The San Francisco 49ers released veteran safety George Odum over the weekend. His departure could open the door for San Francisco to upgrade its secondary in a major way.
This move is not a huge shock as the Niners made a number of cost-cutting measures during the offseason, and Odum always seemed like a potential casualty of that approach.
Odum’s departure is unfortunate because he distinguished himself as a solid player for San Francisco, especially on special teams. He is one of those valuable role players every team needs who does not get much glamor or chance to shine but does the little things right.
It seems that the Niners moved on from him possibly because he was injured, but also because they have other safeties on the roster who are cheaper.
This move does leave their safety corp in a weird place, though. Malik Mustapha is dealing with an ACL injury and may miss part of the 2025 season, so that means Ji’Ayir Brown is now the top safety on the depth chart, which is not good considering he had a steep drop off in production during his sophomore campaign in 2024.
San Francisco also has Richie Grant, Jason Pinnock, and rookie Marques Sigle to pad out the rest of the depth chart, but with Talanoa Hufanga departing in free agency the 49ers need to take a serious look at signing a free agent.
The Baltimore Ravens released safety Marcus Williams earlier this year after he had a terrible 2024 season. Yet, earlier in his career he was a ballhawk for Baltimore. He had 19 interceptions in his first six NFL seasons, five of them with New Orleans, so the 49ers could bring him in to see if they can get him back on track.
Another option could be Justin Simmons. He was a two-time Pro Bowler with the Denver Broncos and has 32 career interceptions. He would definitely bring some more stability to the team’s secondary.
Julian Blackmon is yet another potential upgrade available in free agency. He had three interceptions in 16 games with the Indianapolis Colts last season and recorded 86 combined tackles.
We know San Francisco wants to get younger and cheaper as a team, but right now their safety group is too much of a liability to let stand. Releasing Odum gives them the chance to make an upgrade and signing any of the three players mentioned in this article would constitute a major upgrade.
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