{"id":820003,"date":"2026-03-18T22:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820003\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T22:52:14","slug":"richard-sherman-says-the-49ers-must-find-a-veteran-at-this-position-who-has-played-good-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/820003\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Sherman says the 49ers must find a veteran at this position who has played good football"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former San Francisco 49ers All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman shared his thoughts on his podcast<\/a> about the safety position. Sherman said, \u201cSafety first. You got to find a safety, a veteran safety who\u2019s played good football.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are plenty of veteran safeties available, but how many would be substantial upgrades to what the 49ers have on the roster? Jabrill Peppers, Justin Simmons, Kyle Dugger, the list goes on and on. They are available for a reason.<\/p>\n

Sherman thought Kevin Byard, who signed with the Patriots, would have been a \u201cfantastic\u201d signing. There\u2019s no argument there. Byard\u2019s a ballhawk and could have provided intangibles and leadership for the safety room.<\/p>\n

The 49ers have never been big spenders at safety under the current regime. Byard\u2019s deal was for one year, $7 million, with $6.17 million guaranteed. That number suggests the 49ers weren\u2019t interested in the veteran market.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s Sherman on the current group of safeties:<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it gives me hesitation to start back off without any competition at the safety spot. If you just go in there and start Malik Mustapha and Ji\u2019Ayir Brown, I mean that\u2019s fine, because I think at times Ji\u2019Ayir Played really good football and Malik Mustapha flashed and played really fast and aggressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sherm brings up a valid point about Ji\u2019Ayir Brown. He was much better than fans give him credit for last season. That\u2019s not to say the Niners should look to upgrade from him, but Brown made a handful of plays a game that would get swept under the rug. That\u2019s because the one missed tackle or reception allowed is easy to remember.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut again, there were times they did not play great football and you know it left the defense in a bad position and in a bad situation. I think that\u2019s something they have to address both in the draft and finding a veteran — a veteran presence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reason the 49ers should move on from Brown is that his play style isn\u2019t complementary to Mustapha. Brown came into the NFL as a free safety who was excellent deep. However, his lack of athleticism is on display far too much, even for a player with a high IQ.<\/p>\n

The touchdown Brown allowed last season against the Texans is a prime example. He didn\u2019t do anything wrong; he just wasn\u2019t fast enough to get in position in time to contest the catch.<\/p>\n

Mustapha showed enough promise as a rookie to deserve another season\u2014especially now that he\u2019s a year removed from a serious knee injury. I\u2019d also like to see Mustapha in a defense when he\u2019s not trying to do the linebackers\u2019 job, which he clearly didn\u2019t trust last season, and can focus on his job patrolling the middle of the field with Fred Warner back in the lineup.<\/p>\n

Still, a veteran voice should be added regardless. Sherman echoed that sentiment:<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when they had Tashaun Gipson and everybody was like, \u2018Oh, you know, this is just a veteran feler,\u2019 and they went to the Super Bowl that season and he had one of his best seasons. And I think everybody could see the value that a veteran safety brings and just his feel, and being ahead of the play and a sound tackler and it just calms the defense down.\u201d<\/p>\n

The grandpa in the secondary is none other than Deommodore Lenoir. The safety group is even younger, with Brown being the elder statesman.<\/p>\n

The way the 49ers moved in free agency sets them up to add a safety within the first three rounds of the draft. But their history would suggest the defensive line is another way to protect the secondary. So, adding an edge rusher early to replace the recently retired Bryce Huff<\/a> is probably a more pressing need.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former San Francisco 49ers All-Pro cornerback Richard Sherman shared his thoughts on his podcast about the safety position.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,6,52326,1138],"class_list":{"0":"post-820003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-nfl","10":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-free-agency","11":"tag-san-francisco-49ers-draft"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116252635500050349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=820003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/820003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=820003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=820003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=820003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}