] Yeah, the book.

[343] Yeah, the book.

[344] Michael Lewis, right?

[345] Michael Lewis.

[346] So I protect the quarterback's blind side.

[347] So basically when he's dropped back in a protection, he's a right -handed quarterback, he can't see, obviously, behind him.

[348] So that's why they call it the blind side.

[349] And, yeah, I mean, my primary job in the run game is to move the guy that's in front of me from point A to point B, whatever the scheme is, whatever the play he calls for.

[350] we have a plethora of different blocks that we have to do and then different combinations single blocks double blocks whatever they are and then in the past game basically keep the defender from rushing the passer and getting a sack on the quarterback I remember we used to hear that on average by position offensive linemen were the smartest players on a team some people would say QB some would say OL you know anything about it I mean do you feel like is your group particularly because the playbook you need to not make mistakes obviously yeah it's a different thing i think quarterback obviously is probably has to know the most um you know thinking just straight intelligence you know offensive linemen tend to be you know smarter um i don't know if it's just because of everything the way we have to break down a playbook like i have to understand not what i'm just doing as a left tackle but i have to understand what the left guard center right guard and right tackler are doing it sometimes also the tight ends and also the formations that's know where the receivers are and all that stuff so you have to have a heavy grasp of everything and it kind of ties together as you know especially up front like all five guys playing together and I have to know the adjustments that we make so say a defense comes down and they bring in a safety down that kind of changes our blocking scheme for a particular play and that all happens within two seconds I have to be able to process all that information know exactly what the adjustments are what I'm supposed to say how that affects me and then also the guy next to me what my call is to my tight end if i have one not next to me um i mean that's just on one particular do you make mistakes yeah all the time so how many mistakes might you make like you're one of the best in the game how many mistakes of an of a of a nature of you know actually either an assignment or a pack we have like you know mental you can call them mAs or i don't even know what that stand for mental assignment error or something like yeah like miss assignment there it is uh misassignment it's like a mental error Em E's MAs.

[351] And you're graded on those after every...

[352] Yeah, those are minimal.

[353] You know, those are, I think, if you're getting an M .A., that's just poor preparation on your part.

[354] You should have a firm grasp.

[355] By the time you get to game day, you should have firm grass of, you know, every single situation that we have, what the playbook is, obviously, and, you know, the combination blocks and everything you're going to be making on the football field.

[356] But, you know, technique is a huge part of what makes an offensive alignment successful, And that's why we drill, you know, individual drills and we'll drill like the little tiny techniques of where exactly your foot placements are, your foot angles, your hands, your levers, you know, your hip roll in the run game, your what we call pass sets, you know, our kick slides, the angle that we work using our kick slides is a hand placement on that when to use our hands.

[357] So those are always like, you know, very, very rarely are you going to be perfect.

[358] Yeah.

[359] You know, and so it's, you know, I consider those mistakes.

[360] Like, you're always kind of like judging yourself of, A, did you do your job?

[361] Did you win the block?

[362] And then B, like, how can I make it better?

[363] Like, you know, well, my hand was late here on this past set and I didn't get it exactly where I wanted to be.

[364] So, you know, try better next thing.

[365] So you've had something like six or seven head coaches in your career here?

[366] This is my sixth.

[367] You're six.

[368] Yep.

[369] So we can talk a little bit about the, you know, stormy years.

[370] And then last year, the very bad start and the great turnaround.

[371] But before we do that.

[372] when Kyle Shanahan came in for a guy like you, offensive lineman, how much new is there to learn?

[373] And I guess for every head coach, how much new is there to learn?

[374] Yeah, every head coach kind of brings something new because they all have a different, you know, scheme that they run offensively and a way of looking at the game of football.

[375] I've been fortunate and unfortunate to play with so many, so many different head coaches.

[376] And also, I mean, this is not only six head coaches, but it's.

[377] eight offensive coordinator.

[378] So I've been in eight different offensive systems.

[379] So I've kind of seen everything.

[380] And so when Kyle came in, I knew he was, you know, basically his staple was zone, outside zone, inside zone, and play action.

[381] So I was pretty, you know, well versed in how to attack a defense with that.

[382] But what was, what I kind of wasn't ready for was is how detail -oriented his specific scheme is and how everything is pieced together in the way that he kind of sees exes knows and the way he sees the football field is pretty different than typical offensive coordinator.

[383] So I was really excited just because of his reputation that he's had in the NFL, but I got a firsthand experience of that pretty quick.

[384] So I can't remember was it last year, the beginning of last year, when you were her and thinking about retiring and basically everything was kind of garbage.

[385] Was that last year during the losing streak?

[386] So can you just walk us through like last season from your perspective?

[387] It was an amazing turnaround, obviously, but also you being hurt.

[388] I'm just curious to hear it.

[389] So I just had a hip and pinchment, basically, something that was injured, just something that was kind of dealing with that was causing my right knee to feel like crap, basically.

[390] There was not really an injury.

[391] There was nothing torn structurally.

[392] It was really, really good.

[393] But it was just one of those deals that every time I would load that leg up, which I do every single play, there was some kind of felt like just basically bone on bone rubbing and it just got to be really really painful and something that I was kind of just dealing with through the season getting a ton of treatment I mean doing everything I can to make make sure I felt as good as I possibly could you miss games no I didn't miss any games but just like as far as you know what I had to do just get myself through it I was in a year 11 I was on my 6th coach we were I think at this time like oh and seven and was just like you know I had mental lapse of weakness there where I was just you know the adversity kind of got to me and so I was uh yeah you were talking your wife about it you were yeah it was the first time I was just like you know this might be my last year I don't know if I can just continue to do this if my body's starting to fail me like this and I feel like I'm doing everything I can it's just not responding like it used to if you'd been winning it would have felt different I assume you know winning kind of heals everything but also it wasn't really that it was just kind of the it was more so just the way my body was feeling yeah um and then how did it get better or did it not it did actually it was um right before the eagles games um it just kind of released um i don't know exactly what it was but i was doing like a bunch of different like stretches and i think everything was just kind of bound up and ended doing this kind of stretch and it or like on my own and just was so frustrated and i don't recommend this for anybody listening but like i just really like wrenched down on this stretch and was just like so it was in a moment of frustration and I was really pissed and I just kind of put all my body weight into the stretch and I just felt like my whole entire hip just went like and you could just I could feel it move and then like it was sore for two days like really really sore and then the knee pain was kind of gone after that so I think it kind of released I don't know what it was but it was did you tell your trainer what oh I told everybody Yeah, everybody was pumped up about it.

[394] And do you think the trainer is going to recommend that for future athletes who have a hip -up piniment?

