Tag: Isaac Yiadom

49ers depth chart: DC reveals who 3rd starting cornerback will be

We know now who the 49ers’ 3 starting CBs will be.

The nickel cornerback spot was one of the few starting lineup questions for the San Francisco 49ers heading into training camp.

Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir were both locked in as starters, but the nickel CB job was up for grabs with a handful of contenders. As camp and the preseason churned on, veteran Isaac Yiadom and rookie second-round pick Renardo Green emerged as the top options to earn starting jobs.

Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen told reporters after Friday’s practice the club has an answer at that spot. Rather than playing coy, Sorensen divulged the 49ers would lean toward the veteran as the third CB.

“Well how we’ve been going has been how it started out, with Ike (Yiadom) and DMo (Lenoir) and Mooney (Ward),” Sorensen said. “And then we’ve been rotating guys through and getting a lot of reps with them as well. But that’s how it’s going right now. And Renardo (Green) rotating in.”

Lenoir and Ward figure to be the two outside corners in the 49ers’ base defense. In the more commonly-used nickel packages, Yiadom will take over an outside spot while Lenoir kicks inside to the slot.

Green worked primarily in the slot during his first training camp. If he rotates in it would likely be in the slot with Lenoir staying outside.

This is in line with how the 49ers approached the third CB job last year. They didn’t have a rookie, but they had veterans Ambry Thomas and Isaiah Oliver.

Thomas would play outside in nickel with Lenoir in the slot. If Oliver was in, he’d play in the slot with Lenoir outside.

Nickel CB was a pretty significant problem for the 49ers last season. Ward and Lenoir were both very good, but their third CB spot was up-and-down all year.

This season they have some options again, but they’ll lean on Yiadom who is coming off his best season as a pro. If he picks up where he left off with the Saints last season and Lenoir continues his ascension toward being a Pro Bowl caliber slot CB, the 49ers will have solved a significant issue in their secondary.

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2 49ers WRs, potential starting CB return to practice after preseason ends

More good injury news for the 49ers:

The San Francisco 49ers returned to practice Monday after wrapping up their three-game preseason slate Friday night.

Monday marks the final practice before Tuesday’s 1:00pm Pacific Time deadline for rosters to be cut from 90 to 53 players. San Francisco let go of a handful of players Monday morning with no surprises in the first group of cuts.

In some good news for the 49ers, a handful of key players returned for at least part of Monday’s session.

ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reported wide receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings were on hand for individual drills. Pearsall also got into the team portion of Monday’s practice. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom was also in the mix for individual work.

Wagoner also noted running back Christian McCaffrey, defensive end Leonard Floyd and left guard Aaron Banks all did work on a side field, but weren’t involved in team or individual drills.

Pearsall was in a blue non-contact jersey during practice as he works his way back from a shoulder injury that sidelined him for virtually the entire preseason. He also dealt with a hamstring issue that kept him out of the early part of camp. His return to Monday’s session is a good sign for his availability in Week 1.

Jennings was held out of the last couple of preseason games because of an oblique injury. He figures to slot in as the third wide receiver behind Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk. If Aiyuk winds up missing any time or getting traded, Jennings is the first option to elevate to the No. 2 WR spot.

Yiadom was working through an ankle injury throughout the preseason. He’s a potential starter in the secondary along with Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir. The coaching staff will have to decide whether Yiadom will start outside with Lenoir in the slot, or if rookie Renardo Green will be the slot corner with Lenoir and Ward manning the outside. Who starts may be determined by Yiadom’s health by the time Week 1 rolls around.

Injuries have been hard on the 49ers throughout the preseason. That they’re getting key players back before Week 1 begins in earnest next Thursday is a good sign that things are trending the right way for San Francisco in time for the games that count.

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Ranking Saints’ toughest offseason departures: No. 3, Isaac Yiadom

Isaac Yiadom stepped up and helped the Saints pass defense remain strong in 2023 after Marshon Lattimore’s injury, but they’ve invested in depth at cornerback:

The New Orleans Saints lost cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the San Francisco 49ers this offseason. Of all their departures, Yiadom was easily the most productive in 2023.

