The San Francisco 49ers have worked the past two years overhauling their secondary and may have finally gotten the answers they are looking for. They signed Richard Sherman in free agency and picked up a number of options in the draft. With undrafted free agents they made some additions as well, one of them is Emmanuel Moseley and with the current starting group of cornerbacks and the other players picked up in the draft, he’s got a long, long, road ahead of him to make this roster.
Basic info
Age: 22
Experience: Rookie season
Height: 5’11
Weight: 184 pounds
Cap Status
He is in year one of his three-year UDFA deal. He received $30,000 guaranteed, including a $15,000 signing bonus and $15,000 salary guarantee. If he makes the 53-man roster in 2018, he will have a salary of $480,000.
What to expect in 2018
The 49ers have added several names to their secondary, not unlike 1981 when Bill Walsh drafted defensive backs aplenty to fix an issue. With UDFAs, the more notable name was Tarvarus McFadden, but read up on Moseley and you might find an arguably better player given Moseley’s speed. Both have an uphill climb to make this roster as cornerbacks. Now, if you factor in special teams, he has a definite shot, especially with that burst speed of his. With the given cornerback depth, the 49ers might be adding one more cornerback to the roster from their UDFAs, No one can predict injuries in the preseason, but looking at this in late May suggests that Moore is simply too buried to make any impressions during training camp.
Don’t expect to hear or see much of him in 2018. Moseley has some nice attributes, but he’s a developmental prospect at this stage of his career.
Odds of making the roster
The locks for cornerback are Sherman, Ahkello Witherspoon, K’waun Williams, Jimmie Ward, and unless they turn out to be total busts in their first training camp, Tarvarius Moore and D.J. Reed. Moore has some lofty expectations, and Reed brings kickoff returns along with cornerback depth. That’s already six names and the 49ers final 53-man roster in 2017 had five players at the position. Unless someone were to suffer an injury in camp, Moseley will be starting in Week 4 of the preseason and heading to the practice squad.