[395] They probably just think that I'm making up stuff just when I'm old.

[396] Yeah, just move your body in weird ways to tort yourself.

[397] So when you were at your bottom and, like, you know, hurting and thinking about quitting and so on, I know your wife is a former athlete as well, who, high -level soccer player, who never made the women's national team because of injury herself, right?

[398] Is that right?

[399] So I'm curious what those conversations were like.

[400] Obviously, you'd had a long career, but I'm curious what those conversations were like.

[401] Well, we didn't really talk seriously about it, you know, but I had seen her kind of go through just when she was done with playing soccer, the league full of that she was playing in.

[402] And just, you know, something that she was playing consistently and at a high level since she was like six, seven years old.

[403] Then all of a sudden to be gone, just kind of seeing that transition.

[404] So, you know, when that day does come from me, we, you know, it was the first time I actually brought up, possibly not playing football anymore.

[405] And I probably got a little bit scared of just that, like, even talking about that.

[406] Do you have thoughts about what you'll do afterwards?

[407] No idea.

[408] No idea.

[409] TV?

[410] I don't even, you know, I don't even want to.

[411] I mean, I don't want to jinx it if you're not, if you don't want to go in that direction.

[412] I'm more of a radio guy, maybe.

[413] I don't know.

[414] I have no idea, really.

[415] You got the nose for radio.

[416] I do.

[417] I don't know.

[418] I don't know.

[419] I haven't really thought about that too much because I don't know.

[420] I just don't want to like my mind.

[421] The way my mind works, I'm very structured and I have to like very stay in the moment.

[422] And so if I start thinking about like setting myself up for life after football and I just worried that I'm not going to be as focused as I need to be.

[423] You know, let me ask you this.

[424] It's obvious now that a lot of former athletes, even those who make quite a lot of money when they're done, often not done at a time of own choosing, all of a sudden, like, they don't have a career, and they don't, they often don't have anywhere near as much money as they kind of thought they would have or they didn't take care of it well, et cetera.

[425] But one of the conflicts, I think, is what you just said, which is when you're an athlete, you want to devote all your mental energy to being good now.

[426] So do you have any advice for athletes or for people who are trying to help athletes in the afterlife?

[427] How do you balance that, you know, do your job now, do it well, but also try to think about preparing for the future.

[428] Yeah, I'm probably not the best person for that.

[429] Because like I said, I mean, I'm not really setting myself up for life after football.

[430] But you're in good, you're making enough money unless you're a total fool with it, which you seem like you're not.

[431] You're going to be fine.

[432] There are a lot of people who earn.

[433] I know.

[434] Right?

[435] That's the, yeah, that's the conundrum there is where do you, like you said, you want to set yourself up for success after football and use this avenue to kind of propel yourself into something that is beneficial for you.

[436] when this is all done because it's a short part of our life right here and I've been fortunate enough to play for going on 12 years and even then if I retired this I'm still 33 you know so I have hopefully a large chunk of my life left have you ever been a player rep on your team or are you now?

[437] No I'm not yeah but like if you were if the PA came to you and said listen Joe you've had this amazing long career how would you suggest that the more at the median player the guy who's going to be in for three or four years and who earns maybe four to eight million dollars which sounds in the beginning like a lifetime but it's not how would you know do you have any advice the PA does a great job of setting us up with programs and stuff in the off season of trying to take advantage I mean that's all to the players as well though you know and that's more of the thing that you know what you said is you know for me personally like I have two young kids um the off season is my time to really hang out and be a dad and you know i love spending time with them and i love being with them and all this stuff is kind of set up for you know a week two week programs and i just don't want to sacrifice that week potentially just hang out with my kids just go and you know go to broadcasting boot camp or whatever it is and um you know i feel like this is kind of like on -the -job training too for that stuff so i mean i try to take this stuff seriously is what I'm doing is this this could be a potential avenue for me down the road and something in broadcasting or something like that but um as far as taking advantage of the programs I'm probably the best person to talk about yeah all right so go back to last year losing uh nine in a row you'd never had you ever been on a team in your whole athletic career where you lost nine games in a row at anything the year before that we went two and 14 yeah true so yeah we had a rough rough role there for a couple years and I think that was what was coupled with too you know with my body feeling bad we'd coming off a two and 14 year new head coach again and kind of going the 0 -N -7 route as we were going at that point in the season last year and it was just kind of, oh, I just don't want to be a part of a rebuild again.

[438] Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, maybe this is farther along than I thought, but it's not, you know, and I think that we have a really good thing going here.

[439] So we keep hearing from players and execs that even at 0 -9, the locker room was good.

[440] The building was, you know, positive.

[441] It was.

[442] It sounds like everybody but you.

[443] You, it sounds like.

[444] But yours is more about personally.

[445] This was me personally.

[446] The locker room, and I was pretty, I mean, I was pretty vocal about this, but the media here was something I'd never, like, seen before in my career.

[447] I mean, in 11 years, I haven't seen a locker room that was going through the adversity that we had gone through last season and still stayed so solid and together.

[448] There was not the, I mean, I was on teams where we were 12 and 4, 13, and 3, and we had more division in the locker room than we had last year at 0 .9.

[449] How do you?

[450] So, I mean, we had a game when we won.

[451] against New York Giants and I was like celebrating it was like I mean I even had a quote in the paper here it was like I felt this felt as good as when we won the NFC championship game because I was just so like deserving for all the guys in the locker room to like have that success to stay with it and I think that was kind of how one of the huge reasons why we finished the way we did how do you account for that positivity I mean obviously the coach everybody I'm guessing guys like you also played a big role but still it's hard to be 0 and 9 and it is very trying and I think it definitely starts with leadership up front you know it starts with with john it starts with Kyle the kind of culture that they set the way they come to work after a loss you know they kind of set the table for everybody else and then you know it's up to the veteran players as well to kind of go out there on the practice field and and keep working every single day and kind of setting the example of how you work through it and you know not pointing the fingers yeah we're a really good room as far as that goes and then and we had a really cool rookie class last year too that just didn't you know take an easy way out they just kept on kept on working really really hard so it was fun to see all kind of came together do you think that had anything to do with the kind of people that john was looking for in his rookie draft yeah i think it definitely did i think it was i mean you saw that right away when those guys came in there were guys that were not so much about being an NFL football player but they enjoyed the work of being an NFL football player and football meant something to them and, you know, that's one of the hard things to figure out about guys coming out of college now is because they're so programmed to say what they think they're supposed to be saying to the executives and the head coach that really don't know, you know, what you're getting and they think they did a tremendous job of figuring out who are the right guys to bring in and we all across the whole entire draft class last season we had guys that really performed.

