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49ers off-season outlook at the safety position
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A couple days ago, I wrote an article about the 49ers revamping their defense. With the 49ers releasing safety Keith Lewis and linebacker Tully Banta-Cain, it is apparent that the Mike Singletary impact is officially underway.
One of the main concerns the team needs to address is the safety position. With Lewis’ release, the team only has three safeties under contract: strong safety Michael Lewis and free safeties Mark Roman and Dashon Goldson.
I first mentioned that Michael Lewis might not be around next season, but I had made a mistake with my initial look at his contract. Lewis played extremely well last season, finishing second on the team in tackles. Lewis will be sticking around unless the 49ers do anything unexpected with him.
One of the reasons why the Lewis finished so many tackles this season comes to the fact that the 49ers didn’t give up big plays. Many plays against the 49ers were within the 20-yard range, so it was easy for the safeties to stop the receivers on the immediate routes.
However, the safety position will need some help this off-season. The team will look to give Goldson an opportunity to become the full-time starter at free safety. Coming out of the draft two seasons ago, Goldson impressed the 49ers with his range and his ability to break on the ball. Goldson suffered a knee injury in the latter part of the 2008 season but should be ready to go.
If it goes accordingly, we will see Goldson and Lewis both at the safety positions to start the 2009 season. However, the problem then lies within the backups for these two. With only Mark Roman available as a backup, the team will have to look via free agency or the draft to find sufficient backups.
The fate of Roman has yet to be determined. He struggled terribly this past season and didn’t make the big plays you would expect from a free safety. His last interception came in 2006. That has not been impressive and it may mean the end of any chance of him starting at safety.
The backup at strong safety could come via the free agent market. The 49ers did sign cornerback Jimmy Williams but the team could use him in either safety positions. It's a possibilty for a team that is stocked with cornerbacks. This was the team’s first move in changing up the roster, but if you look at the free agent market for safety, there are so many options the team can choose from.
It will be hard for the team to attract some big names likes Rodney Harrison or Mike Brown, but at least the defense itself wasn’t as terrible as the 2007 squad. Hopefully the talent level could attract a talented safety to be willing to become a backup in San Francisco.
The 49ers can definitely look through the draft for a safety. There was a rumor about moving Nate Clements to safety. Even though that does seem unlikely, the team can look into some rookies to help out.
Here are 10 potential safeties the 49ers could look at in this year’s draft:
1- Louis Delmas, FS, Western Michigan
2- Patrick Chung, SS, Oregon
3- Rashad Johnson, FS, Alabama
4- William Moore, SS, Missouri
5- Sean Smith, S/CB, Utah
6- Derek Pegues, FS, Mississippi State
7- Nic Harris, SS, Oklahoma
8- Emanuel Cook, SS/FS, South Carolina
9- Sherrod Martin, FS, Troy State
10- Michael Hamlin, SS, Clemson
It’s going to be hard to really find which safety could come in and help the 49ers. But at least we are sure that the 49ers will look for a safety this off-season. Right now, the team has three (if you include Jimmy Williams, then it’s four) safeties on the roster. It could benefit the team to look for one or two more for depth.
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