I think we can all assume that Lewis (Michael, not London Niner) will not be back with the 49ers this season. If you are to believe his agent. I think we all knew going into this season that Lewis wasn't going to hold his job as the starting strong safety. I defended him to begin the season, I was ready to go to the death, or perhaps to the pain, to defend his starting position so long as he played well enough to deserve it, which I believe he did last season. People insisted I was a fool to be pitied and that my jibba jabba was, indeed just that.
Now, despite the fact that I was talking all kinds of noise that ya'll weren't trying to hear before, I'm right with you all. Not that I was in the wrong before, Lewis deserved his chance to start, and well, he's done for. So let's take a look forward at our two safeties behind him.
We've got Reggie Smith, a guy who's been waiting for his opportunity, waiting to "break out," and has had probably his most productive offseason to date. He came in having fixed his tackling issues, fixed a lot of things, and appears to be solid in coverage. He's a guy we can move around to corner in certain situations and can match up one-on-one better than Lewis could. He's not a sure tackle, but he's definitely a marked improvement over Lewis, and I firmly believe that.
In Taylor Mays, we have Michael Lewis 2.0, he hits harder, he's better, he's faster and he's stronger. (Work it ... ok, sorry). He's very raw, he doesn't have much experience in coverage and has the tendency to over-commit to times. But his athletic talent is something to be admired. Can he make up for his actual talents with his natural talents?
I think we all know that Mays is the future starter, but what about on Sunday? Do they get about even playing time? Does one get more than the other? Who starts?