[452] So McGlinchie is the giant, excuse me, McGlinchie is the Niners number one pick this year.

[453] He is a giant, too.

[454] He is a giant, man. All right, so we've been reading that you have been very helpful, taking them under your slightly less giant wing.

[455] Yeah.

[456] And this is an amazing thing to people outside of football where you've got guys on a team who are working with their ultimate replacements and yet trying to help them.

[457] Now, I'm guessing you in your 12th year, it's a little easier.

[458] If you were in your fourth year, he might be a little bit more of a threat.

[459] I'm curious if you could talk about that whole dynamic for a second.

[460] Yeah, and it's a little bit different too because we have two different positions.

[461] You know, he plays the right side.

[462] But ultimately, he's designed to move over, right?

[463] Yeah, he didn't get a draft ninth overall to go play.

[464] Right, right tackle the whole career.

[465] But yeah, I mean, I'm trying to, we're all trying to win games here.

[466] So, I mean, it doesn't matter if I'm feeling insecure about my job that I can't help a guy that's coming in.

[467] I mean, that's on me. When you came in as a rookie, did you have guys who theoretically could have felt threatened by you, but who helped you out a lot?

[468] Yeah, we had a good room.

[469] It wasn't, we didn't have like an established guy.

[470] I mean, I came in and was competing right away.

[471] You know, I kind of got drafted to take someone's job.

[472] So that was a little bit different of dynamic.

[473] but it was never like, you know, there was another, there was no, like, weird tension in the room about that.

[474] And I just feel like, I don't know, I'm trying to teach him everything.

[475] I know.

[476] I feel like it's my duty as an offensive lineman that's been in this league for a long time to try to, you know, accelerate his progression as a football player.

[477] And I'm just trying to teach him everything I can.

[478] And it's up to him if he wants to listen, if he doesn't want to listen.

[479] And he figured out himself, and that's kind of what I did, too, is to figure out what works best for you.

[480] But I'm not going to, if he wants to ask me anything, you can about the NFL, the NFL life, you know, how to take care of your body off the field, you know, who to associate with, who not to associate with, all the stuff that comes with being an NFL player.

[481] I mean, I'm more than welcome to, more than willing to help him out there.

[482] So at the end of the season, winning the last five at QB, who obviously was, you know, performing really well, hopefully long term.

[483] What did that feel like for you?

[484] Like, on the one hand, you were a six and ten team, which is.

[485] very good.

[486] On the other hand, you go out with a five -game winning streak and you are feeling better.

[487] So what was your kind of mind like during the off -season and then now preseason looking toward this year?

[488] How optimistic, how realistic, et cetera, et cetera.

[489] Yeah, I mean, it was huge for our team last year to finish the way we did.

[490] You know, Jimmy coming in really made a huge difference for us.

[491] I thought he played at a high level.

[492] You can see why, you know, we gave up draft pick for him, signed him to a big contract this off season.

[493] He's the real deal every way.

[494] But I think the trap is, too, is to look at that last season, those five games that we ended up with and think that we're just going to show up and do that again this year.

[495] I mean, every season, I've been a part of it for a long time.

[496] Every season is a brand new season and brings a lot of different challenges and different situations that you have to deal with, whether it be injuries or, you know, another team in the division stepping up or...

[497] You guys had a lot of injuries last year, didn't you?

[498] We did.

[499] The last couple of two years, actually, we've had a lot of.

[500] I had a lot of injuries, a lot of guys going on AR.

[501] So, I mean, that's the thing, is taking it one day at a time.

[502] And I think we've done a good job with that this offseason so far.

[503] Were you a big fan of Richard Sherman in previous years?

[504] No, because he was on the other team and he was so good.

[505] But I think that was part of the reason why I wasn't because he was so good at what he did.

[506] He's so frustrating to go against because he kind of knew that that side of the field was always going to be kind of taken care of whenever he played the Seahawks.

[507] So I'm super excited to have him on our team, obviously.

[508] I mean, I think he's a great person, great player.

[509] He brings a ton of veteran leadership to the locker room, and especially in that DB room that we have right now, it's a young room.

[510] To add him as a veteran voice in there is, I mean, nothing but positive.

[511] How many games would you need to win this year to consider it a successful season?

[512] I'd always just think of it as a Super Bowl, you know.

[513] Even the years that we were looked at on paper as not being a good team, and I've always just thought that's a goal.

[514] I mean, it should be the goal every single year.

[515] But I never really have gotten into what the win is, what the predictions are, I mean, that's our goal every single season.

[516] And at the end of the day, too, it's just what you can do today to better yourself to get to that goal.

[517] You're probably the only guy here, maybe a couple who lost the Super Bowl, right?

[518] Me and Garrett Seleck, I believe, were the only two left, right?

[519] I think Saluk.

[520] Wow.

[521] What's that feel like?

[522] Losing the Super Bowl or being the one of the last two?

[523] No, losing the Super Bowl.

[524] Oh, man, it sucked.

[525] Oh, that's like the worst day of my life.

[526] Thanks for bringing that up.

[527] You're welcome.

[528] no i mean we were so the way we did it too is just uh it's still very fresh in my mind um you know we were we were down big early then had that big come back in the second half and then had that drive in the fourth quarter kind of time was running out we had first and goal from the seven yard line thinking that we're going to go in we were the best rushing attack in the NFL and you know we pass it four times so or three times we ran it the first time yeah and yeah and lost so i mean this sucked because we were so close I mean, you just taste it.

[529] You know, that victory was so close, but it wasn't meant to be.

[530] So here I am, and I play until I'm 20, you know, 20 more years to try to win a Super Bowl.

[531] So I have to say, I admire you as a football player who seemed like a fine human, but what I really, really, really like is I find your musical performances.

[532] Oh, gosh, yeah.

[533] I think your Hakuna Matata is the finest I've ever heard.

[534] Thank you.

[535] It's absolutely extraordinary.

[536] So I would be so honored Just a who You want to hook?

[537] I'll take some of Kuna I'll take whatever you I mean I know you've been working hard You just came in from a two hour practice Do you like Moana?

[538] I don't know Moana All right well I can I don't What's your what's your repertoire What do you got?

[539] So I got a four -year -old daughter Who's obsessed with Disney songs And so that's my repertoire right now And Moana is her go -to I'm sure I love Moana It's really up to you Okay okay okay I see what's happening, yeah.

[540] You're face to face with greatness, and it's strange.

[541] You don't even know how you feel.

[542] It's adorable.

[543] Well, it's nice to see the humans never change.

[544] Open your eyes, let's begin.

[545] Yes, it's really me, it's Maui, breathe it in.

[546] I know it's a lot, the hair, the bod.

