3 burning questions for 49ers cornerbacks in 2020
By Peter Panacy
The 49ers cornerback crop isn’t immune to concerns entering 2020
The San Francisco 49ers did relatively little to address their cornerback crop during the offseason despite this being a notable need heading into 2020.
Most of those needs, at least currently, are focused on both depth and the long-term situation beyond this upcoming season. On the surface, it wouldn’t appear the Niners needed to make a lot of changes here. At least not for this year. After all, San Francisco boasted the league’s best passing defense, and the team’s No. 1 cornerback, Richard Sherman, received his fifth Pro Bowl nomination.
Pro Football Focus even named Sherman and nickel cornerback K’Waun Williams the top corner duo entering 2020.
Behind the scenes, though, there are some pressing concerns and questions. Sherman is aging and entering a contract year. Williams is also a pending free agent after this season. While the 49ers have some names who could potentially step into long-term roles, the lack of offseason attention could be troubling.
San Francisco’s offseason adds here were to re-sign depth corners Dontae Johnson and Jason Verrett, as well as bringing aboard undrafted free-agent cornerback DeMarkus Acy after the NFL Draft. As far as the draft went, none of the Niners’ five selections were used on corners in what was generally seen as a deep class here.
So it’s no surprise some could question whether or not this position turns out to be a bit of a problem for San Francisco over the course of 2020.
On the one hand, the Niners have some solid experience in the secondary. But there are still some burning questions facing this unit.
Here are three to wonder about.