49ers rookie is barrelling toward stealing a starting job in training camp

With the San Francisco 49ers finally getting training camp underway this week, there will undoubtedly be some interesting battles to keep an eye on over the next six weeks.

While the depth charts at some positions seem fairly easy to predict at this point, others are still up in the air. And we're thinking the safety position falls into the latter category.

The big news at safety during the offseason, of course, was the departure of 2022 First-Team All-Pro Talanoa Hufanga, who signed a three-year, $39 million contract with the Denver Broncos. But the Niners know what it's like to be without him already, as he missed 17 of 34 regular-season games over the last two years.

The current starters at safety would seem to be Ji'Ayir Brown and Malik Mustapha, although Mustapha may not be ready to go in Week 1, as the 2024 fourth-round pick tore an ACL in the Niners' regular-season finale against the Arizona Cardinals.

And it's not as if Brown blew anyone away with his performance last year, as the 2023 third-rounder's overall PFF grade of 64.8 ranked 78th among all NFL safeties.

So, the door may be open for someone to sneak in and steal a starting spot, and that person may be rookie Marques Sigle, whom the 49ers selected in the fifth round of April's draft with the 160th overall pick.

After three seasons at North Dakota State, Sigle closed out his collegiate career playing two years at Kansas State, recording 123 total tackles, 10 tackles for loss, a dozen passes deflected, and four interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown.

His biggest strength at this point is his speed. Sigle clocked a 4.37-second 40 time at the NFL Scouting Combine and can obviously cover a lot of ground in a hurry. That speed also helps him wind up to make some big hits when necessary. He does need to improve in his overall coverage, and his tackling could still use a little work as well.

No matter what happens at safety, the Nebraska native will undoubtedly see plenty of snaps on special teams, but he could genuinely step in and steal snaps from Brown and Mustapha as well.

Sigle will certainly get some competition in camp from the likes of Jason Pinnock, Richie Grant, and Jaylen Mahoney, but he won't have to deal with veteran and two-time All-Pro George Odum, who was released this past weekend. So, that'll certainly help.

Look, nobody's saying that Sigle is guaranteed to get himself into the starting lineup. But we certainly like his chances, and he could genuinely end up making an impact sooner rather than later.