49ers made right move locking up Emmanuel Moseley

The 49ers inked Emmanuel Moseley to a two-year deal, solving some of the offseason wonders at cornerback with a quality starting-caliber player.

Going into the 2021 offseason, the San Francisco 49ers had plenty of uncertainty at the cornerback position. With nearly all of their starting-caliber corners on the roster becoming free agents, the Niners either needed to re-sign Emmanuel Moseley or Richard Sherman or take on the challenge of drafting a rookie to fill the void at the position.

With Sherman now likely leaving, potentially along with other corners like Jason Verrett and K’Waun Williams, there was essentially just one smart choice left.

According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, San Francisco elected to extend Moseley on a two-year deal worth up to $10.1 million:

The 49ers made the best decision they could on locking up Moseley. Moseley has been a solid part of the team and was crucial to the Niners’ Super Bowl run in 2019. Even last year with injuries, he managed 47 tackles, only three less than he had in 2019.

The re-sign was also helped out by the extra cap space San Francisco was able to get last week. According to Niners Nation, the 49ers now have the ninth most cap space in the league at $28.02 million, which is a way better position than they thought they were going to be in.

And by re-signing Moseley, one has to figure the deal will be more cost-effective than placing a second-round tender (worth over $3.3 million in guaranteed money), although the full details of Moseley’s re-sign deal aren’t yet known, including the guaranteed portion plus incentives.

Even though they have this extra money to spend on free agency and the NFL Draft, the Niners still have to choose wisely about how they spend their funds. Sherman, who played opposite of Moseley the past few years, missed significant time in 2020 because of injury. He is also a veteran well beyond the wrong side of 30 years old, so it makes sense for San Francisco to let Sherman go as he was already a free agent.

Moseley, on the other hand, has proven to be a quality cornerback and a huge part of the team. He also has youth on his side. Signing E-Man for another two years gives the team a solid player at the position, allows more players to get re-signed, and will guarantee an improvement as the defense comes back with full health in 2021.

Now the question that remains is who are the 49ers going to get who can play opposite of Moseley?

Does the re-signing of Moseley mean the Niners won’t re-sign Jason Verrett? It would be great to bring them both back, but there are still other key priorities like the re-signing of Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams.

Either way, it will be fun to see what San Francisco does to make some bigger moves in free agency and the draft.

The 49ers have a lot of decisions to make that will determine what the future of the team is, but the re-signing of Moseley is a great indicator things for the red and gold are looking up.