When Eric Reid returned two weeks ago from an ankle injury that had forced him to miss three games, the San Francisco 49ers asked him to alter his role within their defense.
According to Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com, Reid was prompted to move from his traditional strong safety spot to a hybrid linebacker role.
The move accomplished two things for the 49ers. It kept Jaquiski Tartt on the field alongside Jimmie Ward at the two safety spots while also giving Reid a continued role on the defense. It wasn’t particularly successful last week against Dallas as the Cowboys rolled to 40 points and 501 yards of total offense.
“We’re trying to get our best 11 guys on the field,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said. “And it’s not just, it’s not an absolute answer every week. It depends who we’re playing, depends what personnel we want to go with, depends on some of the schemes we’re going against. Eric’s done a lot of good things in this league, has played at a high level, has done a real good job at safety.”
Shanahan said the difference between the two positions isn’t all that striking when the team is playing with an eight-man alignment near the line of scrimmage with a single safety deep.
“I think Tartt’s played at a very high level for us while Eric has been out, too. We’re just trying to figure out the best way to get our best 11 out there,” he said.
It’s still an adjustment for Reid, who made the Pro Bowl as a safety during his rookie season in 2013. Having an extra safety playing a linebacker can certainly be a benefit against pass-heavy offenses as it’s gets an extra defensive back on the field. Against a run-heavy team, it could create additional problems as Reid would be a lighter player than the linebacker he would be replacing. But for a team that is still rebuilding it’s talent base, finding a way to maximize the talent on hand isn’t particularly a bad idea.
