There were a couple of curveballs thrown at the\u00a0San Francisco 49ers’ depth chart at safety this offseason.<\/p>\n
The result of a free agency exit, a couple of injuries and a lackluster showing by one starter last season creates the potential for two new starting safeties for the 49ers at least to open the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
With training camp slated to start Thursday, let’s take a look at what camp battles are brewing for San Francisco in the back end of their secondary:<\/p>\n
Ji’Ayir Brown was the only mainstay at the position for San Francisco last season. He lined up alongside veteran George Odum to start the year, but Talanoa Hufanga returned in Week 2 from an ACL tear before going down again three weeks later with a wrist injury. That opened the door for rookie Malik Mustapha to step in and line up as a starter alongside Brown.<\/p>\n
Speaking of Hufanga, he left in free agency to sign a three-year, $45 million contract with the\u00a0Denver Broncos. The club also released Odum the Sunday before training camp began after placing him on the Non-Football Injury list with an elbow injury.<\/p>\n
One interesting bit of news that came out of San Francisco over the offseason was that\u00a0Mustapha underwent surgery\u00a0to fix a damaged ACL repair he sustained in the season finale against the\u00a0Arizona Cardinals. His exact timeline for a return is unclear, but an initial report from ESPN’s Nick Wagoner indicated the 49ers could be without their hard-hitting second-year safety until the middle of the year.<\/p>\n
This will be one of the biggest questions the 49ers have to answer in camp. Given their injury situation, Brown is likely to snag a starting job again. Our best guess at this point is that Jason Pinnock would grab the other starting spot, but that’s only because he has a little experience with 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh after the\u00a0New York Jets\u00a0drafted Pinnock in the fifth round in 2021 \u2212 Saleh’s first season as the Jets’ head coach. Veteran Richie Grant and rookie fifth-round pick Marquis Sigle should also be in the running for a starting job. If one or both of them performs well enough, they could overtake Brown who struggled in his stint as a full-time starter last season.<\/p>\n
Our best guess is four safeties stay on the 53-man roster: Brown, Pinnock, Grant and Sigle. Mustapha started camp on the PUP list, and we’re projecting that he begins the regular season there.<\/p>\n
Pinnock and Grant are both on the roster bubble until one or both of them start carving out a meaningful role in the secondary or on special teams. The only other safety on the roster is second-year undrafted rookie Jaylen Mahoney. He flashed in the preseason last year and spent most of the season on San Francisco’s practice squad. He did make his way onto the active roster for three games where he contributed three tackles on 30 special teams snaps. If the 49ers safety room isn’t what we predicted, it’s because Mahoney forced the issue and won a job over Grant or Pinnock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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