The 49ers don’t want to think about life without Richard Sherman, but if he gets injured here are three options to replace him.
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman is 32 years old and is showing signs of age. For the third straight season, the 2011 fifth-round draft pick missed games due to injury, albeit he was mostly healthy in 2019 compared to his first season with the Niners in 2018.
If he were to be injured at any point this year for an elongated length of time, however, general manager John Lynch will need to find his replacement.
Injury timeline
Last year during the Niners victory of the New Orleans Saints the All-Pro cornerback missed only one game to injury. He was diagnosed with a Grade 2 right hamstring strain. There was fear he’d miss the entire rest of the season, but in typical Sherman fashion, he bounced back rather quickly.
In his first season with the 49ers, he stuffed a calf strain. It was during the same game quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo tore his ACL and was out the rest of the year. For Sherman, however, he missed a couple of weeks and was back at it.
Finally, in 2017, Sherman suffered his first real injury, a torn Achilles, in the NFL which caused him to miss almost half the season with the Seattle Seahawks. After the season Seattle released him and thus brought him here, to San Francisco.
It’s concerning Sherman is starting to get the injury bug. When healthy, he’s one of the best corners in the game. But unfortunately, if he goes down for any period, the 49ers must replace him. It could be for just a few weeks or they could move on altogether.
Keep in mind, the five-time Pro Bowler is a free agent after the 2020 season.
Let’s look at who could replace Sherman starting with cornerback Tim Harris.