Marques Sigle’s second NFL season is starting to look nothing like his first.
The 49ers gave the rookie safety a real shot early last year, starting him in the first six games. It didn’t stick.
Sigle ended up on the bench for the rest of the season, and his stock had taken a clear hit by the time he got to year two. But San Francisco still opened the 2026 season with him in the lineup for the first three games, even with Malik Mustapha and Ji’Ayir Brown back in the fold.
So far, that decision has paid off.
Through three weeks, Sigle has piled up 20 tackles. He has already matched his career high in tackles for loss and logged the first sack of his career in 2026.
In coverage, he has cut his yards per target allowed to 2.8, a massive jump from 11.9 last year. PFF has the clearest snapshot of the leap: his overall grade has gone from 36 as a rookie to 80 in his second season.
Sigle says the benching last year played a big part in the turnaround.
“I just say experience,” Sigle mentioned when discussing his impact. “All you need is reps.
Throughout the course, when I got sat, I just took that time to really just hone in on my skills, what I need to work on. I thought I had the skills; I just needed the time.”
That extra time seems to have changed everything. Sigle played 480 snaps as a rookie.
He’s already up to 192 snaps through three weeks this season, and there’s little indication he’s headed for the same fate as last year. San Francisco did pull him for a few snaps in Week 3, but the 49ers have also mixed in Mustapha for a drive or two to keep him involved.
The safety rotation now gives the 49ers three defenders with real starting experience. Sigle has 10 starts, Brown has 34, and Mustapha has 22.
Through three games, Brown has played 193 snaps, Sigle has 192, and Mustapha has 27. Among that group, Sigle has been the most consistent and the most disruptive on a down-to-down basis.
For a Kansas State product who looked like a possible bust after his first season, the change has been dramatic. He needed time to figure out what was going wrong. Now, he looks like a player the 49ers can build on.
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