49ers free agency: 5 players Niners won’t bring back in 2022
By Peter Panacy
49ers free agent No. 4: Defensive lineman Maurice Hurst
It’s a bit of a shame the Niners never got to see what 26-year-old defensive tackle Maurice Hurst could do amid a stacked defensive line over the course of 2021.
Hurst, who was somewhat surprisingly jettisoned from the Las Vegas Raiders last offseason, ended up having a strong training camp and flashed some promising abilities that suggested he’d made an impact as part of San Francisco’s D-line rotation.
Except a calf injury early in the year completely thwarted Hurst’s chances of doing so, and that injury ultimately limited him to just two regular-season games on the year.
Hurst was a regular member of the weekly inactive list when he wasn’t dangling on injured reserve, and he only ended up seeing 41 defensive snaps in that brief action anyway. And in light of his absence, the 49ers D-line still ended up being one of the team’s best defensive units, suggesting he’ll be quite expendable during the offseason.
If the Niners are able to re-sign D.J. Jones, while also honing in on the development of other interior linemen like Javon Kinlaw and Kevin Givens, Hurst will be of little value to San Francisco heading into 2022 and will likely need to seek employment elsewhere.