San Francisco 49ers: Predicting 5 surprises for 53-man roster
By Peter Panacy
No. 1: Ahkello Witherspoon fails to make the cut
Dante Pettis isn’t the only player facing a critical year in 2020. Fourth-year cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon has had a turbulent time at the pro level, going from a third-round draftee to being inactive his first four games as a rookie, then a quality starter, a liability in his second season, bouncing back early in 2019, suffering a sprained foot that kept him out of the lineup for a long time, and then all the way to losing his starting job to fellow corner Emmanuel Moseley multiple times.
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Entering a contract year, Witherspoon’s best bet is to outcompete Moseley in training camp for positioning on the depth chart, perhaps reemerging as the 49ers’ top option for a No. 2 boundary corner.
But it’s going to be a hard task to do. And with depth corners Dontae Johnson, Jason Verrett and the undrafted rookie, DeMarkus Acy, all looking at Witherspoon’s spot to grab, there’s a chance Witherspoon winds up in serious jeopardy if he doesn’t put it together in training camp.
Waiving Witherspoon might seem to be a stretch. But parting ways with him would cost the Niners only $243,393 in dead money against $2.133 million in cap savings.
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If San Francisco feels Witherspoon isn’t worth the roster spot this season, it actually winds up making financial sense to move on.