Sports blog information from USA TODAY.
The 2024 offseason’s top 12 free-agent safeties
The Carolina Panthers probably won’t be hunting down some of the best safeties on the open market this offseason. Heck, they’re likely to depart with a pretty decent-sized name of their own.
Nonetheless, let’s wrap these rankings up and give you the top 12 safeties of free agency.
From Jauan Jennings to L’Jarius Sneed, here are 10 underrated players for the 49ers and Chiefs who could make all the difference in Super Bowl LVIII.
For every Super Bowl star you’d expect, there’s a player who comes out of nowhere in a relative sense to take over the biggest game of his life. That was just as true for Green Bay Packers receiver Max McGee in Super Bowl I as it was for Kansas City Chiefs running back Isiah Pacheco in Super Bowl LVII.
For the upcoming matchup between the Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII, we’d like to present 10 players — five from each team — whose deeds on the field have gone relatively unnoticed, but every one of them could be the one to take his team’s fortunes over the top.
Here are the Secret Superstars of Super Bowl LVIII.
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49ers DC Steve Wilks was asked about the game-changing call on 49ers SS Tashaun Gipson vs. the Browns:
49ers defensive coordinator Steve Wilks on Friday spoke with reporters for the first time since the team’s Week 6 loss to the Browns. It was also his first chance to address a key call that didn’t go the 49ers’ way.
While there were plenty of things San Francisco’s defense could’ve done differently in the game, a key play came on a third-and-10 during the Browns’ game-winning drive.
Browns QB PJ Walker tried finding WR Elijah Moore on a third-down slant. The throw was too high for Moore, who jumped to try and haul it in. As he came down, 49ers FS Tashaun Gipson drilled Moore and was flagged for unnecessary roughness.
A replay showed the hit was clean, and if there hadn’t been a flag it would’ve put the Browns in a fourth-and-long with the game on the line.
Wilks opted not to harp on what the league could’ve done differently, and instead focused on what his defense could’ve done to change the outcome.
“I can’t say that right now,” Wilks said with a laugh. “But no, in all seriousness right here, I know the league is definitely all about the safety of players and so are we. We teach our guys how to lower their target. Personally, I thought it was clean. They called the flag. That’s part of the game. And again, going back to how it initially opened up, we had several times after that defensively, to finish the game, and we didn’t.”
While the 49ers defensive coordinator isn’t looking back on what could’ve gone different, he was all for a change in the way the NFL can review those plays.
As for Gipson, Wilks doesn’t believe his safety could’ve done anything differently to avoid that particular play.
“No, not in how we teach him,” Wilks said. “I felt like once again, he did everything he could for us trying to lower his target right there in the moment. You’re talking about, I don’t want to say human error, but humans are trying to determine whether or not it’s a foul or a good hit. They called the flag on it and we got to live with it.”
The 49ers will look to put Week 6’s loss and the penalty on Gipson behind them Monday night when they take on the Vikings in Minnesota. Kickoff from US Bank Stadium is set for 5:15pm Pacific Time.
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The 49ers had a safety land in TD Wire’s top 11 NFL safeties list … but it’s not the All-Pro.
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49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga stole the show last year when he stepped in as a full-time starter for the first time and wound up earning a First-Team All-Pro nod. Despite a breakout sophomore campaign for Hufanga, it was free safety Tashaun Gipson who got the shine in a post from Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar highlighting the top 11 safeties in the NFL. Gipson’s strong 2023 campaign landed him at No. 9 on Farrar’s list.
The path to a roster spot for Gipson was full of hurdles. He signed on as a camp body just a few days before the 49ers’ preseason finale. His performance in that final preseason game against the Texans was eye-opening, but not enough for him to make the initial 53-man roster. A couple injuries opened a roster spot for Gipson by the season opener though and he held down the starting job all year.
Gipson responded with the best season of his pro career. Via Farrar:
Last season, Gipson allowed 19 catches on 32 targets for 315 yards, 86 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, five interceptions, three pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 53.0.
The 49ers opted to re-sign Gipson on a one-year deal for the 2023 season in hopes he’ll repeat what he did in 2022.
Hufanga could eventually end up making his way into a top 11 list, but he has to clean up a couple areas of his game. His downhill playmaking and knack for being around the football are the two keys for his success. However, he can get over-aggressive and leave receivers open down the field after he vacates his area trying to make a play. Such missteps led to some long completions that might not have been available had Hufanga stayed home.
San Francisco will run it back in 2023 with the same starting safeties, but now rookie Ji’Ayir Brown will be in the mix. If Gipson struggles to match his production from last season, it wouldn’t be a huge surprise to see Brown pushed into a bigger role.
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Is Dre Greenlaw the 49ers’ most underrated player?
The 49ers have a lot of very good players. Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are all headliners who get plenty of praise as reasons San Francisco has been in Super Bowl contention despite their woes at quarterback.
While the high praise is well-earned for those stars, it leaves a slew of other important players flying under the radar. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar wrote a piece highlighting every team’s most underrated player, and listed linebacker Dre Greenlaw for the 49ers.
