49ers free agency: Predicting which free agents Niners re-sign

49ers 2022 NFL free agency predictions: Defensive tackle Maurice Hurst

Not unlike Raheem Mostert and Jason Verrett, it’s a shame veteran defensive tackle Maurice Hurst wasn’t fully healthy over the course of 2021.

Prior to suffering a calf injury at the tail end of the preseason, Hurst was having an exceptional training camp and figured to be a key cog in San Francisco’s defensive line rotation.

Except that calf injury did happen, and it nagged Hurst over the course of the entire year, ultimately limiting him to just two games played and a mere two tackles, one of which was for a loss.

Hurst will turn 27 years old this offseason and arguably has a lot of football left in him. Yet the 49ers were able to identify and field other quality rotational D-linemen over the course of 2021, essentially making Hurst expendable.

If he had been healthy, the Niners may have wanted to re-sign him. Since they got by just fine without him for much of the year, that won’t be the case.

Prediction: Not re-signed