Do the 49ers Have the Best Safety Duo in the NFC West?

As we wait for training camp to start in late July, let's take stock of the NFC West position by position.

Grant Cohn | Jun 25, 2021

As we wait for training camp to start in late July, let's take stock of the NFC West position by position.

Today, let's rank the safety duos from the worst to the best.

4. Los Angeles Rams: Taylor Rapp and Jordan Fuller.

The Rams drafted Fuller in the sixth round last year, and he started 12 games and intercepted three passes. Good season. The other safety, Taylor Rapp, started five games and intercepted one pass. Both safeties are relatively solid players who look better than they really are because cornerback Jalen Ramsey needs zero help.

3. Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker and ?.

Baker might be the best safety in the entire NFL, but there is no established starter beside him. There's Deionte Thompson and Charles Washington, and neither player is particular good.

2. 49ers: Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt.

If Ward and Tartt stay healthy, they could rise to No. 1 on this list, because they're two of the most versatile safeties in the division. Both can play each other's position. Both can cover man to man and in zone. Both can pretty much do it all. The only drawback is their healthy and availability. Jaquiski Tartt never has stayed healthy for a full 16-game season, and Ward has accomplished that feat just once back in 2015. And the NFL just added a 17th game to the schedule, so durability is more important than ever.

1. Seattle Seahawks: Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams.

Diggs is an underrated free safety who has intercepted eight passes in 21 games with the Seahawks. And while Jamal Adams struggles in coverage at times, he is the closest thing we've seen to Troy Polamalu since Polamalu retired. Adams has recorded 16 sacks in his past 26 games. What a weapon.

Published Jun 25, 2021

GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.