[547] When you stare at a demigod.

[548] What can I say?

[549] Except you're welcome At the time that's All right I'm going to do on a Macuna Matata By the way, you know who sings that, Stephen in the movie?

[550] I don't know.

[551] The rock.

[552] The rock.

[553] Oh, really?

[554] Really?

[555] Oh, yeah.

[556] All right, you better watch out.

[557] Hakuna Matata.

[558] What a wonderful phrase.

[559] Hakuna Matata ain't no passing craze It means no worries for the rest of your days.

[560] It's our problem -free, philosophy, akuna matata.

[561] There you go.

[562] Extraordinary.

[563] Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Staley, left tackle for the 49ers in future musical theater.

[564] I've got gadgets and gizmos a plenty.

[565] I've got who's it and what's it's galore.

[566] you want to think of my bobs I got is it 20 or plenty I got 20 you don't have kids what are you doing but who cares no big deal I want more I can't believe there's a question about what you're doing after football it seems obvious children's theater right pleasure and I thank you very much yeah thank you very much I wish you a very successful season appreciate it thank you very much yeah thanks so much for coming in I'm listening you guys All the all time, too.

[567] Oh, thanks.

[568] Appreciate it.

[569] And here now is our conversation with the brand new 49er and giant of a man that Staley was talking about.

[570] Offensive tackle, Mike McGlinchie.

[571] You are going to be starting here playing right tackle, I understand.

[572] Yes, sir.

[573] Migrating eventually to left tackle, probably.

[574] If that's their plan, that's what they say.

[575] I'll do whatever they say, they need me to do.

[576] So here's the thing, we always hear, like, obviously you're, you know, first round draft picks.

[577] So nobody's trying to bury you.

[578] But we do hear the story.

[579] stories about how veterans who are trying to, you know, theoretically make welcome young guys at their positions sometimes aren't as welcoming as they might be.

[580] I know that you've been getting a, you know, good advice and welcome from Joe Staley.

[581] I'm just curious, like, what your expectations were and so on on that front.

[582] Yeah, I really didn't know what to expect because I've heard a lot of different things.

[583] I came from an O -Line room that was completely the opposite So to that, at Notre Dame, we always helped out everyone that came into the room no matter what age you were.

[584] You were always, you know, welcome to the part of the family.

[585] And fortunately, here in San Francisco, I've had the same experience thus far.

[586] I mean, it's an awesome group that we have.

[587] And there hasn't been anybody that's making you feel like crap or anybody that's making you pay your dues too hard other than, you know, a couple jokes here and there.

[588] But, no, it's been an awesome experience with all the vets, all the guys that we have in our room and everybody's just trying to do the same job.

[589] And that's the block.

[590] Is there any rookie hazing anymore?

[591] Uh, nothing that I've experienced.

[592] I mean, we're only, we're only in day two of practice.

[593] So wait, I'm assuming I'm waiting until training camp.

[594] I'm, I still have my guard up a little bit.

[595] So, yeah, even in two weeks, I still have a little bit of a guard up to see what's coming.

[596] Uh, you're how tall?

[597] About six foot eight.

[598] And you're weighing what?

[599] Like three, 10, something like that.

[600] And, uh, what's, what's your optimal weight?

[601] Is that about that?

[602] Yeah, right there.

[603] Yeah.

[604] What's your shirt?

[605] Is it West Point?

[606] A family friend of ours plays basketball up there.

[607] I see.

[608] They had a, I think they missed bought a 2XL.

[609] I see.

[610] I was one guy that they knew for it.

[611] Yeah.

[612] You come from a big family, four brothers, one sister, something like that?

[613] Yeah, four brothers, one sister.

[614] I'm the oldest of six.

[615] Okay.

[616] Are they athletic?

[617] Yeah, yeah.

[618] Nothing, I don't know, we'll see.

[619] They're all younger than me, so I don't know if anybody's going to make it to the NFL, but yeah, they're definitely play their sports.

[620] Yeah, yeah.

[621] So how many games have you missed due to injury in the last ever years?

[622] Never.

[623] I've never missed a game.

[624] Yeah, there's always, ever since, unless there was like a family obligation when I was in like in first or second grade, but I can't remember that.

[625] So.

[626] But since you play football, presumably you've been a little bit injured.

[627] What are some of the things you've played through?

[628] Spraining left ankle, stomach flu, broken hand, you know, a couple nicks every other where.

[629] So nothing, nothing major.

[630] broken hand something that most sane people would have not played with or?

[631] It depends on how much you love football, I guess.

[632] Yeah.

[633] Yeah.

[634] Can you explain, especially for people who don't care or know anything about football at all, like what's your job?

[635] My job is to open up running lanes and keep people off of Jimmy Garoppel.

[636] So that's all I can, I'm just, I just kind of get in the way is really what my job is.

[637] Yeah.

[638] So the paradox, or I guess the, maybe it's not a paradox.

[639] It's the hard thing to come across is someone with your size, who's also fast and coordinated and a good athlete.

[640] So there aren't that many of you to start with, but then there are a lot of people your size and speed who don't make it.

[641] So what is it, you think, that is the difference between people who are physically capable and who are gifted with the size, but who don't have the capability to play at your level in college and now in the NFL?

[642] Well, I think it's, it's all mental, I think.

[643] I think it's about how much you want it, how much you love it, and how much you're willing to sacrifice for it.

[644] I was never the best athlete on my team.

[645] I'm still not the best athlete on my team here, but I've always wanted it more.

[646] I've always worked harder than everybody else, and just attention to detail and the things that you need to know how to self -correct, you need to know how to learn.

[647] And I was always pretty good at learning, so the faster you can do that, Combined with, you know, really, really truly wanting something that bad, that's what separates everybody else.

[648] Can you give me an example of that?

[649] Like, I like football.

[650] I've liked football my whole life.

[651] But, like, I really don't know.

[652] When you talk about learning how to learn in your positions, give me an example of a particular thing that you've gotten better at maybe over the years and how you figured out how to get better at.

[653] I think it's just fundamentally in how to move.

[654] Playing offensive line is one of the more unnatural human movements.

[655] earth in sport, I think.

[656] You're required to move other large men out of the way.

[657] And when you're trying to stop them in pass protection, you're completely moving backwards.

[658] So it's a different, it's a really, really different thing to have to learn how to do.

[659] And until your body can feel it, until you can watch it on film and self -diagnosed right when things happen, that's where the separation comes in.

[660] So when you watch yourself on film, what do you look for, what do you learn from?

[661] Do you look at for a case where if you've been beat what you were doing, were you bent or wrong?

[662] Well, you know, when you get beat and you're at this level, you know why pretty much immediately.

