Predicting 49ers 2021 safety depth chart with Jaquiski Tartt back
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers brought back Jaquiski Tartt on a one-year deal and signed veteran Tavon Wilson, shaking things up as far as the safety depth chart for 2021.
Many of the San Francisco 49ers moves in NFL free agency this offseason were centered around “keeping the band together” and, to just as important an extent, guarding against the injuries that derailed all hopes back in 2020.
There were three notable free-agent deals made at safety, a position carrying a good deal of concern into 2021 already. Before NFL free agency began, the Niners ensured restricted free-agent safety Marcell Harris didn’t hit the open market by signing him to a one-year deal.
Then earlier this week, San Francisco inked veteran defensive back Tavon Wilson to a one-year deal while also re-signing its former starting strong safety, Jaquiski Tartt, to a one-year deal as well.
The move keeps Tartt and his defensive-backfield counterpart, free safety Jimmie Ward, in the mix for 2021.
Yet there are still some questions with this position, and the competition to back both Tartt and Ward up this season will be one to watch in training camp.
Particularly in light of both players’ lengthy injury histories.
As of now, here are the safeties the 49ers have on their current offseason roster:
- Tarvarius Moore
- Jimmie Ward
- Marcell Harris
- Kai Nacua
- Jaquiski Tartt
- Tavon Wilson
- Chris Edwards
- Jared Mayden
Teams typically carry only four safeties on their regular-season 53-man rosters, so there’s a strong chance one Niners holdover player who saw starting time last season won’t make the cut.
But before we try predicting who, let’s take a look at some of the questions facing this unit between now and the start of training camp.