Hour 2: 49ers Insider Matt Maiocco Talks Shanahan Crash Aftermath, plus FIFA’s Latest Money Grab

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1:38Earlier on the show, Texas head coach Steve Sarkeesian. Coming up, Bay Area 49ers reporter Matt Maioco. ESPN Monday Night Football announcer and Jeopardy host Joe Buck. And now it's Rich Eisen.

1:57Rich Eisen:Our number two of the Rich Eisen show is on the air. Great chat with Steve Sarkeesian in our number one. You know, if this was another radio show, I would call it epic and ask you to call into the show and tell me how epic I am. But that's not this show. 844-204-RICH is still the number for you to dial. Phone lines are lit. It was a terrific conversation. lots of good stuff with with sark i don't know why i felt the need to do that well i mean i just but it did feel good for some reason it's kind of weird um at any rate hilarious broccoli um 844-204-rich is the number to dial here on the program um we're always got the san francisco 49ers on our minds here because they're always relevant and fan base is nuts are the Niners the most underrated crazy fan base?

2:49Rich Eisen:Wow. Great question. I think a lot of people wouldn't think of them as being. They don't because we're all in California laid back. Insane rabid, yeah. Like there's other things for us to do. We can go hiking instead of watching football. You know what I mean? They seek out content, comment, react, engage more than a lot of fan bases than I've seen. We can go chew on bark. You know what I mean? Right? As opposed to being passionate about football. Sure. No, the Niners, that bang-bang Niner game, they show up. Chew-roll, Bart. That's right. I missed that drop. So ladies and gentlemen, returning to the program, Matt Maioco, the NBC Sports Bay Area 49ers insider.

3:31Rich Eisen:How are you, Matt? Good to see you, Matt. I'm doing well, and it's interesting to get that national perspective on the 49ers fan base. I think it's a unique group, and they're very passionate, and you're right. California fans kind of get that laid back reputation, but, uh, 49er fans are anything but laid back. No, I know. Everyone's talking about arrowheads loud Seattle, you know, Seattle has the 12s, um, Niner fans, Niner fans just show up everywhere, except maybe on the sun side of, uh, of, of Levi's stadium, you know, never know. Uh, but let's jump into it right here. How's the coach right now, Matt?

4:08Rich Eisen:How is he? He's getting better. Yeah. You know, I, I had an opportunity to sit in his office on Tuesday and he's still feeling the effects and his emotions are kind of all over the place. But, you know, physically, as he said, his plastic surgeon did one heck of a job stitching him back together. But the, you know, the brain injury is a real thing. And he's been out there. They've had three practices. The first day he was out there for probably about 30, 35 minutes, just kind of standing way, way back in the defensive secondary. And then day two, little bit more time out there than yesterday. They're off today, but yesterday he was out there for the entire 11 on 11 period.

4:52So he was just getting back into watching film. It says the music that's cranked up in practice is probably the biggest thing that he's dealing with now. But, you know, it's not just this steady progression from here to up there. It's kind of, you know going about it like concussions tend to do and everybody's different but he's he feels you know he's he's getting better and he says he'll be okay but uh right now he's still dealing

5:18Rich Eisen:with some stuff i mean man obviously we're we're towards the end of july here and it's it's it's uh you know several weeks till till it's go time but go time is is a flight a trans-pacific international dateline flight. How, I mean, how is this possible? You know? Yeah. They'll be leaving the Bay area on September 2nd. So it's still more than a month away. Right. You know, John Lynch at the press conference on Saturday when, you know, they kind of revealed what the plan of attack was. And that was just a couple hours after the four years put out the statement about the accident. John Lynch said that at that point that they felt like he was going to be, Kyle Shanahan was going to be cleared far in advance of that game to resume full coaching responsibilities.

6:11But I mean, it's a reasonable and rational question. What is his level of involvement going to be? Can he take on all those duties? And then as you noted, mix in that 16, 18 hour flight to Melbourne. It's, I don't know, man. I think that there is a possibility that he won't be all the way back, but you know, it's, there's no timetable right now. I think they're still expecting him to be back, but I'm sure they have to make some contingencies, you know, whether it's him. Yeah. I, I think he'll travel, but you don't know. And then once he's there, you know, is he best served on the sideline or in the booth or, you know, all that stuff.

