San Francisco 49ers fans may not know exactly who the starters are going to be in the back portion of the secondary. Some folks feel strongly in that Dashon Goldson will be back as the starting safety, some want to see Reggie Smith take his job, some are clamoring for a rookie to be drafted relatively high, some have even said that they would not mind seeing Taylor Mays take on the starting role there.
Whatever your personal stance is on this, one thing remains true, the coaching staff will have the final say-so after evaluating all the options that are there at the beginning of training camp.
On the surface, this safety rookie class doesn't appear to be as deep early on as it was last year.
Eric Berry (Kansas City Chiefs) and Earl Thomas (Seattle Seahawks) came out immediately and made a serious impact for their respective teams. Other players like T.J. Ward (Cleveland Browns), Reshad Jones (Miami Dolphins), and Kurt Coleman (Philadelphia Eagles) all made an impact as well last year as rookies.
The two top prospects of this year's rookie class don't really begin to compare to last year's.
Rahim Moore and DeAndre McDaniel both had stellar junior year's. But as senior's their production seemed to have fallen off just a bit. Some of it was due to loss of teammates the year before, some of it had to do with team throwing it their way less, but some of it also could be attributed to complacency in their roles.
Rahim Moore may not have had the same success as last year, but he was still effective for UCLA in more ways than one.
With that, let's take a look at the now former UCLA Bruins safety.
Here's a look at Rahim Moore against Temple in the Eagle Bank Bowl in 2009 where he had 4 tackles and an interception. But the most important thing to watch in this feed is not his statistics. His instinct is and has always been the biggest asset that Moore possesses. However, this video does illustrate why there is such a difference in players like Thomas, Berry versus Moore. His tackling is not anywhere close to an "elite" level... even for college. Some folks have Moore rated as their number one safety due to his ability to pluck 'em out of the air, but others have McDaniel still rated above Moore due to the versatility that he brings an all aspects of playing defense. There's no question that Moore has a better knack for getting the pick's. It really just boils down to what team wants what. That will be the deciding factor as to who goes first out of these two safeties.
Here are his stats:
Stats Overview
Tackles
Misc
Interceptions
YEAR
TOT
SOLO
AST
SACK
STF
STFY
FF
BK
INT
YDS
AVG
LNG
TD
PD
2008
58
30
28
0
0
0
0
0
3
5
1.7
5
0
0
2009
45
34
11
1
0
0
0
0
10
79
7.9
37
0
0
2010
77
51
26
0
0
0
0
0
1
42
42.0
42
0
0
2010 Regular Season Game Log
Tackles
Misc
Interceptions
DATE
OPP
RESULT
TOT
SOLO
AST
SACK
STF
STFY
FF
BK
INT
YDS
AVG
LNG
TD
PD
9/4
@Kansas State
L 31-22
7
4
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
9/11
Stanford
L 35-0
7
4
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
1
9/18
Houston
W 31-13
3
2
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
42
42.0
42
0
0
9/25
@Texas
W 34-12
8
7
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
1
10/2
Washington State
W 42-28
2
1
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
10/9
@California
L 35-7
9
6
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
10/21
@Oregon
L 60-13
8
7
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
10/30
Arizona
L 29-21
9
5
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
11/6
Oregon State
W 17-14
4
4
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
11/18
@Washington
L 24-7
8
5
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
11/26
@Arizona State
L 55-34
4
3
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
2
12/4
USC
L 28-14
8
3
5
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0
0
Summary: Most of the evaluation came above under the video. However, I do think that Moore could be the best of this class if he learns how to wrap up better at the next level. 49ers fans have gotten very used to having safeties in there that don't quite get the full meaning of the term "wrapping-up". If the 49ers were to go after another safety in this draft, it seems as though they wouldn't until later on. But depending on the outcome of free agency (assuming there will be one), and the draft as well as availability of specific players, the Niners very well could be targeting another safety besides the guys that were on the roster last year.
PREDICTION: 1st - 2nd Round.