49ers roster: 3 positions Kyle Shanahan, John Lynch wish they addressed better

No. 1: 49ers wholly neglected their cornerback room

Nick Bosa has largely covered up the problems in the outside pass-rushing department. The offensive line, at times, has looked serviceable enough.

The cornerback room, however, has been a massive problem and will continue to be as long as the 49ers are in the playoff picture.

Perhaps the Niners can be blamed for banking too much on the hope oft-injured corner Jason Verrett would stay healthy for all of 2021 after doing so in 2020 but appearing in just six regular-season games between 2016 and 2019. Or, going back even further, perhaps there’s some blame for largely neglecting this unit in the draft and free agency between 2018 and 2020.

It’s hurting now.

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Veteran cornerback Josh Norman, a last-minute free-agent pickup at the beginning of the season, has provided modest aid with his tendency of forcing fumbles and some veteran’s savvy, offset by him being well on the wrong side of 30 years old and not having the speed to keep up with younger, faster wide receivers, frequently resulting in either being out of position or committing penalties. No. 2 cornerback Emmanuel Moseley has been beset by injuries, too, putting San Francisco’s two draft selections from this year, Ambry Thomas and Deommodore Lenoir, into positions for which they’re not quite ready.

John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan probably wish they used that Round 2 draft pick from last spring on a cornerback instead of Aaron Banks, hopefully nabbing someone who could have been a plug-and-play option.

The end results may have been much better than they currently are.