Unless the San Francisco 49ers are a darkhorse candidate to trade for Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey or make a move along those lines, the Niners roster is set for training camp.
The Niners depth chart looks quite a bit different than it was at this point a year ago. Nick Bosa will look to his right and see three new starters. Fred Warner will have two new players lining up next to him. We’ll see at least one new starter in the secondary.
Despite fans wanting multiple changes along the offensive line, left guard appears to be the only position that’ll feature a new starter. Wide receiver will have some new faces, but that side of the ball remains essentially unchanged.
With all of the turnover, today’s question of the day asks which player on the 49ers roster was the biggest winner of the offseason.
Who is the biggest winner from the 49ers’ offseason?
My answer: There was no competition brought in for Jake Brendel at center. I’m not sure if Greg Joseph qualifies as a competitor when it comes to pushing Jake Moody.
I’ll go with safety, Ji’Ayir Brown. When Talanoa Hufanga was healthy, the 49ers went with Hufanga and rookie Malik Mustapha last season. However, then-defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen would still find ways to sprinkle “Tig” into the lineup. Hufanga would come off the field on obvious passing downs or when he’d make a mistake.
Brown has fallen out of favor with most 49ers fans. He had a promising second half in his first year but was moved to a different position last year, which did not play to Brown’s strengths.
Brown’s missed tackle in the snow in Buffalo, which led to a long touchdown run, is a role tailor-made for Malik Mustapha. Brown is at his best when he has eyes on the quarterback and can make plays over the middle of the field. Not when he’s “coming out of the roof” to make a tackle.
Despite the perception, Brown had a lower missed tackle rate in 2024 than he did as a rookie. I think we see the player the Niners were hopeful they drafted in 2023 under Robert Saleh.
Additions of Richie Grant, Jason Pinnock, Upton Stout, and Marques Sigle could be viewed as players to push Tig, but he’s the ideal safety for Robert Saleh’s defense. The veterans feel like special teamers or players used in a specific setting — Pinnock is a blitzing safety, for example. San Francisco needs somebody to patrol the deep middle but also take away these high-crossing routes that offenses like the 49ers love to run nowadays. All of this is right up Brown’s wheelhouse.
This will be the third defensive coordinator Brown has had in as many years. Despite the free agency and draft acquisitions at safety, none of them, at least from how I’m viewing it, were brought in to get Brown off the field. That makes him one of if not the biggest winners on the 49ers roster this offseason.
What is your answer? Scroll down and let us know in the comments.