49ers roster: 5 players who dodged the ax with Niners draft results
By Peter Panacy
No. 3: 49ers defensive back Tarvarius Moore
There’s a possibility San Francisco’s third-round pick from the 2018 NFL Draft, defensive back Tarvarius Moore, goes from a relatively forgotten piece of the depth chart into a full-time starter this upcoming season.
The NFL cycle moves fast.
Moore, of course, suffered an Achilles tear last offseason, which subsequently resulted in him landing on the physically unable-to-perform list and having to sit out the entirety of 2021 while he recovered, thereby pushing the final year of his original rookie contract into 2022.
The 49ers not only passed on high-profile safeties early in the draft, but they also elected not to re-sign veteran strong safety Jaquiski Tartt, too, opening up the door for someone like Moore to go from a reserve big-nickel defensive back, as was the case in 2019 and 2020, into a likely starter this season.
Had the Niners used one of their two third-round picks on, let’s say, Maryland safety Nick Cross, it would have been highly likely Moore would have been shuffled out of the equation, considering San Francisco committed relatively big money to special teams safety George Odum and has second-year pro safety Talanoa Hufanga on the cheap in year two of his own rookie contract.
Not a bad turn of events for Moore.