One of the question marks about the 49ers going into training camp was whether the starting cornerback spot opposite Richard Sherman was open. Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley both started there last season, and Jason Verrett is healthier than he was at this time last year. Moseley appeared to have sewn the spot up after a strong end to last season, but defensive coordinator Robert Saleh on Tuesday in his video conference noted there’s no question — it’s a wide open competition across from Sherman.
“The corner spot opposite Sherm, obviously we’d like to see a competition over there,” Saleh said. “It is wide open, if you want to call it that. We’re just trying to give guys opportunities to go win that job. As far as it goes as Verrett is concerned, he’s been looking good. He looks a lot more comfortable. He looks a lot more confident. It’s just a matter of him getting back into the feel of it. It’s been a while for him where he’s been able to put together a full training camp. He’s off to a good start.”
Verrett earned snaps with Sherman on the starting unit during the 49ers’ second padded practice of training camp. Moseley was the starter to finish last season, and Witherspoon had the starting job to start last season. The latter two played well in different stretches while Verrett suffered an injury after only three defensive snaps.
Given the up-and-down play at the starting spot across from Sherman, an open competition in camp makes a lot of sense. While Moseley was the better option last season, his sample size was too small to lock him into the job for the 2020 season.
With each player playing on the final year of his contract — a healthy competition could be the catalyst to the 49ers once again producing the NFL’s top pass defense. They did so last year with wildly inconsistent play at one of the outside corner spots. If they get better there while returning the rest of their starting secondary — it bodes well for a defense that’s a prime regression candidate based on their historic start to last season.
The top of the cornerback depth chart was always going to be worth keeping an eye on, but Saleh dubbing it an open competition makes it perhaps the most important battle to watch for the rest of training camp.
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