Safety: Xavier McKinney, Antoine Winfield Jr.
Safety wasn’t a consistent position for the 49ers, either. Jaquiski Tartt was a rock star when on the field, and coverage felt the effects of his late-season rib injury. Jimmie Ward is an upcoming free agent, and given the overall quality of his performance in 2019, he may or may not be invited back.
Alabama’s McKinney is more of a multi-positional safety, able to do everything from rushing the passer to playing at linebacker depth and in the slot to roaming the deep third. Minnesoata’s Winfield is more of a traditional deep safety with blitzing capabilities, and he may have the best ball skills of any safety in this class.
In my opinion, the 49ers would do best to use their 13th overall pick on the best cornerback or safety available. The right kind of player at that position could redefine an already great defense, there’s receiver depth all the way through the draft, and the defensive line is not as much of a need. Whatever they want to do, the Buckner trade certainly gives them the flexibility to do it.
Touchdown Wire editor Doug Farrar previously covered football for Yahoo! Sports, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, the Washington Post, and Football Outsiders. His first book, “The Genius of Desperation,” a schematic history of professional football, was published by Triumph Books in 2018 and won the Professional Football Researchers Association’s Nelson Ross Award for “Outstanding recent achievement in pro football research and historiography.”