The 49ers are operating in high gear on Friday, having already traded one starter. Now, they’ve signed another to an extension.
The team announced a two-year re-up for safety Jaquiski Tartt. This will pay Tartt $13MM and could max out at $15MM, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets. With Tartt having one more year left on his rookie deal, he’s now under 49ers control through the 2020 season.
A second-round pick in 2015, Tartt has only been extension-eligible for a few months now. But the franchise has evidently seen enough from him to make a commitment.
“Since we arrived last year, Jaquiski has impressed us with his play, his work ethic and the kind of teammate he is,” GM John Lynch said. “We believe he’s a natural fit in our defensive system and his abilities will allow him to flourish. It is always exciting when we are able to extend our own young players like Jaquiski who are dedicated to their craft, this team and our community.”
A part-time starter for his first two seasons, Tartt broke into a full-time role in 2017. Although he suffered a forearm injury that ended his season after just nine games, the 49ers appear to have had this on their agenda for a bit now. The Samford product joins Jimmie Ward, tentatively since Ward consistently vacillates between cornerback and safety, as San Francisco’s starting safeties.
The 26-year-old defender has 167 career tackles and two interceptions. He now figures to have a big role on higher-profile 49ers defenses after playing his career thus far on rebuilding San Francisco teams.
Good move. He was good when he played last year. And Adrian Colbert is the other starting saftey not Ward
theking24 – I agree, I love the move. I like Colbert too, he showed a lot of promise last year. Hopefully he wins the starting job but, yeah, as of right now the 49ers ARE slated to start Ward and Tartt at safety. (Personally I’m just ‘over’ jimmy ward..)
(theking24 – Although that being said, I DO seem to remember some rumblings recently about Ward going into OTA’s as a corner again precisely because of the Colbert situation. So who knows, I might be talking out my ass)