49ers depth chart: Predicting Week 1 defense for 2020 season

49ers Depth Chart: Cornerback

While the defensive line and linebacker groups have both excellent starters and adequate depth, the same can’t exactly be said about San Francisco’s crop of cornerbacks.

There are, essentially, only two assured predictions for this position entering 2020: K’Waun Williams is an excellent nickel cornerback, and Richard Sherman should remain the de factor left-side boundary corner.

Yet Sherman is aging, having just turned 32 years old last March, and some could argue he’s lost a step. At least those who witnessed him in coverage during Super Bowl LIV. For now, though, the 49ers are banking on Sherman returning to his Pro Bowl form.

Two question marks accompany this group heading into training camp. First, will Emmanuel Moseley solidify himself as a starter opposite Sherman, or will he lose out to the up-and-down Ahkello Witherspoon? Second, how will the depth pan out behind this foursome?

The latter could be a notable problem, particularly if injuries wind up being a factor.

Expect the 49ers depth chart here to be pretty fluid this season:

• Richard Sherman
• Emmanuel Moseley
• K’Waun Williams
• Ahkello Witherspoon
• D.J. Reed
• DeMarkus Acy

San Francisco re-signed cornerbacks Jason Verrett and Dontae Johnson during the offseason. For now, though, they appear to be camp bodies more than anything else and could face an uphill fight to make the cut.

Instead, look for undrafted free-agent corner DeMarkus Acy to squeak in at the very back end as a reserve boundary option.

D.J. Reed, meanwhile, will back up Williams at nickel.