Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
It might be difficult to identify several holes on a team that is coming off of a Super Bowl run. Football Outsiders, in a feature for ESPN, went around the NFL and
identified each team's biggest hole following free agency and the draft.
The San Francisco 49ers hope they filled the holes left by the losses of Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and veteran wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders. The team used its two first-round picks on defensive tackle
Javon Kinlaw of South Carolina and wide receiver
Brandon Aiyuk of Arizona State. Both are expected to come in and immediately contribute.
San Francisco also lost 35-year-old six-time Pro Bowl offensive tackle Joe Staley, who retired on April 25 but replaced him with 31-year-old seven-time Pro Bowl tackle
Trent Williams, who was acquired via a trade.
So what area does ESPN, by way of Football Outsiders, see as the 49ers' biggest hole? That would be depth at safety. The analysts would love to see more of an impact from
Jimmie Ward, who was re-signed to a three-year extension, and
Jaquiski Tartt.
"The 49ers were the only team in the NFL last season whose safeties failed to record an interception," writes Football Outsiders, "and they were in the bottom five in tackles at the position too. Although defensive coordinator Robert Saleh often leaves his safeties deep to take away big plays, they are only moderately successful at that, ranking 12th in open-field rushing yards allowed and 10th in coverage against deep passes.
"Then there's the matter of durability. Ward has started 10 games only twice in six NFL seasons; Tartt has done so once in five. Neither has ever started more than 13 games."
The 49ers are looking to carry over the momentum from last season and turn it into another Super Bowl run in 2020 — this time finishing it with a victory.
Bill Barnwell of ESPN speculated on potential landing spots for recently-released running back Le'Veon Bell, formerly of the New York Jets. And that's really all it was — speculation. Still, the San Francisco 49ers were on Barnwell's list of plausible suitors.
Much of that seems to do with the 49ers' past interest in Bell. The team pursued Bell last year in free agency before the running back agreed to join the Jets. Head coach Kyle Shanahan compared the pursuit of Bell to the team targeting and signing Tevin Coleman.
"The
Bill Barnwell of ESPN proposed 13 trades that could happen before the deadline on November 3. The San Francisco 49ers are involved in two hypothetical scenarios.
The first is a trade that sends defensive back Tarvarius Moore to the Cleveland Browns in exchange for tight end David Njoku. Barnwell notes the Browns' desperation to find help at the safety position, and the 49ers could use someone to help replace injured tight end Jordan Reed, who suffered an MCL sprain on September 27.
"Moore was a promising free safety prospect coming out of Southern Miss, but the 2018 third-rounder
Wide receiver Dante Pettis has been inactive for the past two games. It's clear that the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff doesn't view the former second-round pick as the player it had hoped he would become.
ESPN selected Pettis as the 49ers player who the team most likely would like to offload before the upcoming trade deadline.
"Pettis simply doesn't have a role for the Niners anymore," explains ESPN's Nick Wagoner, "and that is unlikely to change without a handful of injuries in front of him. The past two weeks, the 2018 second-round pick was inactive in favor of Kevin White, who