6:57Those are unanswered questions right now.

7:00Rich Eisen:Matt Mayoko here on the Rich Eisen show. So, I guess who, who would it be? I mean, who's taken over at this point in time? Like what, what's the process here, Matt? Yeah. So Chris Furster, who's the assistant head coach, long time assistant to the Shanahan's including Kyle and Mike. he takes over as kind of overseeing. He's the front man. So he's the guy that kind of falls on him to keep everything together. But Kyle told him early on, he said, hey, do what you want to do and delegate what you don't want to do. So what Furster has done is he's basically delegated the overall team meetings to here's the offensive staff, Clay Kubiak, you go deal with the offensive players, Raheem Morris, you go deal with the defensive players.

7:54So I would expect if this goes on, and probably they played their first preseason game on the 13th, so my guess would be that Kubiak will be calling the plays on offense, Raheem Morris will be calling the plays on defense, and then Chris Furster will kind of be overseeing it and making the decisions. So that'll be how they proceeded in the preseason. And I think from that standpoint, just the communication and the lines of communication with everything and the chain of command, I think that those three preseason games conceivably are very, very important for the 49ers just to kind of figure out how they want to proceed if the darn near unthinkable occurs and Kyle Shanahan isn't able to resume his duties week one when the 49ers play the Rams.

8:46Rich Eisen:Last one for you on this part of our conversation here, Matt. How did he look? I mean, what can you share with us here? Because, again, I know it's sensitive with the Niners and him, and it's his health. But how do you look to you? I thought he looked good. He was still shaken up. This was on Tuesday. The thing that really bothered him, and tell me if you've ever heard of this in the NFL, there were seven beat reporters that he wanted to meet with. And the impetus for that was the reports on the public database on Monday night that revealed that it was the other driver who was to blame. So Kyle wanted to clear that up.

9:29I mean, who in the NFL says that there were errors made in reporting and I want to clear it up? I was the one at fault. And that's exactly what he did. He felt really badly that the other driver, publicly it's known, a 21-year-old female, he felt really badly that she was to blame. And what happened was on the official police report from Palo Alto, Kyle Shanahan was at fault. But when the data was transferred over to the public database, apparently the drop-down box, they put the fault in the wrong column. And so he wanted to clear that up above everything else that she was not the fault. He says he was not on his cell phone, but his cell phone was on his lap and it fell between the seats.

10:18And when he reached down to pick it up, he said he was distracted for two seconds and that was enough for him to veer over the double yellow line and run into that car. So he says he has no qualms whatsoever about taking responsibility. He has nothing to hide. He just wanted to clear the air that he was the one at fault, not the other driver.

10:39Rich Eisen:Matt Mayoko here on the Rich Eisen Show. Let's get into Pearsall. I mean, are we having another Ricky Pearsall incomplete training camp on our hands? Yes, it would be worse than that, Rich. So Ricky Pearsall had that. It's the posterior cruciate ligament that he banged up last year, played half of the season. That thing just couldn't get right. And when he would get back, he would bang it again and he would miss more time. Well, the expectation was that, as it often does with the PCL, that it would heal on its own. And that's why the 49ers proceeded the way they did, rest, go through a regular off-season program, which it seemed to be okay.

11:26But then two practices in, that same knee started swelling. And now the team is clearly concerned. They're going to pursue and look at all their options. But certainly one of the options that, you know, when you're talking about pursuing all options, you're talking about surgery. And it would be a reconstruction of that knee, the PCL, which would put him out for the season. And I think one of the major questions is, why are they dealing with this now and not just early in the offseason? The answer is that they thought, they expected that it would heal on its own and no surgery would be required.

12:08And if they had had the surgery earlier in the offseason, say February, March, whenever, probably would have missed this season anyway. So, hey, now all of a sudden that pick, you know, the first selection in the second round is John Stribling, which was, I think, at some point kind of seen as, well, that's kind of a luxury pick. Now it's a necessity. You know, they have Mike Evans, John Stribling right there, number 15. He's had a really good camp. And now they need him. They need him in a big way. And so we'll see what they do at the wide receiver position. But they have Demarcus Robinson, Christian Kirk, who's banged up as well, the calf strain, Jacob Cowling, Jordan Watkins.

