49ers NFL Draft plans: 5 second-round picks to target in 2020

Cornerback wouldn’t be as high a need if the 49ers saw more-than-promising efforts from younger cornerbacks, Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley.

Even if one of those two were exceptional in 2019, the Niners have to think about a long-term replacement for Richard Sherman. After all, he’ll turn 32 years old later this March, and he’s also entering the final year of his current contract. It’s anyone’s guess whether or not San Francisco will re-sign or extend him.

Thankfully, the 2020 draft is deep at cornerback, and there are plenty of day-two options who could entice John Lynch and Co.

One player Lynch’s scouting department should have eyes on is Alabama’s Trevon Diggs.

Diggs, 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, looks the part of a corner the 49ers’ Cover 3 defense would like to employ. Not just a zone corner, Diggs can also stay in the back pocket of the player he’s covering and flashed some ballhawking capabilities with three interceptions last year with the Crimson Tide.

There was a time Diggs was seen as a first-round draft prospect, but he seems to have slipped squarely into the second round.

And San Francisco could easily be more than willing to trade down and target a player like Diggs to round out the secondary.