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Could San Francisco 49ers strong safety Jaquiski Tartt be poised for a big year? He looked good against the Denver Broncos on Monday night until he got a bit shaken up. Tartt was evaluated for a concussion but was cleared to return to the game.
Tartt has landed on injured reserve in each of his last two seasons. Many felt the 49ers might target a safety or two in free agency or the draft, but both came and went without any additions capable of competing for starting jobs.
Sure, the 49ers added cornerback
Jason Verrett and moved Tarvarius Moore back to safety, his natural position, but the entire defensive backfield heads into 2019 mostly unchanged from a season ago.
"The past two years, I've been injured," Tartt said earlier this month. "For them to still believe in me is a great thing. For the rest of the secondary, we're young, but at the same time, we can play ball, and that's what we plan on doing this year — showing everybody we can actually play."
John Lynch believes in Tartt's ability, especially after watching the 27-year-old safety on Monday night. The 49ers general manager
joined KNBR on Thursday to discuss the fifth-year player.
"Yeah, if he can play like that every week, Larry (Krueger), he'll do very well in this league for a long, long time," Lynch said.
He added, "That was fun to watch, and the most fun thing for me was watching how much fun he was having playing football. He's an extremely talented (player). There's very few safeties in this league that run 4.3 that are 220 pounds, that can blitz like he can, that have instinct. Jaquiski has it all. It's just the consistency of doing it each and every week, and that's a great start right there."
The defensive backs managed just two interceptions last season, both of which were hauled in by safeties. The total set a new NFL record for the fewest in a single season, which goes along with the defense's seven forced turnovers, also a single-season record.
Lynch hopes the team's offseason upgrades change that. As mentioned, those upgrades weren't among the defensive backs. Instead, they were up front. The 49ers added two pass rushers in veteran Dee Ford and rookie
Nick Bosa, and hopefully found a Reuben Foster replacement in linebacker Kwon Alexander.
That should make things easier for everyone across the board, especially with new NFL rules always seemingly favoring the offense.
"You can't hit people across the middle," Lynch said. "The intimidation is gone. The one thing you can do, you can get after a quarterback, and you can put him under duress, and you can make him feel you. We've built this team to do just that."
Lynch and the 49ers might have done such a good job upgrading the defensive front that they now seemingly have an embarrassment of riches there. The defensive line boasts five former first-round picks and a lot of young talent. Names like Kentavius Street, Damontre Moore, Jeremiah Valoaga, D.J. Jones, and
Kevin Givens are going to make the decisions leading to the 53-man roster cutdown on August 31 very difficult.
"I think in general, [the depth is] one of the things that we're happy about," Lynch said. "But it's also going to make for some tougher decisions. The back end of our roster, there's some real strong players, more than we can keep, and that's what you want. It will make for some tough decisions.
"I'd be lying if I told you people haven't been calling, but we're still trying to figure it out ourselves, what the right mix is. Sometimes that doesn't always mean the 53 most-talented guys. It's a lot of discussions about what's going to make us the strongest team. Some guys that have tremendous versatility, that comes in handy.
"There's all kinds of different decisions and evaluation points. Those are ongoing, and those are good problems to have, but there are a ton of discussions that are really tough ones because we've got a lot of guys that are capable of making this roster."
You can listen to the entire conversation with Lynch below.
We are less than one week away from the NFL Draft, and the San Francisco 49ers have their first day-one draft pick since 2021. That was the year they selected QB Trey Lance number three overall. The trade-up to get Lance cost the 49ers their first-round picks in 2022 and 2023. And now that they are back in the first round, at pick 31, fans are anxious to see what the team does with the pick. And with former assistant GM, Adam Peters, now in Washington, it will be interesting to see how well the 49ers draft without Peters in the room.
We looked back at the seven drafts GM John Lynch and Head Coach Kyle Shanahan have led to see what information we could pull from those drafts. There were plenty of hits, plenty of misses, and a few surprises along the way. The draft picks are
Rumors have swirled regarding the situation between the San Francisco 49ers and wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, who is entering his fifth NFL season and is slated to earn $14.124 million on a team-executed fifth-year option. Despite the 49ers publicly declaring a desire to sign Aiyuk to a contract extension, keeping him on the roster for the foreseeable future, many rumors have focused on potential trade interest.
On Monday, general manager John Lynch held his annual pre-draft press conference, addressing the Aiyuk situation without revealing any information on the conversations that have taken place behind closed doors. Once again, he emphasized that the 49ers want Aiyuk to remain with the team for the remainder of his career.
When asked if there was a chance Aiyuk
The decision to trade up in the 2021 NFL Draft and select quarterback Trey Lance could have had significant consequences for general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan. With the team lacking first-round picks in the last two drafts due to this move, and Lance no longer on the roster after being traded to the Dallas Cowboys before last season, it's clear the gamble didn't unfold as expected.
Lynch held his annual pre-draft press conference on Monday, reflecting on the decision to take such a big chance on Lance. While such a bold move might have jeopardized jobs elsewhere, Lynch and Shanahan were blessed with some good fortune in the 2022 NFL Draft.
Acknowledging the support of the team's ownership, Lynch stated, "They believe in Kyle and I, and our
As customary, NFL teams engage in preliminary discussions about potential draft trades during owner meetings. The San Francisco 49ers currently hold the No. 31 spot in the first round but appear receptive to moving either up or down. The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday night.
General manager John Lynch addressed reporters on Monday and acknowledged the wide range of possibilities. However, he noted that any potential discussions about trading spots with other teams will likely intensify later in the week.
"It's going to be an interesting year," Lynch stated. "I think it's an interesting draft class. I was just looking at my notes and one interesting thing to me, dynamic, and the way of the world right now, we put a grade on players in the fall if we think
