49ers roster: Anything Jason Verrett can offer will be a bonus

The 49ers elected to bring back oft-injured cornerback Jason Verrett entering 2022, and if he’s able to provide just marginal play, it’ll be worthwhile.

Whenever that time comes, veteran cornerback Jason Verrett is going to look back at his NFL career and wonder what could have been.

The 31-year-old San Francisco 49ers defensive back, once a high-profile draft prospect of the San Diego Chargers, has instead watched his career derailed by injuries again and again, including his three years with the Niners in which he saw only two snaps in 2019 and then suffered a torn ACL in Week 1 in 2021.

Devastating.

Despite this, San Francisco elected to bring the one-time Pro Bowler back for 2022, hoping he’d return fully healthy and, at best, resecure a starting job in what’s been a revamped 49ers secondary.

If that pans out, the Niners can look at this position as one of strength, which certainly wasn’t the case a year ago.

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Generated 7/24/2022.

Verrett, who mulled retiring in the wake of his pre-San Francisco injuries, seems to have found a good home and scheme fit. And if the 49ers get the kind of play he flashed during a relatively healthy 2020 campaign, it’ll be all the better.

However, the Niners may not be in a position where they need him as much as they did a year ago.

Why Jason Verrett bounces back nicely for 49ers in 2022

Let’s go back to that 2020 campaign in which Verrett, who missed all but those two snaps the season before, actually thrived as a starting cornerback.

While still under then-defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, Verrett surrendered 50 completions on 75 targets for 454 yards but just one touchdown, allowing opposing quarterbacks a passer rating of just 76.2 when targeting him. With two interceptions and seven pass breakups that year, Verrett solidified his former reputation as a top-level boundary cornerback.

Two years older now, Verrett still has arguably a couple more years left of playing at such a level, provided he stays healthy, and the Niners’ defensive system hasn’t exactly changed much from when Saleh was coordinating to now-coordinator DeMeco Ryans.

As long as Verrett is fully healthy, 2022 should mark quite the bounce-back year.

Reasons to be concerned about Jason Verrett this season

Well, injuries. Those are the proverbial looming shadow hanging over Verrett’s career, and it seems as if he’s one play away at any given moment from being lost for the season.

Between 2016 and 2019, Verrett saw a whopping total of six regular-season games. And while it might not be fair to blame him for the setbacks, it’s impossible to remove the designation that he’s injury-prone.

Plus, ACL tears aren’t exactly easy injuries from which to recover, particularly for defensive backs, who need the agility and split-second movement to keep pace with agile wide receivers.

A full year off might have afforded Verrett the chance to recover, but it’s just as plausible he’s nowhere near to being 100 percent in terms of football shape.

What 49ers hope to get out of Jason Verrett in 2022

Verrett returns on a veteran-minimum one-year, $1.035 million deal with zero in guaranteed money, meaning San Francisco isn’t going to take a chance on committing big money to him if he suffers yet another injury.

As such, Verrett could be released with no ramifications whatsoever, and an offseason crowding at cornerback could prompt that even if he’s healthy.

Among the 49ers’ moves here, former Kansas City Chiefs corner Charvarius Ward figures to be the No. 1 option at the position, leaving Verrett in a spot where he can compete with fellow veteran Emmanuel Moseley for the No. 2 boundary spot.

Likewise, depth corners Dontae Johnson and Ambry Thomas are in the mix, too.

That’s not necessarily a bad group, although Verrett is somewhat limited by not having played over the slot during his career, exclusively limiting him to boundary duties.

Still, one could make the argument a fully healthy Verrett is better on the boundary than Moseley, Johnson or Thomas, yet the Niners aren’t in the same position they were a year ago with regards to depth.

Simply by returning, Verrett helps thicken up the depth chart, and if he’s ready to go by Week 1, it’ll be a massive boost to the defense.

Even if the Niners don’t get a fully healthy season from him.