Yiadom filled in for Marshon Lattimore due to injury and made the most of his opportunity. When you lose your lead cornerback, your pass defense could sink significantly. This wasn’t the case for the Saints.

Paulson Adebo receives a lot of credit for the performance staying afloat. This is because he became the number one corner, but the replacement corner who is attacked. When teams went at Yiadom, they completed less than half of their attempts and ended with an 83.9 passer rating. That would be good for 26th in the NFL, tied with Raiders rookie Aidan O’Connell. Yiadom was something of a neutralizer.

Like Zack Baun, Yiadom left for a chance at a bigger role in San Francisco. Despite performing well, the Saints were returning Adebo and Lattimore. Lattimore has suffered lasting injuries in the last two seasons, but banking on that opportunity to arise again doesn’t make much sense from Yiadom’s perspective.

Yiadom struck while the iron was hot and will try his hand at going to a team that needs cornerbacks more than New Orleans does.

If you’re following the biggest addition series as well as this departures, you’d notice a slight overlap in the positions featured on each list. The loss of Baun’s pass rush production is mirrored by the addition of Chase Young. Yiadom’s departure was met by New Orleans drafting Kool-Aid McKinstry in the second round.

This is a sign of smart roster development by the Saints. The players they’ve lost haven’t been overly detrimental, even without the new acquisitions. Still, the Saints replaced their losses with high-ceiling additions.

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Saints cornerbacks highlighted for their sticky coverage by PFF

Marshon Lattimore and Isaac Yiadom had some of the stickiest coverage among all cornerbacks last year by these three metrics at Pro Football Focus:

New Orleans Saints lead cornerback Marshon Lattimore and his former teammate Isaac Yiadom received recognition from Pro Football Focus for their tight coverage in 2023. PFF’s Jim Wyman highlighted the 10 best cornerbacks in these three categories: tight coverage, step of separation, and open targets.

Yiadom was the only cornerback in the NFL to place top-10 in each category. It’s no surprise he left New Orleans for a higher-ceiling opportunity with the San Francisco 49ers. His best finish came in open target percentage. He was the sixth-best cornerback, allowing an open target only 28.3% of the time.

Lattimore made an appearance on the step of separation top-10 list that included 16 players. Lattimore was a part of a six-man tie for 10th place. He, along with Yiadom, allowed a step of separation on just 25% of targets.

While Yiadom is in San Francisco now, he represented the depth of the secondary last season. The Saints’ secondary remains strong heading into 2024. Lattimore is still a New Orleans Saint and forms a formidable starting cornerback tandem along with Paulson Adebo. And that’s without getting into the contributions Alontae Taylor and Kool-Aid McKinstry can offer to the unit.

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How veteran CB Isaac Yiadom made strong impression with 49ers DC Nick Sorensen

Isaac Yiadom made an impression on the #49ers by doing something DC Nick Sorensen had never seen immediately after signing.

It didn’t take long for veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom to raise eyebrows in the 49ers’ facility. In fact, it took about as little time as it can possibly take.

Defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen spoke with media following Wednesday’s practice and talked about how Yiadom made an immediate impression with the 49ers by getting a workout in right after signing his contract.

“I think with Ike, he came into the league and he kind of bounced around for a while. But everything we had heard about him and you see is what he’s been when he got here,” Sorensen said. “He’s kind of self-made, like he works. He’s very serious. I think when he came to sign, he actually like went and got a workout after he signed. I’ve never seen that, but that’s him. I think that’s what’s kind of shown up with who he is and he’s very meticulous and the stuff that showed up later in the year with him and how he competed against a lot of really good receivers. I think it’s been awesome that we’re seeing that now too.”

While the hard-nosed work ethic caught the eye of the 49ers new DC, it wasn’t going to be enough to earn him a roster spot. However, he’s continued making his mark throughout his time with the club.

“He’s very technical. He’s very strong,” Sorensen said. “I think he’s a guy that’s also, like we talk about Mooney being strong and a tackler, he’s got that in his history as well. He’s a tough guy. He’s physical. He plays with his hands. He’s violent. He communicates. He sees things before they happen and that stuff has shown up.”

