San Francisco 49ers: 5 breakout candidates for 2018

No. 5: Safety Adrian Colbert

I initially had low expectations for Adrian Colbert. A safety picked in the seventh round — yeah, hard to get excited about.

Fast forward to Nov. 12, 2017. Colbert gets his first start against the New York Giants and impresses with his true hard-hitting style. I immediately say, “this kid is going to be special.”

The rest of the season, Colbert continued to impress, week in and week out, proving to be a valuable defender on the second level and one of the best rookies of the 49ers’ already-impressive 2017 rookie class.

And yet, by season’s end, Colbert is still far from being a household name, only really being known by Niners fans.

And you know what? That’s completely fine. Colbert can be the 49ers’ secret and take the league by storm this upcoming season.

However, in order to do that, Colbert will need to work on his coverage skills. He was fairly decent covering receivers last year, but I believe that he has the potential to become a top safety in the league. In order to do that, he’s going to have to go above and beyond in locking down opposing receivers.

And what better way to prepare to do that than training with Seattle’s Earl Thomas, arguably the best coverage safety in the league?

Like many 49ers fans, I used to despise Thomas for his role on the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom” secondary, but let’s make sure to thank him for helping to train and mentor Colbert, who has the potential to be just as good of a safety as Thomas is.