Why the 49ers Should Start Tashaun Gipson Over Ji’Ayir Brown

Safety Ji'Ayir Brown is in line to get back into the starting lineup with Malik Mustapha out, but the 49ers should go in another direction against the Rams.

Nov 10, 2024; Tampa, Florida, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Ji'Ayir Brown (27) gets ready for a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Raymond James Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images / Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

Well, this will sting the San Francisco 49ers.

Rookie starting safety Malik Mustapha will be inactive when the 49ers play the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday Night Football. Mustapha is nursing a chest/shoulder injury sustained in the blowout win against the Chicago Bears.

With Mustapha out, it puts second-year safety Ji’Ayir Brown in line to return as the starter again. Brown was benched against the Bears in favor of Talanoa Hufanga and Mustapha. He has been mediocre this season, so it was an easy decision for the 49ers. Brown will likely find himself back in the starting lineup for the 49ers again after one week out of it. 

However, the 49ers can go another route. The 49ers should start Tashaun Gipson over Brown against the Rams. That may be wild to initially fathom. Gipson is a declining player and hasn’t been with the 49ers all season. You would think Brown is the better option, but he isn’t. Gipson will be technically more sound with everything he does than Brown. 

This year has been extremely disappointing for Brown. He’s whiffing tackles, struggling in coverage, and taking countless poor angles toward runners. Brown is the embodiment of a liability, which is why the 49ers elected to go with Hufanga against the Bears. Think about that. The 49ers believed that Hufanga, who hasn’t played in two months and with a club on one hand, was the better player to start.

It’s an indictment of what the 49ers think about Brown. It doesn’t matter what Kyle Shanahan or anyone on the team says about Brown. Their actions spoke loud and clear against the Bears when they benched him. The message was sent and it needs to be maintained against the Rams by starting Gipson over him. Gipson is the better option right now.

The 49ers cannot afford him to put Brown out there for Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford to take advantage of. You can say the same with Gipson, but he has the intellect to not put himself in those compromising positions. It won’t be clear until the 49ers defense trots out there to see who will start in place of Mustapha between Brown and Gipson.