San Francisco 49ers: Breaking down the signing of Damontre Moore

The San Francisco 49ers have officially re-signed former AAF standout, defensive end Damontre Moore. Here is a breakdown of the pre-training camp move.

The San Francisco 49ers made a concerted effort this offseason to completely revamp their pass rush and it’s safe to say that they did a pretty good job.

The trade for 2018 Pro Bowler Dee Ford and the selection of Ohio State standout Nick Bosa have added two hopefully dominant defensive ends to pair with budding star DeForest Buckner on the interior.

Combined with the excellent depth of Arik Armstead and Solomon Thomas, the 49ers could have one of the most stacked defensive lines in football. But as the saying goes, you could never have too much of a good thing.

That’s why the 49ers opted to bring back defensive end Damontre Moore on Wednesday after waiving him back in May a little over a month after initially signing him.

Moore was a highly-touted prospect out of Texas A&M back in 2013 whose poor combine performance led to him falling all the way to the third round where the New York Giants snatched him up.

His fall was comparable to 2019 draft prospect Jachai Polite who was a top-15 talent on paper, but fell to the third round following a disastrous combine showing. However, Moore’s was more performance-based while Polite fell primarily due to attitude concerns.

Nonetheless, expectations were high for Moore in New York but he ultimately failed to live up to the initial hype. He was released after just two and a half seasons with the Giants following a string of off-field altercations with teammates.

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Moore then bounced around the NFL for a few years playing for a variety of different teams before ending up on the roster of the San Diego Fleet of the now-defunct Alliance of American Football (AAF). There, Moore established himself as one of the standout defenders in the short-lived league.

The 26-year-old would wind up leading the league in sacks with nine and he finished second in the league in QB hits. On top of that, Moore would receive the highest grade from Pro Football Focus out of any edge defender.

Still, despite his success in the upstart AAF, he remains a longshot to make the 49ers roster. With the aforementioned names atop the depth chart and role players such as Ronald Blair, Kentavius Street, and Jullian Taylor all ahead of him, securing a roster spot should prove challenging.

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But what’s clear is that Moore has the talent to perform at a high level.

He showed that while at Texas A&M, he showed that in glimpses with the Giants, and he certainly showed that in the AAF. For Moore, now it’s all about putting everything together.

Following a standout showing in the AAF, Moore is being given one more shot at revitalizing his career that at one point looked so promising. With an extra chip on his shoulder, Moore could very well surprise this summer and fight his way on to the 53-man roster.

If not, there’s no harm in giving a clearly talented player an opportunity to compete — even if it doesn’t end up working out.

The odds are stacked against him, but Moore has proven that he could play at a high level before. Now, he’ll just have to do it again.