Which 49er will bounce back in 2019?

With yesterday being Easter, that had us thinking, which San Francisco 49er will resurrect their career in 2019? With the injury bug biting a lot of team members last year, there are a handful of options. I’ll go with three. Two on defense and one on offense. Let’s start on defense.

Gotta stay healthy

Jimmie Ward

Ward really doesn’t have a choice to have a “career” year. When he plays, he’s fine. Sometimes, very good. It’s not a coincidence that the two years where Ward played double-digit games he was at his best. Ward has always been a superb tackler. In Robert Saleh’s defense, having a sure tackler on the backend is a bigger deal than we talk about. If Ward is indeed the starting free safety, I’ll be interested to see if he’s more aggressive with a better pass rush.

Jaquiski Tartt

I worked on a project in 2017 where I graded all the safeties in the NFL—PFF style, in a way—and had to assign a grade to them. Here’s what I wrote about Tartt:

Jaquiski Tartt is a player. It’s a shame he only played nine games. When Tartt was stationed in the box, he could avoid blockers or bob and weave through traffic to make stops near the line of scrimmage. He was most impressive in coverage and didn’t struggle against anyone he faced. He also flashed the recovery skills of a corner. Tartt will only get better the more he plays. If you’re a football fan, you should want him healthy.

Tartt was very impressive in 2017. The thing with secondary players that I’ve learned is that the year-to-year consistency fluctuates. In 2018 Tartt was disappointing. His lone interception came where Josh Rosen stared down his receiver the entire play:

Tartt has to get back to that 2017 form. Even then, that won’t help if he is only playing half of a season.

Jimmy, save us

Marquise Goodwin

The value of quarterback in the NFL goes well beyond the guy who is under center. Losing Jimmy Garoppolo really hurt the role players for the 49ers in 2018. In the five games that Jimmy G started in 2017, Goodwin had 29 catches for 384 yards. Goodwin finished 2018 with 23 receptions for 395 yards. Quarterback is everything.

You don’t expect Goodwin to be 1,000 yard receiver in 2018, but with his speed and ability to get chunk plays, you’d expect a lot more with Garoppolo under center in 2019. If you recall the 2017 game against the Houston Texans, Garoppolo had no problem giving Goodwin ample opportunities. There’s a connection between the two.

Who do you think will resurrect their career with the Niners in 2019?