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Grading the 49ers' Signing of Safety Jason Pinnock

Pinnock has a good chance to start at free safety next season next to Malik Mustapha.

Grant Cohn

Sep 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ronnie Bell (10) gestures after making a catch for a first down in front of New York Giants safety Jason Pinnock (27) in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
Sep 21, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Ronnie Bell (10) gestures after making a catch for a first down in front of New York Giants safety Jason Pinnock (27) in the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images / Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images
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The 49ers needed to sign a veteran safety.

They lost both Talanoa Hufanga and Tashaun Gipson this offseason. So some people expected the 49ers to sign an expensive safety such as Jevon Holland or Justin Reid to a multi-year deal.

Instead, they signed former New York Giants safety Jason Pinnock to a one-year deal.

Pinnock hasn't had the success of Holland or Reid, which is why Pinnock is cheaper. Duh. But his deal comes with minimal risk and lots of upside.

Pinnock is an extremely athletic safety -- he played cornerback in college. In that sense, he's similar to former 49ers safety and current Houston Texans safety Jimmie Ward. He has the body type and movement ability of a cornerback while tackling like a safety.

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh coached Ward from 2017 to 2020. Then Saleh became the head coach of the Jets and drafted Pinnock in Round 5 of the 2021 NFL Draft. So he and Saleh know each other. And now they're reunited.

Pinnock has a good chance to start at free safety next season next to Malik Mustapha. Saleh clearly wants someone faster than Ji'Ayir Brown, who is more of a strong safety. Plus he struggled last season, so he'll need to work hard to impress the coaching staff.

Pinnock was the New York Giants' starting safety the past two seasons, so he has experience. Perhaps playing on the same defense as Fred Warner and Nick Bosa will bring out the best in him.

GRADE: A

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Grant Cohn
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.

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