[663] You're just looking at it to look at it and visualize it, have how not to do it again.

[664] When you say why, does that mean because it's you or because it's the other guy was I'm pretty convinced that offensive, unless you're getting an absolute freakazoid, all defensive players are playing off of what you do.

[665] So if I can control what I can do better than the other guy, then I'm going to be in a better position.

[666] Right.

[667] What about just confidence?

[668] Does it ebb and flow for you?

[669] I think it is when you're young.

[670] When you first starting out at a major level of football, like it did at Notre Dame for me, my first couple of years, I certainly didn't believe that I was going to be what I became to be.

[671] And I'm still not, I don't think, what I want to be.

[672] So it's always a learning process of continuing to move on and continue to get better.

[673] And, you know, definitely confidence waves a little bit when you're young and mistakes constantly are happening.

[674] But when you get to this level, if you're not confident, you're probably not going to be able to, you know, do your job.

[675] But that said, I mean, there are a lot of guys who get drafted first round who don't work out.

[676] There are a lot of guys who are undrafted.

[677] Well, maybe not a lot of guys who are undrafted, but they're undrafted guys who do become great players, become Hall of Fame players, how do you, you know, how do you account for that?

[678] I mean, how, I think that a lot of guys come from smaller situations or different situations in college that they knew that some of the undrafted guys that, you know, had a tough situation in college, came from a smaller school, had other people producing ahead of them at their school, and, you know, they're late bloomers.

[679] And then once they get their shot and eventually some, if you really, truly wanted a, a flip will switch inside you to make, make sure it happens.

[680] I think sometimes first round things, there's a lot of, especially in today's day and age, there's a lot of media, a lot of media attention.

[681] And if you play at a big time program or if you have a lot of media attention behind you, you know, you're kind of pressured in making picks that necessarily aren't the best ones.

[682] And it's a mixture of misinformation of first round guys of who they are as a person and what they can do as a player.

[683] And I think some of it's probably a little bit of complacency as well.

[684] being a first round pick, there's obviously a huge, you know, pride or badge of honor associated with that.

[685] But on the other hand, especially when you come into your team now and you were your team's first pick this year, what kind of pressure does that put on you?

[686] I'm not really worried about the pressure.

[687] And I think that's one thing that I learned greater as college went on.

[688] And, you know, once attention starts getting towards your way, then expectations just continue to grow.

[689] And you should look at expectation as something that you've earned.

[690] And I think that's something that I've always tried to do, is if people are expecting the highest and most production out of me, then I've done something right along the way to get there.

[691] So I just got to stay true to what I'm doing and stay true to who I am and good things will happen.

[692] If I recall, and I may be wrong, so pardon me if I am, you were not contacted by the Niners during the run -up to the draft.

[693] Is that right?

[694] So I had one formal interview with them at the Combine for 15 minutes long, and that was the only contact that I had.

[695] And then you probably had contact with a lot of other teams.

[696] A lot of other teams.

[697] Yeah, I had, you know, individual workouts where coaches came to my school.

[698] I was flown to, you know, some of these teams were three or four different visits with them.

[699] And, you know, sometimes it's just all facade and they're trying to play a hand with other teams or sometimes it's really truly invested interest in you.

[700] But, yeah, I think that I'm lucky because I love the situation here.

[701] I love where this organization is at.

[702] And, you know, the area that I get to live in now is pretty sweet, too.

[703] Did they not, I mean, you always hear these cat and mouse games that a team won't contact a guy like you because they don't want to tip to other teams that they're interested in you.

[704] Did you talk about that after the fact with John?

[705] I didn't talk about it necessarily.

[706] I did a little bit with Kyle because he had had a, he was joking around with me because he was so close with my cousin Matt, who was his quarterback for two years.

[707] And Matt Ryan was one of the best quarterbacks in the last whatever 10.

[708] He's done a pretty good job.

[709] Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[710] But Kyle and him were pretty close, and he didn't even tell Kyle that they were interested just because he didn't want it to get back to either me or somebody else.

[711] Why?

[712] Well, just so that things didn't happen unpredictably during the draft.

[713] So they don't lose you to someone else?

[714] Yeah.

[715] So how surprised were you?

[716] Who did you get the call from, John or Kyle?

[717] John was first, and then Kyle was right after him.

[718] Yeah.

[719] So as soon as Roquan Smith was announced for the Bears, my phone rang, and there was John Lynch on the other line.

[720] I'm pretty excited.

[721] I didn't expect it to happen, but it was pretty awesome.

[722] Yeah.

[723] This team has obviously had a pretty eventful last, well, like 50 years, but the last, you know, five, eight, ten years, particularly some good and a lot not so good.

[724] What's it feel like to be coming onto a team?

[725] Obviously, you've got your stuff to take care of, but this team is in turnaround that started out really bad last year, then ended up really, really good.

[726] curious what you think of is like what are you going to contribute to that turnaround well i hope to continue to do my job and and and to the best of my ability and that the best ability in this league to you know help the 49ers win games the only three goals that i've ever had in my my career of playing high level football is to help my team win be the best at what i do and then you know the third one is be the best offensive line unit and i guess now in the NFL it wasn't in the in the nation in college but now it's in the NFL yeah um you were Captain of Notre Dame twice, right?

[727] What are some duties associated with that that the public might not know about?

[728] I don't know if there's anything, you know, everybody knows what a captain does, I think.

[729] You're not doing bed checks.

[730] No, I mean, if it's needed, I would have.

[731] But we had a pretty good group of guys in Notre Dame that, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't, we had some hard times there in my true senior season.

[732] We went four and eight.

[733] It was a hard season.

[734] But, you know, it's just the normal, be a good teammate, set the example.

[735] and if anything that needs to be said, that needs to be said, do you say it?

[736] Yeah.

[737] How many calories do you eat in a day?

[738] Do you know?

[739] I don't count.

[740] I just try to eat what's right for me. And I know my body at this point of what I need to eat to keep weight on or if I need, I haven't really ever had the feeling of needing to lose weight.

[741] But so to get my body to feel and look the best that it can is I know what I need to do.

[742] Yeah.

[743] So I weigh like 172.

[744] Do you think you could like break me?

[745] it depends on where we're going i don't know i don't know if i could break you on a football field but if i just throw me up against a wall here i don't know if i have that i don't know if i have that killer instinct in me to just do that yeah you mean right now yeah well if i step between white lines it's a little different i'm just curious like literally what a guy of your strength and size could do like you could pick me up and put me through this wall though right normally um offensive alignment of the best guys on the football team so i know that i know that you're also the smartest but that's the thing with football it's it's a it's a dangerous game it can it's hard it's hard to live through and it's hard to be able to flip that switch and some guys you know unfortunately aren't able to to to have as distinct lines with that and but um the good ones do and the best guys do and it's it's a matter of you know when it's time to work it's time to work and you have to have that edge to you but you know when you're in everyday life you're no better than anybody else it's really interesting you say that.

