SF 49ers: Emmanuel Moseley now more important as free agency looms

Few positions are as big an NFL free agency concern for the SF 49ers this offseason than cornerback.

Essentially all the starting-caliber corners on the Niners roster are poised to hit some form of free agency this offseason. Richard Sherman, Jason Verrett, Ahkello Witherspoon, Dontae Johnson, K’Waun Williams, Jamar Taylor and Emmanuel Moseley could all find themselves elsewhere in 2021, and that would be a turnover few teams could overcome in one offseason.

Especially with a limited amount of cap space, which is a situation San Francisco finds itself in. According to Over the Cap, the SF 49ers have just over $14 million in available cap space right now.

It’ll be almost impossible for the Niners to retain all the aforementioned names. But they do have a slight advantage with Moseley, as he’s a restricted free agent and is still under some San Francisco control this offseason.

The SF 49ers will likely offer Moseley a second-round RFA tender this offseason, which is estimated at $3.38 million for 2021. That’s affordable for a defensive back capable of starting, and the Niners have already trusted Moseley with those roles before.

The question, though, is whether or not Moseley can recapture what gave San Francisco the confidence to start him back in 2019.

A lot could be riding on SF 49ers’ hopes with Emmanuel Moseley in 2021

Moseley went from a reserve defensive back in 2019 all the way to a starter in Super Bowl LIV, thanks largely to Witherspoon’s own regression over the latter course of that year and into the playoffs.

That works in Moseley’s favor, although he lost favor with the coaching staff in 2020. Despite lengthy injuries to players like Sherman, Taylor and Williams, it was Witherspoon and Verrett, not Moseley, who received the majority of starts in the second half of the season.

Pro Football Focus helps explain some of Moseley’s regression. The 5-foot-11 defensive back posted a solid 70.0 overall grade in 2019 with opposing quarterbacks having an 86.6 passer rating when targeting him. Last year, however, those numbers regressed significantly with Moseley receiving a 58.3 overall grade and quarterbacks targeting him posting a 99.8 passer rating.

Part of this could be attributed to the SF 49ers seeing a drastic decrease in their pass rush, which suffered key injury losses to players like Nick Bosa, Dee Ford and Solomon Thomas early in the year. That put more pressure on the Niners to rely more on their defensive backs, and Moseley appeared to have struggled in this transition.

The hope, of course, is San Francisco’s pass rush gets back to form in 2021, namely with Bosa returning fully healthy.

Yet the SF 49ers aren’t going to be able to entirely reinforce their defensive backfield solely with veteran free agents this offseason. If they could, they’d be able to re-sign some of their talent with relative ease.

That means turning to NFL Draft rookies this offseason, which is always a risky proposition because of the often tendency for young defensive backs to struggle in transitioning from the college ranks to the pros.

The good news, however, is Moseley is only 24 years old and has just 17 regular-season starts under his belt. That could work in his favor, as there’s a strong argument he’s still developing.

But the Niners are going to need that development, especially if Moseley is thrust into a prominent starting role solely by default.