49ers rookie Marques Sigle eager for a new audience to get to know his name
He didn't have a lot of followers back then, but Marques Sigle took to what was then known as Twitter on Jan. 7, 2023, to let everyone out there know. And … maybe the former reserve cornerback for North Dakota State was telling himself something, with a nudge, as well.
If you didn't know my name, you will soon!!! pic.twitter.com/EbVmsmYA9h
— Marques Sigle (@MarMar1k30) January 7, 2023
Sigle had entered the transfer portal a month and a half earlier, just as North Dakota State's regular season ended. He sat out of the FCS playoffs as the Bison tried to make a run at a second straight national championship — they lost in the title game to South Dakota State — and transferred to Kansas State in December. After not starting a game in three seasons at North Dakota State, he made an immediate impact at Manhattan, Kan., moving to safety and leading the team in tackles one year and interceptions the next.
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Now, his old tweet meets a new audience after Sigle was drafted in the fifth round by the San Francisco 49ers two weeks ago.
'Now they know my name,' an excited Sigle said Monday in a phone interview ahead of the team's rookie minicamp that begins Friday. 'I just kept working, and people still didn't know my name before the scouting combine. People thought I was going to run a 4.5 or a 4.6 … And some people still didn't know my name before the draft, but now they do.'
The post still rings true, and always will.
'I am always going to try and prove myself, even when I start getting credit,' Sigle said.
Sigle ran a 4.37 40-yard dash after receiving a late invite to the NFL Scouting Combine. It was the fastest time among safeties. A strong tackler in the run game, the 5-foot-11, 199-pound Sigle impressed scouts with his coverage skills at the East-West Shrine Bowl — yes, after another last-minute invitation.
'He's awesome,' said 49ers general manager John Lynch, a Hall of Fame safety. 'He's played nickel. He's a guy who can really run. I never knew watching him on the field (but) that is a blazing time, and he's got a lot of versatility to his game.
'He's a good tackler. He takes the fight to the ball carrier to the receiver. I think he's going to be a really good fit for us.'
While we thought the 49ers drafted five possible defensive starters, the number might even be six with Sigle when you consider that safety Malik Mustapha is expected to miss the start of the season. Mustapha started 12 games as a rookie in 2024, but didn't finish the season finale after he damaged the graft that was used to repair an ACL tear he sustained in 2022.
(We had some fun with player comps in Wednesday's story, and new and former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh may be seeing a little Jimmie Ward in Sigle. They are the same size, fast and can play different spots.)
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It's a great opportunity for Sigle, who tends to make the most out of those.
'Marques is tremendous,' Kansas State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said in a phone interview. 'I think he is going to play for a lot of years. He is versatile and can play a lot of different positions and is a hard worker, and I think he is going to be a good leader. I think the world of him.'
The chip on Sigle's shoulder is permanently attached.
'He has had that since high school, and that's why he is going to be successful,' Klanderman said. 'He is going to outwork a lot of people on the 49ers, and he is not afraid to do the dirty work. He looks forward to special teams.'
Sigle had first started thinking the NFL was a possibility during the 2022 draft when Bison teammate Christian Watson was selected in the second round by the Green Bay Packers. Sigle felt he had held his own against Watson in practice and wanted to prove himself on a bigger stage.
Sigle had gone to North Dakota State because 'not too many people are recruited' out of Omaha, Neb.
'I have been overlooked my whole life, so it was nothing new, really,' Sigle said.
His first fall season was cancelled due to COVID-19 — aside from one game against Central Arkansas that was essentially a Trey Lance showcase — and he redshirted after playing only in the opener of the rescheduled spring season. Then a back injury buried him on the depth chart in his second season. He thought he made his opportunities count, but, for whatever reason, never cracked the lineup until he changed schools.
Klanderman thought moving Sigle to safety made too much sense.
'He is a natural leader and a good communicator, so we wanted to take advantage of that, and he was big enough and physical enough,' he said. 'It was a natural change for him.'
The coach was watching the combine at home, and like Sigle's teammates, he had been a little skeptical when Sigle told him his practice times in the 40.
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'We were dancing around the living room, going crazy when he did that,' Klanderman said.
Sigle said he was 'actually disappointed' that he didn't set a new safety record at 4.34.
Marques Sigle had the fastest 40-yard dash among safeties (4.37s) @KStateFB
According to @NextGenStats, Sigle's speed within the first yards of his run (15.13 mph) is the third-fastest mark by any prospect over the last three years, regardless of position.
📺: #NFLCombine on… pic.twitter.com/vXas8z7M9R
— NFL+ (@NFLPlus) February 28, 2025
'The 4.37 definitely turned a lot of heads around the league,' The Athletic's draft expert Dane Brugler said. 'And he's a guy that you feel good about his floor. Because at the very least, he is going to come in and he has all the tools to be a very good special-teams player.
'You always bet on that speed.'
The Shrine Bowl did after overlooking him at first, and Sigle said he 'treated every game like a practice. I wanted to prove I deserved to be there from the second I walked on the field.'
After watching him all week, Shrine Bowl director of player personnel Eric Galko thought Sigle should have been drafted before the fifth round.
'He was one of the most athletic DBs in the entire draft class, and Kansas State moved him around quite a bit,' Galko said in a phone interview. 'He can play both safety spots and nickel and even outside corner in a pinch. It's hard to find guys who can hold their own at all those spots.
'He can go against all different kinds of receivers, and he trusts his athletic ability.'
#49ers got an extremely twitchy and bursty defensive back in Marques Sigle.
He showcased his ability as a coverage and run-defending nickel and safety at Kansas State and during @ShrineBowl week (including this hit and forced fumble in the game).
Great, versatile value for the… pic.twitter.com/clVSObO3In
— Eric Galko (@EricGalko) April 26, 2025
A key part of being versatile, Sigle said, is 'being able to learn a playbook in a short amount of time.' And that's something he plans to show 49ers coaches when he hits rookie camp this week.
Sigle's heard the Ward comp and said, 'I know I can fit in well in this system. They have a vision for me, and now it's time to turn that vision into reality.'
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