49ers Free Agency Needs: Breaking Down the Safety Position

With NFL free agency just a few days away, Niner Noise looks at each one of the San Francisco 49ers positions and breaks down what the team might do to bolster the individual units with pending free agents.

NFL free agency officially kicks off on March 9 at 4 p.m. ET, and the San Francisco 49ers have no shortage of needs on either side of the ball.

To prime this crucial offseason period, Niner Noise breaks down each position on San Francisco’s roster and looks at what general manager John Lynch might do to reinforce the team via free agency.

We’ll kick things off in the secondary at the safety position.

San Francisco 49ers

Compared to some other units, the safety position is one of relative depth and strength.

On paper, signs would point to the Niners having the safety position set for 2017. Eric Reid is poised to hold down the free safety spot, while veteran Antoine Bethea is slated for the strong safety position.

And San Francisco has its backups in place too, starting off with third-year pro Jaquiski Tartt.

Here’s the depth-chart breakdown, including contract numbers and length:

Antoine Bethea — 2017 Cap Hit: $7 million, signed through 2017
Eric Reid — 2017 Cap Hit: $5.676 million, signed through 2017
Jimmie Ward — 2017 Cap Hit: $2.263 million, signed through 2018
Jaquiski Tartt — 2017 Cap Hit: $1.374 million, signed through 2018
Vinnie Sunseri — 2017 Cap Hit: $615,000, signed through 2017

2017 free agents: none

Projecting 49ers Roster Moves

Despite being relatively deep, it’s feasible we see some shakeups at safety this offseason. Both Bethea and Reid are entering contract years and, considering he’ll be 33 years old this upcoming season, it wouldn’t be a shock to see the 49ers cut Bethea.

Here’s a breakdown of Bethea’s current contract, courtesy of Over the Cap:

As we should know by now, the Niners aren’t pressed to free up cap space. So any move here wouldn’t be for financial reasons, although extra space always helps.

Instead, such a move would be to get younger players into more prominent roles.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan (h/t Matt Barrows of the Sacramento Bee) hinted a possible move from cornerback to safety was on the table for Ward.

“I’m not sure yet,” Shanahan said of Ward moving to safety. “But that’s definitely the subject of discussion. Because I know he’s capable of doing both.”

Ward would likely move to a free safety spot, meaning Reid — if retained — would wind up moving closer to the box in a strong safety role.

Projected Free-Agent Moves

There probably won’t be any here, not at least any big signings.

If the 49ers do elect to bring in a safety via free agency, it will likely be a depth move. Even then, the Niners would still have four safeties on their roster if Bethea is cut and Ward actually shifts over from cornerback.

We might expect San Francisco to either draft or pick up an undrafted free agent at the position to round out the 90-man roster in advance of training camp. But that would likely be it.

Projected 2017 Depth Chart

Let’s go ahead and assume the Niners part ways with Bethea and move Ward to the free safety spot. Reid, while not necessarily looking like a long-term part of the 49ers plans any longer, drops down to strong safety.

Reid’s immediate backup would be Tartt, who’ll likely be groomed into a starting role if he can bounce back from an otherwise disappointing 2016 campaign. If he can’t, Tartt will probably wind up being yet another one of former general manager Trent Baalke’s early draft failures.

Next: NFL Free Agency: Breaking Down Each Team's Biggest 2017 Need

Sunseri, whom the Niners added late last season, still holds onto the No. 4 safety role unless someone yet to be determined beats him out in camp.