A Closer Look at the 49ers Safeties. Should The Team Be Concerned?
The DBs have a lot to prove this year, but with most of the hype surrounding the corners, what are the expectations for the safeties? .
With the San Francisco 49ers only a few weeks away from the start of training camp, there are a lot of question marks surrounding this team. Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk’s health, the amount of rookies that will be contributing, and whether the defense will be better with Robert Saleh’s return. But there is one question that fans have not seemed to ask much about.
Among positional groups, the secondary stands out as an interesting group. There’s a lot of hype around the young cornerback group that most expect to take a step forward. However, that leaves one question unanswered:
What about the safeties?
Malik Mustapha
Mustapha was a 4th-round pick in the 2024 NFL draft to be insurance for previous Niner Talanoa Hufanga, before injuring his knee prior to the season. Mustapha made quite an impression in his rookie season by allowing only one touchdown and a 44.4 QB rating when targeted in his direction. The Niners may have struck gold with Mustapha before getting the news that he tore his ACL in his right knee. He suffered the same injury in 2022 when playing for Wake Forest, according to Nick Wagoner of ESPN. I suspect the Niners will want Mustapha to start on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list and sit out for at least 4-6 weeks to start the season.
How Mustapha recovers and when he returns will have a massive impact on the play of the secondary as a whole. It’s a tough break for a young player to miss as much time as he did, but his youth should only aid his recovery.
Ji’Ayir Brown
Brown has been a rollercoaster of a player to start his NFL career. He started as the #2 safety behind Tashaun Gipson in 2023, starting the season on special teams. Brown came in for Hufanga when he injured his knee in Week 11 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and has stayed in the starting lineup ever since. He had a promising rookie season and even picked off Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LVIII for the lone interception of the game. We all know how the rest of the game went, so I’ll spare you the heartbreak again.
In 2024, Brown seemed to be struggling with bad angles and more missed tackles. He essentially started 13 games for the team but was eventually benched because of poor performances despite only allowing two touchdowns and an 80.7 QB rating allowed. Former defensive coordinator, Nick Sorenson, may have placed Brown in bad situations and set him up to not be his best self in the system that he played in last year, so it’ll be interesting to see how he fares in Saleh’s scheme.
Marques Sigle
The Niners took Sigle in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft in hopes of competing with Brown for the starting free safety position. With the news of Mustapha’s injury, there is a good chance that Sigle might see more action than the team probably originally hoped for. Sigle started his college career at North Dakota State and was redshirted his Freshman year. He later transferred to Kansas State in his Junior year and went on to record four interceptions, including a pick-six.
He recorded the fastest 40 time and the second-longest broad jump out of his position during the NFL combine. He has the speed and intelligence to steal away the free safety position during training camp. He is a great run defender but he does have tendencies to be too aggressive which leads to missed tackles. I do worry about his instincts when he is in coverage for the deep ball and reacts too late which may be why he was drafted so late.
George Odum
Odum is regarded as one of the best special-teams players in the league when healthy, earning him first-team All-Pro honors in 2020 with the Indianapolis Colts and second-team in 2023 with the Niners. I expect Odum to be on the team this season with his contract becoming guaranteed, but there is a strong possibility he won’t be next year. Odum turns 32 in November, and this team is looking to get younger whenever they can find that opportunity. Injuries have plagued him the last couple of years as well, so that will also be a factor. So, expect Odum to make an impact when healthy, just not in the secondary.
Ritchie Grant
Grant signed a one-year deal with the Niners in March in hopes of a competition for the strong safety position with Mustapha healing from his injuries. The 27-year-old was a former second-round pick and started his first four years playing for the Atlanta Falcons, but only started one full season for them. 2023 seemed to be a down year for Grant, in which he allowed six touchdowns and a 126.6 QB rating (not good!) and then only started one game during the 2024 season. Grant is a reclamation project, but his best chance of landing on the roster will be on special teams.
Jason Pinnock
I’m a bit higher on Pinnock than most, but still scratched my head when the Niners gave him a one-year deal. He had only one solid year in 2023, where he allowed two touchdowns and a 74.8 QB rating. Pinnock was moved around between free safety and strong safety during his tenure with the New York Giants, so Saleh might have a better plan on how to utilize him more effectively. While he did have a disappointing 2024 season, he still racked up three sacks, so there could be some creativity in the works for him on this defense. His versatility should land him a spot, but he shouldn’t be relied on as a starter.
Conclusion
The safety competition during camp and the pre-season games are certainly something for fans to keep an eye out for. Grant and Pinnock will be interesting to see if Saleh’s scheme can make them into better players. The depth is still much needed, and I can see them going after someone like Justin Simmons or Julian Blackmon for more competition if no one impresses early in camp. Blackmon has worked with assistant head coach Gus Bradley, while he was with the Colts.
Ji’Ayir Brown will be the safety I’ll keep an eye out for the most because I do feel like Saleh can get him to that level he was during his rookie year, or perhaps better. For now, someone will need to step up while Mustapha recovers, but even then, the team will need to hope he can get back up to speed and back to his previous level of play. That leaves the safeties in a bit of a flux state, meaning the front will need to step up to make their lives easier, because the opposite isn’t as likely.