[746] A sports journal, a really good sports writer once wrote this thing that captivated me about sports because I've been a sports fan for a long time.

[747] And he said, when athletes get in trouble, everybody says, oh, you know, they kind of make more of it than is normal.

[748] And he said that if you think about it, sports, you're encouraged to do all these things that you're not allowed to do.

[749] Yeah, you're supposed to be big and mighty.

[750] You're supposed to be the, as, you know, there's supposed to be a different aura about you when you cross it, when you get onto a field, that it's not normal for society.

[751] So it definitely, it's a hazy world if you, if you can't manage yourself, but, you know, I've never had that issue.

[752] Well, you seem, I mean, plainly your record is, is, is, we know that you can manage yourself.

[753] Have you had guys on your team, Notre Dame, let's say, who you saw, we're having a hard time drawing that line and tried to help them?

[754] Yeah, I think it's, it's, it's, it's not as much of a physical thing as it is mental.

[755] You know, when guys get a little too big for their britches, you got to bring them back a little bit, or if they're just non -responsive, then you've got to figure out a way to, you know, probably get them off your team.

[756] So, like I said, you know, you're a great football player.

[757] We can all be great football players, but in the end of the day, we're no better than anybody else.

[758] We have a job.

[759] Other people have jobs that they do, so it's just our line of work.

[760] You know, it's just a different field of work.

[761] Yeah.

[762] I thank you very much, and I hope you have a great first year, and I wish you all success.

[763] Next up is Kyle Eustech, a fullback about to start his second season with the 49ers.

[764] Just got done doing some brain training.

[765] What is brain training?

[766] So we've been doing some stuff with this company called Neuropeak Pro.

[767] That I mean, it started off as you're just working on some different breathing techniques, sinking it up with your heart rate.

[768] But now we've kind of moved on to a more advanced part of it where you're working I'm putting your brain in a parasympathetic state.

[769] I don't want to get too.

[770] What's that?

[771] I mean, I kind of know what the word means, but I don't know how.

[772] Basically, get you out of that fight or flight sense where, um, you know, a lot of us, you, we could just be sitting in a room like this.

[773] And for whatever reason, your brain is in that fight or flight state and I can't calm down and it can't get into this recovery mode.

[774] So, um, we do this thing where we like, we watch basically you're, you're hooked up.

[775] Um, you're, these, uh, sensors are reading your brain waves and depending on how they're reacting while you're watching a movie that movie will either shrink or pause or brighten and it's kind of like giving your brain feedback on how it's supposed to act and kind of put you back into a better this is over multiple sessions over multiple days or something yeah so I'm right now I'm trying to log I think it's 15 hours worth of training and I'm about 12 hours in how many other guys on the team are doing this?

[776] I don't know how many players.

[777] Do you know, probably like six?

[778] So it's voluntary.

[779] Yeah.

[780] And why did you volunteer?

[781] Well, I had a concussion last year.

[782] And so this offseason, I kind of made like a dedicated or I decided that I wanted to put a lot of energy towards my brain this offseason.

[783] So this was something that I came across and jumped on it.

[784] Interesting.

[785] How, so you're like 12 hours into your, and what happens when you become like proficient at 15 hours?

[786] Can you hypnotize?

[787] Well, I'll get a reassessment at 15 hours.

[788] And we'll kind of see, you know, where my brain is at.

[789] But I've already seen the benefits of it where anxiety levels have gone down big time, sleeping well.

[790] And I already feel like I'm processing information faster.

[791] Now, how do you persuade yourself that that's not all placebo?

[792] I know.

[793] Yeah, that's definitely something, you know, you have to watch out for.

[794] But I mean, I'm, I mean, even if it is, that's what I always say about the placebo effect.

[795] Even if none of those supplements in my locker work, technically work.

[796] If in my head they are, then they are.

[797] Have you, has it translated it all into playing football?

[798] Well, I mean, today was only our second day of practice.

[799] I mean, I want to think that I was processing things visually quicker today.

[800] So, I mean, hopefully.

[801] Interesting.

[802] Yeah.

[803] Let's back up just since we didn't get it.

[804] Would you just say your name and what you do?

[805] Yeah, Kyle used check, fullback for the San Francisco 49ers.

[806] Okay, you happen to go to Harvard.

[807] Yep.

[808] Don't use that against me. I won't use that.

[809] How many Harvard alum are in the NFL these days, you know?

[810] You'd be surprised.

[811] I think we have somewhere and around like 12 maybe.

[812] Really?

[813] Yeah.

[814] Yeah.

[815] Yeah.

[816] All right.

[817] So your career, you started Baltimore, correct?

[818] First four years, Baltimore.

[819] Yeah.

[820] Then one year?

[821] Four years, Baltimore.

[822] This is my second year.

[823] Sorry, then here.

[824] All right.

[825] So you came in just in time for all the fun here, right?

[826] So you were coming onto a team that had gone two and 14 the year before.

[827] Yeah.

[828] And then last year was the dawn of a new era.

[829] Yeah.

[830] Just walk me through your process last year with 09 and so on.

[831] I mean, it was an interesting deal.

[832] Went into free agency.

[833] And, you know, that's an interesting.

[834] thing in itself just not exactly knowing where you're going to be um you know i had had just just got engaged so trying to figure out you know well thank you're married now now i assume not yet actually long engagement we got we got a we got a date set for uh this next one off season yeah yeah um but you know just you know working with that having you know to figure out where she's going to be coming with me and um but i mean everything worked out great when uh You know, my agent went to Combine.

[835] He's talking with a lot of different teams and got a sense that San Francisco was really interested.

[836] And the idea of coming out to California, the idea of playing for Kyle Shanahan, were two really great ideas to me, playing for John Lynch, a former player.

[837] Did you know any, did you know much about them other than what you, you know, kind of?

[838] I knew a lot about Kyle because when I was in Baltimore, there was rumors that we were going to hire him as an offensive.

[839] coordinator.

[840] And he's kind of from that Gary Kubiak tree.

[841] And that offense fits me very well.

[842] And I had a great year when Kubiak was my offense coordinator.

[843] So I was excited about that.

[844] Definitely knew who John Lynch was.

[845] Remembered him as a player.

[846] And just like the idea of a former player running the organization.

[847] I thought that was really cool.

[848] So then when you first heard that they were interested in you, did you have pause about the Niners considering that they'd had some rough years?

