The 49ers’ safety picture has plenty of moving parts, but Patrick McMorris doesn’t look like he’s part of the long-term answer.
San Francisco signed McMorris in late April after the NFL Draft, and while the 24-year-old defensive back did get a taste of regular-season football in 2024, his path back onto a 53-man roster looks extremely narrow. He appeared in six games for the Miami Dolphins after Miami took him in the sixth round out of Cal, but since then he’s mostly been a practice squad piece around the league.
At 6-foot and 206 pounds, McMorris is going to have to do a lot more than simply show up to stick with the 49ers beyond camp. Even with safety standing out as one of the bigger defensive question marks on the roster, he still profiles as a major longshot.
The depth chart doesn’t exactly help his case. Malik Mustapha is the one clear lock at the position entering 2026, while Ji’Ayir Brown and Marques Sigle also look like safe bets. Then there are other fringe names in the mix, including Ashtyn Davis, who brings more upside than McMorris.
And the scouting concerns on McMorris are hard to ignore. His 2024 pre-draft report pointed to missed tackles as a real issue, and that kind of flaw can be a quick way to get squeezed out when rosters are trimmed. There were other knocks as well, including a lack of range and substandard burst.
Maybe Raheem Morris saw something worth developing when he brought McMorris in, especially if the idea is to stash him as a practice squad option with some upside. But right now, the most likely outcome is that McMorris gets some late-game preseason snaps and then ends up back on the free-agent market before Week 1.
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