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San Francisco recently added two veteran safeties amid injuries at the position.<\/p>\n
The San Francisco 49ers had a quiet trade deadline, but one of their more notable moves was adding safety Tashaun Gipson to their practice squad with the intention of elevating him to the active roster when ready.<\/p>\n
Gipson, 34, had been with the 49ers in each of the past two seasons, serving as a full-time starter in both years as a stable piece in the secondary. But, he had a six-game suspension to start the year, while San Francisco went younger, starting Talanoa Hufanga and Ji\u2019Ayir Brown, while drafting rookie Malik Mustapha.<\/p>\n
However, injuries have hurt San Francisco, as Hufanga has dealt with a variety of issues, while Mustapha has been in and out as well, leading to some inconsistent play at the position overall.<\/p>\n
With Gipson in the building, as well as recent veteran signee Adrian Amos, how do the 49ers view their safeties currently, particularly their younger players?<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is perfect, period, but when the guys are young and the one thing that\u2019s cool about them that you guys ask about them and that I say weekly, is that they do get better and they learn every week,\u201d defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said about his young safety duo. \u201cAnd even with [Ji\u2019Ayir Brown] Tig, he came in midway through the season, so really he\u2019s kind of played a year now. So he is a young safety, I\u2019m glad you say it like that, but he\u2019s played a lot of ball too.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think those guys have accelerated their growth, they care a lot. They continue to communicate well, but it\u2019s not perfect. And I think getting a lot of young guys playing time early, even early in the season when we were kind of rotating some guys has really, it\u2019s starting to pay the dividends and that\u2019s where you see them making plays. They\u2019re feeling more confident and that\u2019s been good.\u201d<\/p>\n
But, there is an expectation for Gipson to play and potentially in a big role, as Sorensen acknowledged the impact of the signing ahead of Week 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s huge. He started for us the last two years. He\u2019s a great dude,\u201d Sorensen said about the Gipson signing. \u201cHe\u2019s played a ton of ball. He\u2019s taken it, like 33 career picks. He\u2019s had a ton of success and he is a great guy. And just having him back, I think everyone was real excited to see him. I think he\u2019s excited to be here and be back and feel like he didn\u2019t leave. We\u2019re just excited to have him back, see how he feels. He hasn\u2019t done a whole lot, so we\u2019ll just kind of figure it out as we go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even though the 49ers have thought about changes at the position, there has still been development with the younger guys at safety, as both Brown and Mustapha are thinking quicker and playing freer as a result.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe more that we can let those guys play free and fast, then you see them show up and I think that\u2019s what you see out of Malik, too,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cAnd the more they play, they\u2019re going to play that way and they start to expect things and it\u2019s not the first time they\u2019ve seen something. So, the acceleration\u2019s been great.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 49ers\u2019 decision to add veterans, though, could be a sign that Talanoa Hufanga may not be ready to return in the near future, as San Francisco will roll with a group that includes Brown, Mustapha, George Odum, Gipson, and Amos. It wouldn\u2019t be a surprise for Amos to be waived as well once Gipson gets up to speed, as the team usually carries only four on gameday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
San Francisco recently added two veteran safeties amid injuries at the position.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-san-francisco-49ers"],"yoast_head":"\n