INDIANAPOLIS — Just three 49ers defensive players from the Trent Baalke era remain in San Francisco, and the now-Jacksonville Jaguars general manager has kept an eye on them from afar.
Safeties Jimmie Ward and Jaquiski Tartt and defensive lineman Arik Armstead are the only current 49ers who were drafted while Baalke was part of the team’s front office. All three have stayed with the organization, and arguably had their best performances since Baalke’s departure this past season.
“First of all, I’m really happy for those guys, Jimmie Ward and Tartt,” Baalke, the 49ers' GM from 2011 to 2016, said Tuesday while at the NFL Scouting Combine. “I think those guys have had really good careers. They are great young men. That’s probably what I look at the most fond of, the type of men they turned out to be. That’s a tough position to navigate in the draft.”
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Ward, a 2014 first-round pick, played in all but one game in 2021, registering a career high 77 regular-season tackles -- 51 solo -- and two interceptions. Tartt, a 2015 second-round pick, missed two contests yet still had a career-high 66 tackles, 42 of them solo and five for a loss.
Armstead, a 2015 first-round pick, was moved to the interior of the 49ers' defensive line and also enjoyed a career season. Not only was he the 49ers' Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominee for the second consecutive season, but he registered a career-best six sacks and 63 tackles.
RELATED: RG3 believes 'it's going to be fireworks' with Lance at QB
Looking ahead to the new league year, the 49ers again need depth to their secondary. Tartt is scheduled to become a free agent, as are nickel back K’Waun Williams and cornerback Jason Verrett.
San Francisco 49ers
While Verrett could be a target to bring back on a team-friendly one-year contract after he missed the 2021 season because of injury, the 49ers will rely on younger players they drafted last spring. Ambry Thomas had earned the starting role opposite of Emmanuel Moseley by Week 13, and Deommodore Lenoir will continue to add competition at the position. Safety Talanoa Hufanga appeared in 17 games, including the playoffs, and earned three starts in his rookie season.