Yiadom was a largely unheralded signing by the 49ers late in free agency. His contributions as a pro have largely come on special teams, but he’s coming off his best defensive season which provides some optimism that he may have reached a point in his career where he can be a starting CB on a good defense. He’s also a high-quality special teams player.

It looks like Yiadom has an inside track to a roster spot in a crowded CB room. If he keeps making good impressions though he could wind up earning a starting spot.

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Saints might get a compensatory draft pick in 2025 after all

The New Orleans Saints might get a compensatory draft pick in 2025 after all. But it’s far from a sure thing, and all things considered, it’s pretty low stakes:

Could the New Orleans Saints finally have a full assortment of picks in the 2025 NFL draft? They rejected temptation and didn’t trade away any of next year’s picks in the 2024 draft, only using a couple of current-year picks to move up in Round 2 for cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry.

It’s a good thing, too. The Saints already traded their pick in the seventh and final round of the 2025 draft along with defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson in 2022. That pick conveyed to the Philadelphia Eagles, who sent back a fifth-round pick in 2023 (which was traded to move up for offensive lineman Nick Saldiveri) as well as a sixth-round pick in 2024 (that became defensive tackle Khristian Boyd). So while the Saints own their picks in the first six rounds, that seventh rounder is going to Philadelphia.

But New Orleans just might get another seventh-round selection to make up for it. Over The Cap’s Nick Korte forecasts the Saints to receive a seventh-round compensatory draft pick in 2025 for losing either cornerback Isaac Yiadom or linebacker Zack Baun in free agency this spring. The deadline for comp pick considerations passed on Monday, April 30, so they’re one step closer.

Of course it isn’t that simple. Depending on which player factors into the comp picks formula, how often Yiadom or Baun is on the field (for the San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively) will impact the valuations. Baun was previously ranked higher in Korte’s calculations, but now it’s Yiadom slotting in as the qualifier.

It also depends on other players around the league outplaying the Saints’ qualifiers and bumping them down the ranking. Either way, this is pretty low stakes. The comp pick in question would be the second-to-last pick in the 2025 draft. This year, that was No. 256 overall, just nearly Mr. Irrelevant himself. It would be nice for the Saints to get another comp pick in 2025, replacing the selection traded to the Eagles, but no one should lose sleep over the second-to-last pick.

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Bleacher Report’s mock draft has a disastrous pick for the Saints

The Saints made a disastrous pick in Bleacher Report’s new mock draft, bypassing all of their biggest needs. It’s a bad move even if he’s a great player:

It’s finally here: April brings us to the final stretch before the 2024 NFL draft, and mock drafts are picking up. Some of them are keying in on the New Orleans Saints’ top team needs and draft-day priorities. Others are exploring different scenarios with picks that may seem like a luxury, at best, or a crippling mistake, at worst.

This projection from Bleacher Report’s scouting department falls closer to the lower end of the spectrum. B/R/ has the New Orleans Saints bypassing their worst vulnerabilities along the offensive line, defensive end, and at the skills positions to splurge on a new cornerback. Alabama star Terrion Arnold is a great player, but he wouldn’t solve many of the Saints’ biggest problems. We’ll let B/R’s team explain why they went with this pick.

“Arnold is a versatile cornerback with a high football IQ to play in multiple schemes. When Lattimore went on injured reserve in the middle of the season, it showed the lack of depth in the Saints’ cornerback room,” wrote B/R scout Cory Giddings, referring to games in which the Saints allowed 168, 205, 99, and 133 passing yards without Lattimore. He added, “Arnold would also be in line to become CB1 before his rookie contract expires.”

The Los Angeles Rams got the better of New Orleans while throwing for 325 yards, but a top-10 passing offense is going to beat a top-10 passing defense almost every time. The Saints beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons in blowout victories to close out the season in which they were forced to throw more often, accumulating 292 and 311 passing yards but scoring just 13 and 17 points, respectively. New Orleans’ secondary intercepted the Bucs and Falcons twice in each of those games.

