San Francisco 49ers: Identifying the best player at each position after 10 games
By Peter Panacy
![SANTA CLARA, CA - OCTOBER 22: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers hands the ball off to Carlos Hyde #28 during their NFL game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) SANTA CLARA, CA - OCTOBER 22: C.J. Beathard #3 of the San Francisco 49ers hands the ball off to Carlos Hyde #28 during their NFL game against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium on October 22, 2017 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/shape/cover/sport/2a461c7c40dac541862c683f307786fcc940165b296db2d06d3cf0ad2cd43f1a.jpg)
Cornerback
Best Player: Ahkello Witherspoon
This is a bit of a new development, as rookie cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon wasn’t even active the first four weeks of 2017.
But San Francisco’s third-round pick in this year’s NFL Draft managed to play strong enough to push former No. 1 cornerback, Rashard Robinson, into a trade deal with the New York Jets.
Here’s what Pro Football Focus had to say about his Week 8 efforts:
"The San Francisco 49ers came out of Sunday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles with a bright spot in rookie cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, who had what could be called a breakout performance. Witherspoon earned the third-highest cornerback grade of the week at 88.1, the top performance of his young career thus far."
49ers rookie CB Ahkello Witherspoon had a breakout performance last weekhttps://t.co/rLBCPLCwJw pic.twitter.com/Qb9ebUi4ob
— PFF (@PFF) November 2, 2017
The 49ers clearly have high hopes for their rookie, and he has shown a great deal of progress in a very short time.