 I'm going to show up to this. Christian, are you going to share a chair with me too? This is really interesting. Oh, Christian's playing a flip cup or something. All right. I love about certain people when they make me look smart. When I say something about them, and then it's like, told you, when this trade happened with Christian McCaffrey from the Panthers to the Niners, I said this is going to be the most impactful mid-season pickup in NFL history, and he helped make me look good. And he also helped lead the Niners to 12 straight wins right after snagging him at the buzzer at the trade deadline, racking up over 2,000 total yards, which is like normal for you now. 16 touchdowns, Christian McCaffrey is here. Hi. How are you? I appreciate you having me on. You're so calm that I need to like calm down around you because you're such a cool character. And I'm like, ah! No, no, no. I appreciate you having me on. And I appreciate all the kind words you said about me this season. I see it, not everyone did. So I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Yeah, I mean, it's the perfect fit and we're going to get into that. And that first game that you had there, I was like bam, bam! That was incredible. But I also want to talk about the Pro Bowl. You were just there. I thought it was so incredible that we saw footage and we don't always see everything that goes on there, but you stayed after. Like, how long to sign autographs for kids? I don't know why you did that, why that was so important. Because everyone left, you could have gotten the buses. What was it, what was that about? You know, I think obviously I was a kid once and I used to look up to a bunch of football players and my dad played. And I remember my favorite thing was just being around the players and getting autographs and having them sign cards. So anytime I get an opportunity to, I try to pay it forward. Who did you look up to the most when you were? My dad. I know, but I was going to say outside of that. It was tough to, man, I grew up in, you know, the late 90s, early 2000s, when the Broncos were the Broncos and they won two Super Bowls in a row. So I remember being in the locker room with Trell Davis and Shannon Sharp and Rod Smith and Al Wilson and all these guys who, you know, I grew up, that was my team. So all those Broncos players. It's amazing. Okay, I know that you are happy to be here. You're happy to be at the Pro Bowl with those fans. You're happy to be on our set. But if I know anything about you is that this is, you're still a week and a half ago in the NSC Championship game that didn't really pan out the way any of us thought that it would. Adversity, injuries. How is that sitting with you now removed over a week? It's tough. It's really tough, you know, it's, you know, you don't want to make excuses obviously but it just sucks because we wish we had, you know, a healthy quarterback for a full game and just kind of see how the game would have panned out. It's a really good team that we played but it's just, it feels like something got stolen from you, you know, and just wish it would have played out differently. Wish we could have ran that one back but hopefully they changed that rule where you can carry a third quarterback. That's what I hope they do but yeah, definitely still tough. Well, we keep, I kept hearing that Jimmy could have gone. Was there anything to that? I don't know, I don't, that's above my pay grade. Okay, but then this Josh Johnson thing happens, right? He goes down. The second that happens, you know, right? That you're the emergency quarterback. So what is going through your head? Take me into your brain. No, there was a package, you know, we had a couple of packages out there of, you know, possibly we could have done some stuff but at that point, you know, Brock could still hand the ball off and could still throw some screens and I mean, I think it's a testament to how tough he was to stay in that game and continue to do some stuff because, you know, that is a serious injury. A lot of people wouldn't have done that. But I was ready, you know, at that point I was ready to go. I told George and told a couple other guys if I get the album, throwing it and then it came and didn't work the way I wanted it to. Would you have wanted, would you feel completely confident in doing that? Were you lobbying to get the ball? I think in the heat of battle, you feel confident doing anything. You know, I think it's a good thing that you're doing it for me personally, just whatever they tell you to do, you're confident. Whether or not it works is a different conversation, but I think the confidence would have been there. At that point, you know, you still have two quarters left in the game. You don't have a healthy quarterback. But there was always hope, you know, you never know what can happen in a football game. Defense could get a turnover here or there. And so there was always hope. It just, you know, once again, it's tough in the NFL to win without a quarterback. What does George Kittle saying back He's fired up, man. He's the most positive guy I've ever played with, so he was ready to go. There's a lot of reason to think that you should be confident and want the ball because literally the second you got there, you had the most insane game. You ran one in, you had a receiving touchdown, and you threw a touchdown pass. We had to take me through what went into this and the package or whatever, we had it, go for it. This was your 2022 season script. Week one is a nineer for Christian McCaffrey. I was excited to see my script, but I mean, we had put a couple of plays in. Ayuk made a great catch here. He actually had to turn the other way, but it was a great play call at an important time. I had so much fun this whole season playing with these guys. I feel like the amount of talent that's on this offense, everyone could just play free. Not every game is gonna be a big statistical game for you because of the amount of talent that you have. And, you know, if I'm being double teamed, guys like Debo, Ayuk, George, all these other players are gonna go off and vice versa. And so it's just a complete, it felt fun to play with, you know, complete football players, positionless football players who can line up anywhere and with that defense, it was just fun to be around that locker room. Yeah, so I'm gonna ask you about Brock Purdy because you said he's so tough. It's a testament to him. There's idiots that like to say, well, I could go out there. If I had George Kittle, Christian McCaffrey and Kyle