5 players 49ers should let walk in 2021 NFL free agency
By Peter Panacy
No. 5: 49ers Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon
The Niners have plenty of question marks at cornerback heading into 2020 especially after passing on the opportunity to draft one last April.
Two starters, Richard Sherman and K’Waun Williams, are also poised to hit free agency. Sherman hopefully returns on a mutually beneficial deal, while Williams is one of the best nickel cornerbacks in the league today. For whatever the reasons, nickel backs don’t get paid like boundary corners even though they’re essentially starters in today’s pass-happy NFL.
Either way, that benefits San Francisco.
Yet the 49ers should easily pass on re-signing backup boundary cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon, whose career has been up and down since the team selected him in Round 3 of the 2017 NFL Draft.
Consistency is one of the best attributes a cornerback can possess, and it’s unfortunate Witherspoon hasn’t regularly displayed that. While a tremendous 2020 campaign could help his chances for a lucrative contract, it shouldn’t come from San Francisco next season.