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Will the 49ers Sign Chiefs Safety Justin Reid this Offseason?

The 49ers will be in the market for a safety this offseason.

Grant Cohn

Jan 18, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid (left) talks with safety Justin Reid (20) during the fourth quarter of a 2025 AFC divisional round game against the Houston Texans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
Jan 18, 2025; Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid (left) talks with safety Justin Reid (20) during the fourth quarter of a 2025 AFC divisional round game against the Houston Texans at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images / Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images
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The 49ers will be in the market for a safety this offseason.

That's because Talanoa Hufanga will be a free agent, and Pro Football Focus expects him to get a two-year, $25 million contract. That's not cheap. The 49ers could re-sign Hufanga, or they could attempt to replace him with someone younger and cheaper in the draft, or they could splurge for someone more expensive in free agency.

One free agent safety the 49ers could pursue is Justin Reid, who will be in line for a three-year, $50 million contract according to Pro Football Focus.

"Another defender playing in the Super Bowl, and another who should be that much richer after Feb. 9," writes PFF analyst Bradley Locker. "Reid was a do-it-all catalyst for Steve Spagnuolo’s defense in 2024, flashing 77.0-plus PFF grades in coverage, tackling and run defense. The Stanford alumnus bounced back from an underwhelming 2023 season and was the 11th-best safety by PFF WAR this year. Having already played seven seasons but not yet 28, Reid should have a solid market, especially for teams not willing to pay the steep price tag of a player like Jevon Holland. Reid was previously the 12th-ranked safety in AAV, at $10.5 million, and should receive a decent raise."

Reid went to Stanford and is the little brother of former 49ers safety Eric Reid, so maybe Justin would be interested in coming back to the Bay.

If the 49ers want to get faster and more exotic while improving their run defense, Reid would help them accomplish all of those goals. He's one of the most underrated safeties in the NFL.

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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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