5 free agents who would turn 49ers into Super Bowl favorites

49ers NFL free agency target No. 1: S Jessie Bates, Bengals

It’s one thing to land a quality player like Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. It’d be another to grab a true impact defender like Cincinnati Bengals safety Jessie Bates.

Again, the Niners are poised to lose Jimmie Ward and Tashaun Gipson, meaning the only safety with any credible experience on San Francisco’s roster is the All-Pro strong safety, Talanoa Hufanga, who lacks the necessary speed to serve in a single-high defense as the back-end option.

Bates, soon to turn just 26 years old this offseason, has that kind of speed and coverage ability. And there’s a reason why Touchdown Wire named him the 49ers’ top target in NFL free agency this offseason (or at least Niners Wire’s Kyle Madson did):

"He has 14 interceptions in his career and he’s one of very few available safeties who combine coverage skills downfield with the ability to fly downhill and make tackles around the line of scrimmage. Health is another characteristic that makes Bates enticing for a 49ers team that was obliterated by injuries last year. He’s missed just one game in five seasons."

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Plenty fo teams will pursue Bates, yes. But the Niners would be exceptionally smart to be as aggressive as possible to land him.

Doing so would actually serve as an upgrade to someone like Ward and a perfect complementary partner to Hufanga.