[849] Yeah.

[850] I mean, I mean, that was something I definitely had to consider, was coming to a team that didn't really have a ton of success.

[851] But I try to kind of spin it in my head to think about it as, like, how cool would it be to be part of that first class almost that turns it around?

[852] You know, it's almost like going to that college and being part of the first recruiting class for that head coach that turns the whole thing around.

[853] And that's how I kind of looked at it here.

[854] We were kind of Kyle's first free agent class that, you know, hopefully you can get this thing turned around.

[855] And then obviously it didn't turn around, at least in the beginning.

[856] So what, I mean, I look at it now collectively as 0 and 9, but obviously it's one week at a time.

[857] And I'm guessing it gets a little bit more frustrating every week.

[858] What was what was going on for you then?

[859] Definitely super frustrating, not how we expected things to start.

[860] But you'd be surprised just how positive things stayed around here.

[861] It was pretty incredible.

[862] Not something that I was used to experiencing in Baltimore.

[863] If we lost a couple games in a row, I mean, things were getting crazy in the facility and people were walking on eggshell.

[864] You got a hard box charge.

[865] What do you expect?

[866] But nobody was walking on eggshells here.

[867] We were still very confident that we were moving in the right direction.

[868] And, you know, every week, Kyle would pull up some clips to show, like, we're making progress.

[869] I swear, guys, like, just stick to it and it's going to turn around.

[870] And once it did, man, it made it super rewarding.

[871] You know, we've heard exactly the same thing from everyone from Jed to players, etc., which is that you'd never know from the locker room that it was an 0 -9 team.

[872] And I'm just curious, I guess kind of hooking up the two things you said about your brain training and Kyle showing you clips of things that are going well.

[873] Was that a kind of like, do you think he was practicing some kind of popular?

[874] positive psychology that worked because it I mean the reality was you were oh and nine and yet people seem to think that success was coming still yeah definitely I think you know you don't so you don't see the positivity in like our record we got to find it somewhere else so he did a great job of showing us those clips and showing us you know just exactly what you're doing well and um you know as a football player if you're never getting or at least the way I work if I'm never getting any positive feedback.

[875] I mean, that makes things really tough.

[876] So for him to do that, I know that really struck home with me to, you know, he shows me a clip from the game, a clip from practice that week where I did something really well and he points it out.

[877] I'm like, okay, I'm doing something right and it motivates you.

[878] I have to say, that just sounds like exactly the opposite of what lay people think about football coaches.

[879] We think like you could have a pretty good game and then they call you and show you this is the block you missed and so on.

[880] That definitely exists.

[881] And I'm I've definitely been a part of that, too.

[882] But I almost feel like it's more of a kind of a new age thinking of this more positive feedback.

[883] And I know it definitely resonates with me. You know, I've never gotten much from a coach that's just screaming at me and telling me how terrible I am.

[884] I don't know.

[885] That just doesn't work for me. I like a guy that points out when I do something incorrectly, but he also rewards me when I'm doing something the right way.

[886] Yeah, that's interesting.

[887] So are there any other examples you can get?

[888] Because that's the best example we've heard of how the positivity kind of happened, which is him showing you the cuts of you doing good stuff.

[889] Can you think of any other examples?

[890] I mean, I just think about my times like with the Ravens when things weren't going well.

[891] You just, there was just a mood in the building, you know, when you're passing coaches in the hallway.

[892] way like you're trying to keep it short.

[893] You're not trying to make a ton of eye contact.

[894] You just want to get moving and get through your day where here it just, it really wasn't like that.

[895] You, you saw your position coach and it was easy to still go talk to him.

[896] You didn't feel awkward, you know, that I didn't get any sense of that.

[897] What are your expectations for this year?

[898] I got high expectations and I expect to win.

[899] I think you can already feel it just from the two practices that we've had so far that things feel a lot different than they did last year.

[900] There's a lot more confidence.

[901] On the offensive side, there's definitely a better understanding of the offense as a whole, you know, because we've been in it for a year.

[902] Was it a lot of relearning for you?

[903] Was it a system that took a lot of work?

[904] Well, I played in a system that was similar, but I mean, Kyle takes everything to a whole other level.

[905] So there was a lot of learning new stuff and I mean for anybody when you're learning something new you just you don't react quite as fast you know there's just that millisecond of hesitation and you'd be surprised what a huge difference like right so can you help me reconcile this here's what I don't understand I know that NFL offenses are super complex right that lay people we literally wouldn't even understand the terminology in the play call right at all and that you got 11 guys who all A, understand it, B, then execute it at the same time at lightning speed, okay?

[906] So we know how hard that is.

[907] But then we also see that Jimmy Garoppolo comes in and after like 10 days is basically running that offense and winning is five games in a row.

[908] How do you explain that?

[909] That's a great question.

[910] I think you really got to give Jimmy a lot of credit.

[911] I think he did such a good job of, I mean, he put in serious time after practice with the coaches by himself.

[912] I mean, he was here all night, just trying to learn this playbook.

[913] And I think he also got to attribute the fact that he was able to extend plays.

[914] He's able to get the ball out quickly.

[915] And, you know, people always ask, what was the difference in our offense before Jimmy and once Jimmy came along?

[916] And I think the difference was we're converting on third down.

[917] When you convert on third down, you get to run more plays.

[918] When you run more plays.

[919] You get to dive deeper into your playbook and into your game plan of that week.

[920] And that's when you get to really start to exploit the defense and all that work you put in this week where, okay, we saw they were doing this.

[921] Like, and we're going to take advantage of that.

[922] Well, when you're three and out, you can't really set things up, you know, but when you're actually moving the ball and getting first downs, you start to set things up and things really start to come together.

[923] Yeah.

[924] You had a concussion last year.

[925] You said, was it during a game?

[926] game or practice during game what happened um so we were playing the uh la rams it was a thursday night game it was week three and we're on the goal line and just running a lead play and smack my head with their linebacker and just had a really it was really weird i remember it's it like sounded like uh like i remember hearing a noise in my head it was almost like a like a bell like just ringing.

[927] I remember feeling like a, I said a tuning fork, like for a guitar or something.

[928] It was weirdest feeling.

[929] Right after that play, you know, I'm pretty shook up, but we got back up to the line very quickly.

[930] We're trying to get another play in.

[931] And I remember I'm sitting in the huddle and I'm like, I'm definitely messed up.

[932] But like, do I sit down and like wait for the trainer or do I, let's just run this next play and then I'll figure it out after that.

[933] Well, it all happened so quickly.

[934] I stayed in.

[935] I ran the next play.

[936] And it was the worst decision.

