With Pro-Bowl safety Dashon Goldson taking his talents to Tampa Bay this offseason (which was a major disappointment for 49er fans here in the Bay Area to say the least), the team might as well have put up a big sign saying, “NOW HIRING HARD HITTING SAFETIES”.
Thursday, they made another move to fill that vacancy by drafting LSU Safety Eric Reid with their first-round pick. Reid seemed happy about being drafted by such a great organization, but that also might have been because the 21 year old has a 3 year old daughter, who he can now provide a good life for, all things considered.
As it stands, the 49ers have six safeties on their roster. The only one who is basically guaranteed a starting spot is Donte Whitner, who has been starting SS for the past few years. That is unlikely to change.
Three of them – Darcel McBath, Trenton Robinson, and CJ Spillman – were on the team last season but spent most of their times as backups and special teams.
The last safety is veteran Craig Dahl, who most recently played for the Rams but won a Super Bowl with the NY Giants. He would most likely be the main competition for Reid, if he performs well enough in training camp to be considered for the starting job.
I can just imagine Reid’s first day at the practice facility in Santa Clara.
“You got two jobs here, rook,” one of the vets will say. “Smack the f*** out of people, and two, get turnovers. If you can do that, you’ll be fine.”
