Willis acknowledged that missing Dre Greenlaw and replacing him won’t be easy
Former San Francisco 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis was in Anaheim, California, late last week at the ExpoWest convention with Nirvana Super, promoting wellness beverages, taking selfies with fans, and serving as a brand ambassador.
You can visit Nirvana’s website here. Their goal is to help people transform their bodies at a cellular level. Willis said it’s good for everyone, from high-level athletes like himself to the average Joe like you and me:
Absolutely. Nirvana is for everyone. What I love most about Nirvana is that we do have some products that have stimulants in them, but it’s only 100 milligrams. So it’s not one of those over-the-top energy drinks where you get 200 milligrams, and you feel like you want to run across America. You get just enough, which is perfect.
Willis explained more about Nirvana’s product in our discussion. You can also visit their Instagram page for more information here.
Now, we’ll get into the rest of my conversation with Willis.
Willis now dons a gold jacket. I asked newly inducted Hall of Famer if it was similar to Steve Young getting the monkey off his back after winning the Super Bowl in the ‘90s and how stressful the process leading up to his induction was. Here’s Willis’s answer:
I wouldn’t say that I was stressful. I can say that I was honored to be in the conversation. It wasn’t like I was going into it like, ‘man, what are y’all doing?’ I just always said, if it was meant for me to be in the Hall of Fame, then one day it’ll happen.
That one day happened this year. I’m just very fortunate to be in the Pro Football class of 2024.
Since we’re in the middle of free agency, I asked Willis how hands-on he was when it came time for a new deal or an extension or if he left everything to his agent:
Free agency is a big deal. A lot of times, you hope to grab that missing piece or that veteran piece. For me, I never had a chance to enter the free agent market. After my third year, I signed a contract extension. Then, playing eight seasons with the Niners. I didn’t get a chance to get to the free agency market.
Nobody remembers the consistency of the 49ers and how they’re making the NFC Championship or the Super Bowl year after year. They want results, and the Niners don’t have those have another Super Bowl loss. I asked Patrick if he were John Lynch or Kyle Shanahan if he would continue to stay the course, keep swinging for the fence, or what needs to change for the 49ers to go over the top:
Before the season started, I said this was going to be the season where you all have to get it done, where you have to win a championship this year. The team, the morale, the energy, the camaraderie, they went out and put all the pieces together.
They went out and got the defensive end from the Commanders, Chase Young. I felt like that was a big piece. For them not to get it done this year, I knew it was going to be different coming into the new season.
With that being said, there are always changes going into the offseason. They still have a great group of guys and the veteran leadership. Obviously, having the quarterback. Quarterback plays a big role. [Brock] Purdy being, if not the best quarterback this year, one of the best. I still think they have upside. Obviously, they have to pull it together and win the games.
Right now, they’re runner-ups. They still hold the mantle of being the team to beat in the NFC West and the NFC, but we shall see.
Based on everything you just said, would you call this past season a disappointment because they came up short?
You know, it’s kind of hard to say disappointment cause I’m not in the locker room with them. I understand a little bit of the dynamics in getting that far. Every year, you want to win a championship. And to get that far and come up short, having all that they had in that locker room, I feel like they’re disappointed that they didn’t get that done. I don’t sense that there’s a moral victory in the thought process with this team. I can feel that they’re disappointed that they didn’t win.
Dre Greenlaw is one of my favorite players to watch on the team because I believe you have to have a certain type of intent to play this sport, and he embodies that level of intent. So, seeing him go down in the Super Bowl like that is heartbreaking.
As someone who has dealt with injuries, how tough is the mental hurdle to overcome when you’re going through the rehab process?
Yeah, I’m a big fan of Dre’s. It’s unfortunate that he had that injury to his Achilles and the time he had it. What I’ll say is that when it comes to injuries, and what a lot of people don’t realize, when you get an injury, it takes a lot out of you.
Not only does it take a lot out of you, but it also takes a lot out of you to get back, just heal, and get back to where you were and get better. That’s a lot of energy. It ain’t like you’re just coming off your season where you were, and you can just step in where you were and crank it up.
He’s gotta make sure that he doesn’t overdo it but still continue to get better each day. So I would just say that he’s just gotta take a deep breath, be patient with yourself, but also know that he’s going to have some tough times. You just have to grind through it. It’s just going to take a little bit more going through the injury.
It seems like we speak to Willis every March around this time. My next question was, this time next year, will the 49ers be Super Bowl champions, and if so, why? What’s changed?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say yes. Again, they have all the pieces in the main places where you need it to continue to win games. First off, to get to the playoffs, you have to win games. They have veteran leadership on the team.
Just seeing some of the things that they’ve worked out. I saw Kyle Juszczyk restructured. I don’t see why not, and that’s not me being biased. Again, they still have a really good defense.
However, not having Dre, like you said, he’s a big focal point of that defense. Him and Fred [Warner] are the generals of that defense. They make the defense go. They will be adding [Talanoa] Hufanga back. I’m looking forward to him coming back and picking up where he left off, maybe even better.
But unfortunately, not having Dre, that’s a big piece. And I just saw that they’re letting go of [Arik] Armstead. so things are going to be different. But they still have some key pieces, which makes them a very, very dangerous team.
Make sure you all go check out Nirvana Super dot com, Feel Super. Go get your Nirvana. Let’s go!
You can watch the 11-minute interview below:
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