[937] Same thing, ran into the lineback and that one, you know, finally put me out where I was, you know, unconscious for a second.

[938] And then had to, you know, get taken in by the trainers and all that kind of stuff.

[939] Wow.

[940] You regret?

[941] It sounds like you regret the decision.

[942] The second play, definitely, yeah.

[943] I should have taken myself out.

[944] But things happen so quickly and, you know, a little bit of it.

[945] Well, how much of it is also just, you know, macho?

[946] There's a little bit of pride in there, which is stupid because there shouldn't be.

[947] Like, you know, there's no...

[948] That's changing, I gather, in the other film?

[949] It definitely is changing.

[950] Like, there's no shame in, like, taking yourself out in that situation.

[951] Like, your brain is way too important for this kind of stuff.

[952] And I think guys are starting to understand that a lot more.

[953] But it's still, I think, so ingrained in all of us that there's a little bit of that pride that still, you know, keeps guys in there maybe a play or too long.

[954] Had you had concussions previously?

[955] Nothing officially registered.

[956] And definitely, I'm sure I had, you know, but nothing that I had actually been.

[957] John Urshel, who we've had on the show actually a couple times.

[958] Oh, really?

[959] I love him.

[960] I mean, he's just such an interesting, nice guy, an interesting guy.

[961] So, you know, his decision to retire, I think, was misunderstood.

[962] It was more complicated than just, you know, I saw the report.

[963] He'd had a concussion.

[964] I think he got in practice when he was with the Ravens.

[965] I'm just curious, you know, whether his decision, whether that made you think about anything, differently yourself.

[966] You know, I would never take it to the point, or at least I don't think I would retire unless, you know, I started to rack up a lot, you know, a lot of concussions.

[967] That became a problem.

[968] But, you know, it's just I love the game too much that I don't think I could step away from it early.

[969] And, you know, so that I don't run into that situation, that's why I'm trying to do some of these different things to really, um, strengthen the brain and just get a better understanding of it and, you know, all those sort of things.

[970] Do you meditate or have you ever?

[971] Yeah.

[972] Yeah.

[973] Does it, have you noticed any effect from that as well?

[974] I have.

[975] Um, I actually, I enjoy that.

[976] And I mean, it's nothing extensive.

[977] It's, you know, it's maybe six to 10 minutes here.

[978] Um, you know, I try to do it at twice, you try twice, twice a day or?

[979] Um, usually just once before, I usually do it before I go to bed.

[980] Um, at the very least, I, um, at the very least, I, I try to do it the night before games, but I do a pretty good job of it.

[981] Tell us something about being a professional athlete or more specifically, you know, an NFL fullback that you think most people just have no concept of or wouldn't understand or maybe appreciate, maybe.

[982] I think a lot of people, I don't think they understand the amount of time that's put in outside of Sunday.

[983] You know, I think a lot of people, they know.

[984] we practice.

[985] They know we work out, but I don't think they realize that like during our phase two of our offseason program, we're only blocked for four hours.

[986] I'm here for eight, nine hours.

[987] You know, like we're only required to be here for that four, but I don't think people realize just how much time is really spent in this facility.

[988] Have you been on teams where most guys would only be there for the minimum?

[989] I want to Baltimore was pretty good.

[990] Like most of the guys, We're putting in that extra time, but I would still say, like, it doesn't really compare it to here.

[991] I think they do such a good job of, there's so much available for us here.

[992] Like what?

[993] I mean, as far as our nutrition is, like, off the chain, it's incredible.

[994] There's so much information available there.

[995] I mean, the food is great.

[996] So, I mean, I do a lot with our dietitian where, I mean, right now we're doing like a, it's another kind of a brain study we're doing DHA supplement tests but you know like I have that available I have the brain test available our training room is or our medical staff is so great about I can go in there and ask for anything I can get cupping I can get grasped in I can get acupuncture I can just get a massage flush if I need it you know hot tub coal tubs sauna, uh, steam room.

[997] We got the weight room is always available.

[998] We got cryotherapy there.

[999] What's cryotherapy?

[1000] Uh, it's the, it's a chamber that they pump, uh, I think it's nitrogen gas and they're super cold.

[1001] Yeah.

[1002] And you're in there for like three minutes and drops your body tempers, charge super low.

[1003] So tell us, um, let me just ask you about a, uh, a series of, um, give me like what you're doing Monday at 10 a .m. typically during game, during the season.

[1004] During the season.

[1005] Uh, So that's, Monday's, our, like, body maintenance, every cut, right?

[1006] Is Monday or?

[1007] Tuesdays are off day here then?

[1008] Yeah.

[1009] Is that right?

[1010] Yeah.

[1011] Yeah, okay.

[1012] So, Monday at 10 a .m., probably getting a massage.

[1013] Friday at noon.

[1014] Friday at noon, we're on the field.

[1015] Okay.

[1016] Sunday, let's say 8 a .m. with a 1 p .m. game.

[1017] Probably starting to get up and get ready for breakfast.

[1018] Okay.

[1019] At the team hotel.

[1020] Yeah.

[1021] Yeah.

[1022] What about Sunday night, let's say?

[1023] Sunday night after the game.

[1024] Yeah, after the game.

[1025] You know, it depends if somebody's in town for the game.

[1026] Usually there is somebody, so we're probably grabbing dinner somewhere with, you know, a friend or family that's visiting.

[1027] Yeah, right.

[1028] Thanks.

[1029] It's great to talk to you.

[1030] Really great talking to you guys, too.

[1031] Thanks to Kyle Usecheck, Mike McGlinchie, Joe Staley, and Jimmy Garapolo for taking the time to sit down with us.

[1032] And special thanks to Bob Lang, VP of Communications for the 49ers, who made all these 149ers, who made all these 49ers interviews happen.

[1033] If you haven't already, be sure to listen to our Freakonomics Radio episode number 350 about the 49ers.

[1034] It's one of our regular weekly episodes that are released every Wednesday at 11 p .m. Eastern Time.

[1035] And you can find more full interviews like these here on Stitcher Premium.

[1036] Let us know what you think.

[1037] You can find Freakonomics Radio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or email us at Radio at Freakonomics .com.

[1038] Freakonomics Radio is produced by Stitcher and Dubner Productions.

[1039] Our staff includes Allison Craig Lowe, Greg Rippin, Greg Rosalski, Alvin Melleth, Harry Huggins, Zach Lipinski, and Andy Meisenheimer.

[1040] Our Hidden Side of Sports Series was produced by Anders Kelto and Derek John.

[1041] The music you hear throughout our episode was composed by Luis Gera.

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[1043] Check your local station for the schedule, as well as on Sirius, XM, Spotify, and even your better airlines.

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