5 cheap free agents SF 49ers should sign in case of injury
By Peter Panacy
SF 49ers Target No. 4: Linebacker Dekoda Watson
The 49ers already have ample linebacking depth heading into 2020. But all one needs to recall is starting weak-side linebacker Kwon Alexander’s “season-ending” pectoral tear a year ago to note how quickly any particular unit can get thin.
Even if Alexander returned in time for the playoffs.
Anyway, feel like a reunion here?
The Niners’ shift from a 4-3 Under scheme pressing the strong-side (SAM) backer up along the line of scrimmage, making all three linebackers play a more traditional stack role, negates the targeting of a free agent like Dekoda Watson, who epitomizes a bigger SAM/EDGE type than Alexander, Fred Warner or Dre Greenlaw do.
But Watson, who spent 2017 and 2018 in San Francisco, knows the defensive scheme anyway. And he was a core special teams ace during his two-year tenure, too.
That might be just as important for the 49ers’ chances this season.
He’d likely come cheap, eager to reunite with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh in whatever role he was needed.