Shanlock, I could make it happen. Talk to those people. Like Brock Purdy is special because... I think you described them well. Idiots is probably a good term. No, playing in NFL football at the quarterback position is incredibly difficult. And to come in as a rookie and to handle himself the way he did to put the ball where he needed to put it was, you know, very impressive. I've seen, I played with a lot of quarterbacks in six years and what he did was I didn't think could be done by a rookie quarterback and he proved me wrong, so. I'm just gonna ask it like this. It's been adversity-filled couple of moments for you over the years and then this finally happens. You get there, 12 straight wins and it is the highest of highs except you're gonna get that Super Bowl. I just know you will. I know it's going to happen for you. What was the biggest challenge or like the lowest points? Like, I've had this great conversation once with Saquon Barkley about how when he was injured it was the best thing and the best moment because it let him understand adversity, it let him sit back. What was the biggest challenge of finally getting, before you finally got here? Yeah, I think even in some losing seasons I'd had good individual years and I didn't understand what adversity in the NFL looked like yet at an individual level. At a team level, I had faced some and lost some big games, et cetera. But for me, not being able to play, having to watch my teammates go out there and play from the side and you feel like you're not a part of the team. You feel like you're an outcast. And then to hear the noise, to hear what people are saying about you that you should retire, that you're never gonna be the same again, that you can't do this and you can't do that and you can't do anything about it other than sit there and listen to it and wait for next year. I think the patience part of it was the biggest thing I learned and the understanding that this whole thing is a marathon. I don't plan on playing another couple of years. I wanna be in this as long as I possibly can and that's gonna come with some challenges here and there. It's everybody's story. Every NFL player I talk to who's played, they've gone through something here and there and they had to hear this and they had to be patient. And the quicker I understood to just put one foot in front of the other, control what I can control and go out there and be me. There's a big weight off my shoulders and obviously being traded to San Fran. I felt like, you know what? I got nothing to lose. Go out there and ball, play your game, work as hard as you possibly can and see what happens. Who called you? What was the phone call like when you knew you were traded? Was it Kyle? The GM called me and told me we were trading them. No, in Carolina. Oh, here it goes. And then I got a call from John and Kyle and then George Kittle was third. You called you third? What did Kittle say? He was yelling on the phone. I was a little bit incoherent. I didn't know what he was saying. He was really excited. So that meant a lot to me for somebody like that to call me. And then just to welcome, that team is a special team. You can tell that they've built a culture in the last six years. A very high standard culture because the way I was welcomed and the way that they took me in made me feel like part of the family right away. And I think it's a testament to the ownership, testament to Kyle and John and what they've built and then obviously the player leadership. I love that. Okay, so before I let you go, we're gonna go play some ping pong, I think. The P&G battle of the, do you want to rest? Do you want to relax? Like you just, you want to get, you want this smoke from guys like Buddha Baker? I do. Talk to me. The P&G battle of the paddle. So I've been playing ping pong since I was a young kid. How old? 10, 11, that's when I first started. So I've been hearing a lot of noise from a lot of different guys. There's eight of us playing. It's live at 7 p.m. Eastern on Twitch. And during it, you can watch it and get some exclusive deals on Amazon. So it's fun for the viewers. It's fun for us. But there's two things I take seriously in this world. And that's football. That's ping pong. Look at that. Football and ping pong. Look over there. You talked to Buddha Baker. Who else is in this thing? Jared Goff, apparently. Jared Goff's coming in, I'd say, with the most confidence. Go to that single camera. We got this smoke coming for you. You hear this? Jared Goff? You had such a good year over there in Detroit. We don't care. Ping pong doesn't care. It's the P&G battle of paddles. Let's take a walk over here. I'll come be your hype girl, Christian, anytime. All right, let's do this. Buddha Baker might as Buddha Baker not here. All right, we're waiting for Buddha Baker to pop by. I wanted you guys to play some ping pong, but here's what's going to happen. We're doing it with paddles. Here's what we'd like to do. This sounds too hard. Paddle sounds too hard, no? Emergency quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers. You can either throw or we're going to put 30 seconds on the clock. Here's a little date. Darius Butler sunk five of these things in. Darius Butler had fun in college. What about? Kay, you didn't have fun in college? Kay, Cameron said no fun in college. Kay, Cameron's working in college. Okay, so you either use the paddles, he didn't. Darius Butler bounced them in, and that's what was effective, okay? I tried to throw, but I had had two shots of tequila in the morning. You do whatever you want to do. You could use the paddles with flats. I think the paddle would be a little more difficult. Let's not go with the paddles. It's too hard. Yeah, see? How much time I get? 30 seconds. Marissa will tell you when to go. I'm starting on you. All right, you gotta beat five. You gotta beat five. Oh, two. Okay, I'm going to shut up because I feel like he needs focus. Oh, all right. 15 seconds. Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian, Christian. Oh, stop! Three seconds, you got this, three seconds. Did you have fun in college? I didn't have that much fun. No, I don't know. Christian had fun in college. All right, check out the P&G Battle of the Paddles, and then you just set the press. I mean, Budabaker, look out. Where can we see it? Twitch, 7 p.m.? Twitch, 7 p.m. Tonight? Tonight. Okay, good luck. Eastern time. You're the best. I'm so much appreciated. Appreciate it. That was a good handshake. Yikes, all right, we'll be back with Budabaker and see you later after this.