{"id":63400,"date":"2025-06-22T23:29:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T23:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=63400"},"modified":"2025-06-22T23:29:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T23:29:11","slug":"49ers-floated-as-top-landing-spot-for-4-time-all-pro-defender","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=63400","title":{"rendered":"49ers Floated as &#8216;Top&#8217; Landing Spot for 4-Time All-Pro Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\">\n<div>\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2190782028-e1750445605457.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2190782028-e1750445605457.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2190782028-e1750445605457.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2190782028-e1750445605457.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"49ers Floated as 'Top' Landing Spot for 4-Time All-Pro Defender\" width=\"780\" height=\"438\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p>Getty<\/p>\n<p>Falcons safety Justin Simmons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The San Francisco 49ers could still use more safety help on their roster before starting NFL training camp next month, but are they willing to roll the dice on a four-time All-Pro who could come with a potentially expensive price tag?<\/p>\n<p>CBS Sports analyst Cody Benjamin recently floated the Niners as one of five potential free-agent destinations for former Denver Broncos and Atlanta Falcons standout free safety Justin Simmons \u2014 who remains one of the NFL\u2019s top unsigned free agents.<\/p>\n<p>Simmons recorded 62 total tackles, seven pass deflections and two interceptions in 16 starts for the Falcons in 2024 after waiting until mid-August to sign with the team. He has also never finished a single one of his nine NFL seasons with fewer than two picks, underscoring his potential to improve the Niners\u2019 deep-field coverage unit next season.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Simmons can\u2019t reunite with Vic Fangio in Philadelphia, perhaps he\u2019d settle for one of Fangio\u2019s most accomplished disciples in Robert Saleh, who\u2019s back as San Francisco\u2019s coordinator after a tumultuous stint as New York Jets head coach,\u201d Benjamin wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe 49ers spent much of the offseason shedding salary, including by letting Talanoa Hufanga\u00a0sign elsewhere, but with projected starting safeties\u00a0Ji\u2019Ayir Brown\u00a0and\u00a0Malik Mustapha both nursing injuries, a one-year partnership could make sense.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Justin Simmons Took Step Back With Falcons in 2024<\/h2>\n<p>Simmons might be one of the best safeties on the market, but he is not coming off the most sparkling of campaigns for the Falcons in 2024 despite his heavily featured role.<\/p>\n<p>By no means was Simmons awful in coverage for the Falcons, but he played noticeably worse than he had during his decorated eight seasons with the Broncos, when he earned a reputation as one of the top safeties in the league. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed 22 receptions on 37 targets in 2024, surrendering an opposing passer rating of 105.1 \u2014 which is markedly worse than either Mustapha or Brown yielded for the Niners.<\/p>\n<p>Simmons\u2019 poor tackling was more problematic than his coverage lapses, though.<\/p>\n<p>After six consecutive seasons with a missed-tackle rate below 10%, Simmons missed an eye-popping 21.5% of his 79 tackle attempts (17 total) for the Falcons defense in 2024, raising concerns about his reliability as, oftentimes, the last man between the end zone.<\/p>\n<p>The Niners could still evaluate Simmons as a potential fit for their defense, but his poor performance in 2024 does not pair well with his age \u2014 he turns 32 in November \u2014 and may force them to consider other available options, especially if he seeks similar money to the one-year, $8 million contract he signed with the Falcons in his latest outing.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Malik Mustapha Likely to Miss Start of 2025 Season<\/h2>\n<p>The Niners have two clear-cut starting safeties in Brown and Mustapha and might not be looking for additional safety help if not for the ACL injury that Mustapha \u2014 a 2024 fourth-round selection\u2013 sustained toward the end of his impressive rookie season.<\/p>\n<p>As a rookie, Mustapha stepped firmly into the lineup as San Francisco\u2019s starting strong safety and recorded 72 tackles, five pass deflections and one interception as a physically ferocious deep-field defender. Per PFF, he allowed just seven catches for an average of 7 yards per reception and surrendered an opposing passer rating of just 64.0 in coverage.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Mustapha tore his ACL in the regular-season finale and is not expected to be ready for the start of the 2025 season, according to ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Mustapha did recently post workout videos on social media that showed off his progress and seemed to be moving well, considering he is roughly 21 weeks out from the operation he underwent to repair the torn ligament in his knee. Even still, his potential lack of availability early in 2025 could force the 49ers to make another acquisition.<\/p>\n<p>Jordan J. Wilson is a sports reporter who covers the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers. He has previously covered all levels of sports \u2014 high school, college and pro \u2014 for a variety of publications including The Indianapolis Star, The News-Gazette, Springfield State-Journal Register and Peoria Journal Star. More about Jordan J. Wilson<\/p>\n<h2>More Heavy on 49ers<\/h2>\n<p>Loading more stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The San Francisco 49ers have been floated as a potential landing spot for a four-time All-Pro defensive back ahead of training camp.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":63401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>49ers Floated as &#039;Top&#039; Landing Spot for 4-Time All-Pro Defender - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=63400\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"49ers Floated as &#039;Top&#039; 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