6 former 49ers from 2021 who are still surprisingly free agents
By Peter Panacy
Former 49ers free-agent No. 4: Safety Tavon Wilson
San Francisco must have a thing for former Indianapolis Colts reserve safeties. This offseason, the 49ers onboarded special teams All-Pro safety George Odum.
A year ago, the 49ers did the same with former Colts safety Tavon Wilson.
Granted, Wilson only spent one year with the Colts, 2020, yet he started 39 games with the Detroit Lions the previous four seasons, meaning the Niners were likely looking to get some insurance for then-starting strong safety Jaquiski Tartt, who carried a noteworthy injury history despite his reliable play on the field when he was healthy.
Tartt missed three starts during the regular season, but Wilson only saw one of those go his way, his lone start of the 2021 campaign.
Additionally, Wilson managed to appear in only eight games where he recorded 10 tackles and a pass breakup, signifying San Francisco was more interested in deploying then-rookie Talanoa Hufanga as a backup to Tartt over the older, more experienced Wilson.
That probably didn’t bode well for Wilson’s NFL free agency stock value entering 2022.