SANTA CLARA — The 49ers aren’t into spoon-feeding their rookies a little at a time.
Rather, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh believes in system overload. Just learned a new assignment? Better be ready to junk it and move on to something even more challenging.
It’s been that way so far for Marques Sigle, a fifth-round draft pick out of Kansas State who appears to have an inside track to be a starting safety Week 1 on the road against the Seattle Seahawks.
It will either be Sigle and Jason Pinnock, Sigle and Ji’Ayir Brown, or Pinnock and Brown. The 49ers are in the extremely early stages of game-planning for Seattle on Sept. 7, so Sigle’s probably got a good idea already whether he’s starting or not.
But it’s not his story to tell yet, so Sigle offered up no hints Thursday following a brief practice.
“Whatever comes that day, it happens and that’s out of my control,” Sigle said. “My control is going out there each and every day, not making the same mistakes and getting one percent better. My goal is to be a starter. If it doesn’t happen, it’s OK, but I’m working for that every day. I just want to win and contribute any way I can. That’s all that matters.”
Pinnock played in 12 games in his rookie season with the New York Jets under Saleh as a head coach and he knows the territory.
“Jason definitely taught me they’re just going to have you on the fly,” Sigle said. “He’s going to change things up before practice because they want to see what you can handle and that’s what makes the defense better.”
Marques Sigle (21) tackles a Colorado running back while playing safety in 2024 for Kansas State. A.P. Photo
The 49ers have 11 rookies on the 53-man roster — 10 members of their draft class plus undrafted free agent center/guard Drew Moss.
It may turn out that Sigle has a bigger impact early on than any of them, which isn’t something anyone expected when he missed most of the offseason program after core surgery. Sigle has proved to be such a quick study he was able to self-correct during Thursday’s practice even before Saleh got any words out.
“We were talking about how to play a certain route concept,” Saleh said. “He basically cut me off to talk about what his technique was, what he could have done better, where he was in the play, and you come back and watch the play really quick and it’s like, ‘All right, he’s recalling it, he’s understanding it.’”
The sooner Sigle can diagnose a defense, the sooner he can do what he does best — run and hit. At 5-foot-11, 199 pounds, Sigle doesn’t have the build of a classic thumper, but he’s fearless, an extremely sharp tackler and can play either safety spot whether it’s on the back end or in the box. He’s got 4.37 speed in the 40-yard dash and uses it to get to the ball.
It’s a quality 49ers general manager and Hall of Fame safety John Lynch just loves.
“We have a metric that we call ‘swarm,’ which is basically when the ball is thrown, how fast can you get to the ball carrier,” Lynch told KNBR-680 during his weekly appearance. “Last year our analytics department named Malik Mustapha ‘The Sultan of Swarm.’ Nobody in college football got to the ball faster than Malik. This year, `The Sultan of Swarm’ was Sigle.
“I think those translate really well in our defense. When you run a 4.3 (40-yard dash) and are striking people like Sigle, it’s a good combination.”
With a dose of truth serum, it’s easy to see Lynch and Saleh liking the idea of putting Sigle with Mustapha (recovering from an ACL tear) on the back end and having “all gas no brakes” corner Upton Stout in the slot for years to come.
Sigle said he was unaware Lynch had christened him a sultan but liked the idea.
“I’m going to own that because I feel it fits my game,” Sigle said.
Sigle, the No. 160 overall pick, was the 11th safety selected and the eighth player taken by the 49ers at what has been a sweet spot when it comes to the draft.
Among the 49ers in the Shanahan-Lynch era drafted in the fifth round are tight end George Kittle (2017), linebacker Dre Greenlaw (2019), cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2021) and safety Talanoa Hufanga. All have recently signed lucrative contracts: Kittle and Lenoir with the 49ers, Greenlaw and Hufanga with Denver.
Sigle is uninterested in being typecast as a “strong” or “free” safety.
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“I feel like I can hit, I can be in the run fit and even with free safety I can get out there and be in space, guarding, tackling and being able to be a ballhawk,” Sigle said. “That’s my versatility. I can move around, I can play any position.”
Sigle said thinking back to the beginning of camp, he’s reacting more, thinking less and the game is slowing down for him. Saleh warns it’s going to speed up even more in Week 1.
“All these rookies if they thought preseason was fast, the regular season is about 100 times faster,” Saleh said. “The good news is that they’re capable and willing to learn and they’re quick studies, so they’ll be fine as time goes.”