Here’s Farrar on Greenlaw:
Last year, Greenlaw had a career-best season with a sack, six quarterback pressures, 125 solo tackles, 71 stops, and 87 catches allowed on 111 targets for 708 yards, 453 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 95.5. Basically, Greenlaw was close to the action at all times, and he was up to any challenge.
This is probably the correct choice. Greenlaw is so often overshadowed by fellow LB Fred Warner, who is atop the conversation for best off-ball linebacker in the NFL. In reality Greenlaw would be the best LB on perhaps half the teams in the league. Maybe more. He should get more shine as a reason the 49ers’ defense is as good as it is.
There are a handful of other players who fit here for the 49ers as well. Let’s look at that group:
Tashaun Gipson is returning to the #49ers on a 1-year deal per Ari Merov.
The 49ers and safety Tashaun Gipson are running it back for another year. Ari Merov of the 33rd Team reported Gipson agreed to a one-year deal to return to San Francisco for his 12th NFL season. The Athletic’s Matt Barrows later reported the two sides are nearing a deal, but nothing has been finalized.
Aaron Wilson of KPRC in Houston reported the one-year deal will be worth $2.9 million with $2.17 million guaranteed and a slew of incentives.
Gipson, 32, led the 49ers with five interceptions last season as part of an improbable journey to the starting free safety job. He joined San Francisco ahead of the preseason finale, but impressed in the handful of practices and one game he played and took over the starting FS job with Jimmie Ward sidelined by an injury.
The 49ers decided to keep Gipson at FS when Ward returned and played their former first-round pick at nickel corner instead. Gipson’s return doesn’t necessarily rule out Ward’s return in free agency, but it certainly doesn’t bode well for a reunion. Gipson, strong safety Talanoa Hufanga, and special teams ace George Odum will be the three safeties on the roster, so it’s not out of the question the team would add a starting-caliber player and utilize Gipson as a quality backup option.
Along with his five interceptions, Gipson also posted 61 tackles and eight pass breakups last season. He has 32 interceptions and 65 pass breakups for his career.
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Which of the #49ers’ 21 unrestricted free agents should they aim to re-sign? Nicholas McGee (@nicholasmcgee24) runs through the entire list:
It’s going to be a busy offseason for the 49ers, who on top of replenishing their coaching staff and thinking about the draft, have the futures of 21 unrestricted free agents to think about.
The roster turnover in the NFL is what makes a season-ending loss, which the 49ers suffered in last week’s NFC championship game, hit so hard.
No team is ever the same year over year, but the Niners will want to keep as much of their 2022 vintage as they can.
But San Francisco is projected to be just under $16.4 million below the projected 2023 salary cap, and will not have the financial means to keep everyone.
So which players should they be looking to keep around? We’ve gone through the list of 21 UFAs and identified whether San Francisco should aim to re-sign them to a new contract.
Some pending free agents who should intrigue the Lions from the DAL/SF and CIN/BUF games
We’ve hit the final day of the divisional round of the postseason, and what a day of football it promises to be! The two games on Sunday pit the Dallas Cowboys against the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC and the Cincinnati Bengals against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC.
There are a slew of pending free agents on all the teams who are going to attract attention once the season is over. Here are five who would make smart additions in Detroit — for the right price.
Which unknown players will step up in the wild-card round? Here are this week’s Secret Superstars on the defensive side of the ball.
If your team is going to win a Super Bowl, at some point along that ride, your team will have to get at least one remarkable postseason performance from a player nobody saw coming. Yes, we all expect the big names to come up big in big moments in big games, and other attendant cliches, but somewhere along the line, you will need a Secret Superstar to get the job done.
If you expected Buffalo Bills receiver Gabe Davis to go off for four touchdown catches against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2021 divisional round, you should probably be working for a team. Because, with all due respect to Davis, I don’t think even the Bills were expecting that.
The same could be said for Houston Oilers defensive back Vernon Perry in the divisional round of the 1979 playoffs against the San Diego Chargers of Don Coryell and Dan Fouts. The undrafted rookie from Jackson State picked off four of Fouts’ passes, and blocked a field goal for good measure. As the game ended 17-14 in Houston’s favor, that block was as important as any of the picks.
You get the idea. At some point in the wild-card round of the upcoming playoffs, there will be at least one player whose name you don’t know who will pop up on the screen, and grab your attention. Here are my most likely players to do just that on the defensive side of the ball; the Secret Superstars on offense for the wild-card round can be found here.
NFL Playoffs: Secret Superstars of the wild-card round — the offense
And here’s the wild-card schedule for all who are curious; I tried to focus on repeat matchups as much as possible.
NFL sets Super Wild-Card Weekend schedule: Times, days, and networks
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Tashaun Gipson snagged a second INT off another terrible David Blough throw.
PICK CITY!
📺: #AZvsSF on FOX
📱: NFL+ // https://t.co/KTh0i4oaLh pic.twitter.com/ym8FkBfS7K— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) January 8, 2023
Not really sure what Cardinals quarterback David Blough is looking at here, but his attempted deep shot was a disaster that ended in 49ers safety Tashaun Gipson’s second interception of the game. The pick was reminiscent of the one he got earlier in the game, only this time Blough’s throw was a little more purposeful. It definitely wasn’t better, but it for sure had more purpose. Regardless it ended in a second takeaway for San Francisco.
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