2021 Senior Bowl: 5 NFL Draft prospects SF 49ers must watch

SF 49ers Prospect No. 2: Cornerback Ifeatu Melifonwu

The SF 49ers are going to have a lot of cornerback attrition this offseason because of NFL free agency.

Corners Richard Sherman, K’Waun Williams, Jason Verrett, Dontae Johnson, Ahkello Witherspoon and Jamar Taylor are all scheduled to hit the open market, and there’s almost no chance the Niners bring back all those names.

Even if one or two players are re-signed, there’s a need to get both younger and cheaper across the board.

While it’s not exactly a necessity under new defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans to boast big-bodied, lanky boundary corners, if he sticks to the same principles of former coordinator Robert Saleh, finding someone of Syracuse’s Ifeatu Melifonwu‘s ilk would be smart.

At 6-foot-3 and 213 pounds, Melifonwu has that physical presence to match up against some of the bigger-bodied receivers San Francisco faces in the NFC West, namely the Seattle Seahawks’ D.K. Metcalf.

Melifonwu, whose brother Obi is now with the SF 49ers, might not have elite-level speed. But if he’s able to hone his already-good zone-coverage skills into those necessary to adapt at the NFL level, there’s little reason to believe the former Syracuse standout could be an excellent starting option at some point soon for the Niners defense.

And with a strong Senior Bowl performance, it wouldn’t be overly shocking to see Melifonwu push his draft stock all the way to the back fringes of Round 1.