Analyzing whether the San Francisco 49ers are looking for a starting safety.
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00:00 Are the 49ers looking for starting free safety?
00:03 I ask because Mike Silver reported a few days ago that Tala Noah Hufunga has not been assured
00:09 a starting job coming back from a torn ACL, which just raises all kinds of questions.
00:15 I think most people assume that Hufunga and Jair Brown will be playing side by side for
00:19 years to come, but it's possible to see both of them as strong safeties and will be looking
00:25 for someone else to replace Tashaun Gibson, in which case they could draft a safety in
00:31 round one.
00:32 How do you view their view?
00:34 I don't think they will.
00:36 There's really no talent to merit that.
00:39 This is a very weak class at the top in safety.
00:42 Cooper Dejean from Iowa is thought that he'll migrate to safety like Ronnie Lott did where
00:47 he started at DB, and he's probably best at safety.
00:51 It's a question of when do you make that transition?
00:53 Would you value him?
00:55 I'm not sure.
00:56 He has a leg injury, so he has to prove his value also.
01:00 He's going to work out for teams right before the draft to show that he's capable.
01:04 He's going to have his pro day April 10th, I think it is, something like that.
01:08 It's going to be really late in the process.
01:11 There's really not anybody that you can take early in the draft, but there are players
01:14 they've targeted.
01:16 There's a rumor that they're going to bring in Sione Vahki from Utah.
01:20 He's a safety, but he's a fourth round guy.
01:24 Some of the players that we're looking at in safety in the draft would be fourth round
01:27 picks.
01:28 Vahki is one of them, or possibly a higher pick on Malik Mustafa, but I think that Vahki
01:36 is the guy that they're focused on.
01:38 If there's somebody they're bringing in for a 30 visit, that's something to really pay
01:41 attention to.
01:44 In terms of free agency, I think that market's going to stall because all those guys got
01:48 let go because they're too expensive, so they're going to wait to see, "I want to get paid
01:52 what I used to get paid."
01:53 Nobody will, and then it's going to be a standoff, and the free agent safety market's just going
01:57 to stand still for a while until somebody finally says, "Okay, I'm willing to take a
02:02 little bit less if I get a good deal.
02:04 It's probably the best I can do."
02:05 Once that domino falls, then the others do, but until then, a player like Justin Simmons
02:10 isn't going to sign.
02:11 The safety market's just going to be frozen in free agency.
02:15 The Niners and the draft, they're looking fourth round only.
02:20 You okay, Grant?
02:25 You froze on me there.
02:30 I'm looking at their death chart right now.
02:32 Sorry, I was looking at their death chart.
02:34 I killed my computer.
02:36 I'm seeing Tolanoa, Funga, Jeyer, Brown, George Odom, and that's essentially it at safety.
02:42 Whether or not they're looking for a starter, they are in the market for another safety,
02:45 no question about it.
02:46 In the draft, it appears that they're looking for a backup.
02:53 Do you think week one, the starters will be Funga and Brown?
02:57 Yeah.
02:58 Yeah.
03:00 Do you think they have questions about Funga?
03:03 They do.
03:06 Part of the reason that you draft Jeyer and Brown is you have questions in the back of
03:09 your head already.
03:10 I think that while he got an all pro, there's still limitations to Funga's game.
03:18 They're worried long term.
03:20 Can we afford to pay all pro money to a guy that's not an all pro athlete?
03:25 The other question I have with Funga is his blitzing capability where he can get in the
03:30 backfield but he can't finish.
03:31 He doesn't close on quarterbacks and sack them.
03:35 That's part of the value of Jeyer and Brown is that he got sacks in college at Penn State.
03:40 Two sacks in the Rose Bowl.
03:42 You got somebody like that, I think that they're probably looking at Jeyer as the long term
03:47 solution at strong safety and they're keeping their eyes open at free safety to see what
03:52 they can do.
03:53 That's going to depend on free agency.
03:55 But I don't think you're going to find a starter in the draft at safety.
04:00 Is it possible that the 49ers, okay, you think they draft a safety in Red Shirt and then
04:07 have them potentially take over for Funga in a year?
04:10 Maybe so.
04:11 Maybe so.
04:13 The Red Shirt program that works so well for the 49ers.
04:15 Yeah, as long as nobody gets hurt we're fine.
04:19 (Music)