All 49ers

The 49ers Pick Georgia Safety Malaki Starks in New Mock Draft

The 49ers certainly need help in the secondary, particularly at safety if Talanoa Hufanga leaves in free agency.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 7, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs defensive back Malaki Starks (24) practices before the 2024 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images
Dec 7, 2024; Atlanta, GA, USA; Georgia Bulldogs defensive back Malaki Starks (24) practices before the 2024 SEC Championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

Not so long ago, the 49ers had the best roster in football. Now, they have needs everywhere.

In no particular order, they need a center, a guard, a tackle, a tight end, a wide receiver, a running back, two quarterbacks, three defensive linemen, at least one linebacker, a cornerback and a safety. Depth is a major issue across the board for the 49ers.

So they really can't go wrong with taking the best player available with the 11th pick. And Pro Football Network expects the best player available to be Georgia safety Malaki Starks.

"The Niners’ defense needs help in the secondary," writes PFN analyst Marco Enriquez."They can add one of the most versatile defensive backs in the class in Malaki Starks with their first pick in the draft. Starks boasts impressive quickness and ball-hawking skills, as well as the frame and physicality to be an impact player in every phase of the game. His football IQ is also frequently on display when diagnosing play concepts."

Enriquez is right -- the 49ers certainly need help in the secondary, particularly at safety if Talanoa Hufanga leaves in free agency.

But the 49ers also need help in the front seven, considering Javon Hargrave is getting released and Dre Greenlaw might sign a multi-year contract with another team next month.

I'm guessing the 49ers will sign a safety in free agency -- either Hufanga or someone such as Chiefs safety Justin Reid. Then in the draft, I'm guessing the 49ers will spend one, possibly two of their first few picks on their front seven considering they can't even stop the run anymore.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published
Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

Share on XFollow grantcohn
Home/News