12:49So it'll be interesting to see. We're hearing the name, just the fan base, the 49er faithful are talking about bringing Debo Samuel back. I don't know the fans are going to do that immediately, but I'm sure they'll bring in somebody. You know, they need to kind of fill out that wide receiver room just to take the wear and tear off the guys who are healthy. But I'm sure there are conversations behind the scenes if they need to do anything. But right now, I think it looks like, you know, they're going to roll with some of the younger guys and get them up to speed and go from there. But right now, man, it's not looking good for Ricky Parasol's season.

13:27Rich Eisen:I ain't going to be Ayuk. That's who they're not bringing back. No, darn it. That's one that I think we all can agree on. You know, so, I mean, might as well bring back Debo. I mean, there have been worse ideas if this is, in fact, the case. How's Kittle? Are we going to see him week one? What do you think? He's making a good run at it. I think there's a decent chance now. So he's on the PUP list, but he's out there at practice. He's conditioning. He's going through PT behind the scenes and everything else. So they have specific markers that they want their players who are recovering to hit. getting back the speed and the cutting ability and everything else.

14:08So I'm not ruling it out. I still think, man, it seems like you're really pushing it. But if he can hit those objective markers, then he does have a really good chance. And just as we were talking about Kyle Shanahan and that long flight to and from Australia, that's got to be another huge consideration too, When you're bringing somebody back off of an Achilles injury or any kind of injury, to have that kind of flight there, they'll be there about a week practicing and then the game and then they fly home the day after the game. I mean, I still think the odds are against him suiting up and playing week one.

14:51But with George Kittle, just about anything's possible with that guy.

14:56Rich Eisen:Yeah, I mean, the stars here, there's still stars all over this roster, man. I mean, if Bosa comes back healthy, right, we're expecting to see him week one. Yeah, absolutely. So he's been cleared off of PUP. He hasn't practiced yet, but he is on clear path toward resuming and being Nick Bosa week one. And Fred Warner, all in Morris is back as a defensive coordinator. You know, he and he and Shanahan go back like a car seat. What's the expectation level here, man? What do we got, Matt? I think the expectations within the building are the sky's the limit. It's certainly from the outside looking in, it does not help the 49ers.

15:36Probably the two best teams in the NFC are in their division, and the Rams have done everything that they've done. But they have the talent to go get it done. I mean, they have – you mentioned Fred Warner's back. So is Dre Greenlaw. You can tell just the intensity in practice is just ramped up to another level. So, you know, when you have a team with Brock Purdy and Christian McCaffrey and George Kittle and Trent Williams and Nick Bosa and Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. Mike Evans. I know he's new.

16:04Rich Eisen:I mean, he's a Hall of Famer right there, you know. And so you got that all together. And McCaffrey's 30. I know he wants to put that chip on his shoulder and say, that's just the number. Watch me do what I've always done. But, you know, who might also be back. Do the Niners players, front office, think Aaron Donald's coming back, Matt? Yeah, I think so. I think everybody kind of feels that. Right. I mean, I think that they feel like just, you know, bring it on. You know, the Rams go out and get. Bring it on. I love it. That's what they're thinking, huh? Oh, I'm sure. Yeah, right. I think that's what John Lynch tried to condition Kyle Shanahan.

16:47I don't know if you heard this story, but John Lynch, every offseason, he reads John Wooden's book. And one of the things that John Wooden wrote in one of his books was, don't spend any time losing sleep over the opposition. Make the opposition lose sleep thinking about you. Well, I heard those words of John Wooden, The Wizard of Westwood with Kyle Shanahan. And as he was doing it on the TV, it popped on that the Rams had just pulled off that trade for Miles Garrett. And Kyle Shanahan's response was F John Wood. Wow.

