San Francisco 49ers: Top 6 biggest offseason winners and losers

Winner: Adrian Colbert

While the 49ers did their best to improve upon their defensive line depth, they opted not to make any change at the safety position. That could be bad news for the 49ers defense that was hampered by poor safety play — especially at free safety — but good news for the incumbent starters.

Jaquiski Tartt will return and hold down the starting strong safety role — barring injury — but the competition at free safety is as thin as it’s been. And the player that has been running with the starters so far in OTA’s is none other than last year’s Week 1 starter Adrian Colbert.

Colbert showed flashes of promise late in his rookie season but took a major step back last season when thrust into a full-time starting role. The 2017 seventh-round pick looked lost in coverage at times and finished the season with the lowest Pro Football Focus grade (31.7) out of all 93 ranked safeties.

A high ankle sprain ended his season just seven games in but it appears he’s healthy again and in-line to be the starter. This was made even more probable following a broken clavicle suffered by the oft-injured Jimmie Ward last month.

Ward is expected to be ready for training camp but he’ll already be behind the eight ball. On top of the lack of legitimate competition, Colbert will have the advantage of playing alongside a defense that will hopefully sport a much-improved pass rush.

In 2019, Colbert will likely be given the chance to start and he should receive some much-needed help from the front-seven. Considering how poor he played last season and how this offseason could have gone, he has to be considered a “winner.”