17:31Rich Eisen:Yeah, right. I mean. That's awesome. That is funny. that's funny that lynch provides that quote of inspiration just at the moment that miles garrett is announced as a ram and that's going to be what potentially brings donald out of retirement yeah in a division that was won by the defending super bowl champs not named the rams you know that's why i'm asking about the level of expectation is we're sitting here right now Yeah, I mean, the foreigners, I mentioned all those names, and you threw in Mike Evans. I mean, they have the young guys that they're hoping can be the next stars. I mean, I don't think you can go into a season with all those players I mentioned and not have the highest possible expectations.

18:23I mean, you don't have all those guys I mentioned, including Mike Evans, thinking, let's just have a good year. No, you're going to win it all.

18:31Rich Eisen:i love that photograph behind you by the way i've been looking at it this entire interview radio audience that's that's uh dwight clark holding up a photograph of the catch next to willie mays holding up the photograph of his famous catch over the shoulder wow yeah that's cool signed uh the great michael zagaris the photographer for the 49ers put um got these guys together and uh and they both signed it so yeah it's why a tremendous bay area keepsake i've heard that name many times from mooch mooch talks about him he wants he he wants uh drabs grabbed zagaris during a game to try and recreate the famous photograph of montana and waltz drawing up a play in the dirt he called him fired off a timeout in the middle of a game to grab steve young over to recreate that photograph unbeknownst to young steve did not know that steve mariucci was doing this on purpose oh that's great and young was pissed that mooch called a timeout didn't understand why mooch calls him over he doesn't understand why mooch is calling him over doesn't understand why mooch tells him to take a knee didn't understand he's like what the hell's going on and sure enough just as a garris was in the perfect position to snap the photograph Somebody came by with a Gatorade bottle and blocked the famed photographer or the Niners to give a much needed, I guess, thirst quenching to Young.

20:03Rich Eisen:That's one of my favorite stories Mooch has ever told. Oh, man. I mean, he had the game plan. He had the right play call. But sometimes just stuff happens. Stuff happens. Thanks for the time, Matt. We'll chat again soon. All right, Rich. Thank you. That's Matt Maoko, everybody, right here on the Rich Eisen Show. Okay. Okay, lots to talk about about the Niners as always. Oof. All right, let's take a break. Before we do, the Hyundai getaway sales event's going on right now. Go into your local Hyundai dealer right now and get away with a deal so right it almost feels wrong. The great deals that's available on the most popular models that's right now waiting for you.

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21:14Rich Eisen:Rich Eisen here for Gusto. On my shows, we talk a lot about what happens in the spotlight, the games, the highlights, and the moments that get replayed and debated. But in any successful operation, what happens behind the scenes matters just as much. Small businesses are no different. Payroll, hiring, onboarding, benefits, and all the details that keep things moving may not be the most visible part of the job, but they still have to be handled right. That's where Gusto comes in. Gusto is online payroll and benefits software built for small businesses. It's all-in-one, remote-friendly, and incredibly easy to use, so you can pay, hire, onboard, and support your team from anywhere.

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23:42Rich Eisen:Get started by posting a job, a free job at LinkedIn.com slash Eisen. LinkedIn Hiring Pro. All right. Last we saw Gianni Infantino. He was chasing down the FIFA Peace Prize winner to make sure he wasn't standing there when Spain was celebrating. He almost pulled it off. Came close. Same thing with what I guess he's trying to do by selling portions of the World Cup to private equity individuals. I mean, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has come up with something called to try and raise funds for selling a stake in FIFA Forward Enterprises. According to this report, that would raise huge funds in exchange for influence over future World Cups, including broadcasting and commercial deals linked to the tournament.

24:45Rich Eisen:The proposal backed by American investor Josh Kushner, who is the brother of the FIFA Peace Prize winner's son-in-law, and the bank JP Morgan, would trigger over$80 million in payouts to each of FIFA's 211 member associations between now and 2037. So everyone's going to wet their beak. Oh my gosh. Except there are many folks involved in soccer, football, who believe that the World Cup is not Infantinos to slice up and sell to well-moneyed people. even if it means a lot of money for each member nation. I don't know. How much is$80 million? What would that buy in Cape Verde? Oh, you know, just throwing that one out there.