A big part of the Saints’ thinking in making Lattimore available for trade was how well their secondary performed without him. Obviously the situation is different now; rumors suggest Lattimore is likely to return for 2024, and the poor trade market for veteran corners means the Saints would be moving him at a loss. They’re a better team with him on the roster, so it doesn’t make sense to trade him or draft his replacement in the first round.

Some players who have been popular picks for the Saints didn’t make it to the 14th overall pick. Penn State left tackle Olu Fashanu was snapped up one spot ahead, by the Las Vegas Raiders, with B/R arguing he should learn a new position at right tackle. Alabama right tackle JC Latham, Arnold’s college teammate, was taken a few spots earlier after the Los Angeles Chargers traded out of the top-10.

But others who would make more sense for New Orleans than Arnold were still on the board: guys like Washington left tackle Troy Fautanu (who went to the Seattle Seahawks at No. 16) and Oregon State right tackle Taliese Fuaga (to the Cincinnati Bengals at No. 18). To say nothing of UCLA pass rusher Laiatu Latu, who the Saints have shown plenty of interest in during the pre-draft process.

This isn’t a knock on Arnold. He’s going to be a great pro for some team. If the Saints can make more moves ahead of the draft to reinforce their offensive line with competition for James Hurst at left guard and a better backup plan for Ryan Ramczyk at right tackle, then they could justify the luxury of investing in a high-end cornerback. Paulson Adebo will be a free agent in 2025 and it’s still possible a team makes a strong trade offer for Lattimore later this summer. They should add a corner at some point after losing Isaac Yiadom, Lattimore’s top backup, to the San Francisco 49ers in free agency. But the way things stand right now, targeting Arnold in the first round is a luxury they can’t afford.

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Saints enter the mix for a 2025 comp pick thanks to Isaac Yiadom

The Saints entered the mix for a 2025 compensatory draft pick thanks to Isaac Yiadom. But they haven’t locked it in just yet:

The New Orelans Saints could be in play for a 2025 compensatory draft selection after the San Francisco 49ers signed away cornerback Isaac Yiadom this offseason according to OverTheCap’s Nick Korte.

After being a career journeyman that had not found much time on the field in the past few years, Yiadom found a resurgence in New Orleans. Once Marshon Lattimore went down with a midseason injury, Yiadom was called on to pick up the slack and he did more than just be a replacement-level player. He was very solid this year with the Saints and earned a bigger contract in San Francisco, reportedly worth $3 million.

The Saints currently own their first six draft picks in 2025. Their own seventh round draft selection was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in the C.J. Gardner-Johnson trade. Adding a seventh-round compensatory pick would essentially bring things back to default for New Orleans. With more free agents still out there it remains to be seen whether the Saints will earn a comp pick or outweigh it by signing more players.

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Saints lose cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the 49ers

This is a big hit. The Saints are losing free agent cornerback Isaac Yiadom to the 49ers after his impressive year coming in off the bench:

The New Orleans Saints are losing key depth in free agency, particularly on defense. Cornerback Isaac Yiadom has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers, per his agent AJ Vaynerchuk, after also being heavily pursued by the Washington Commanders.

Yiadom played a lot of valuable snaps for the Saints last year in relief of starting corners Marshon Lattimore and Paulson Adebo when they missed time with injuries; he was credited with 14 pass breakups, which were hard for other teams around the league to ignore. Good on him for cashing in.

But this is a problem for New Orleans. If the team had planned on trading Lattimore this offseason then Yiadom would have been next in line for a heavier workload. Even if Lattimore is in the plans (and he should be), Yiadom was a competent backup who they could lean on if needed. They’ll need to find a good replacement.

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Projected market value for Saints’ top pending free agents

Here’s a quick look at projected market value for some of the New Orleans Saints’ top pending free agents, including complicated cases like Michael Thomas and Jameis Winston:

We’re just a few weeks away from the start of free agency, and the New Orleans Saints have a couple of players who could hit the open market — including several starters and some ascending backups hoping for larger roles in 2024.

But could the Saints get priced out of their services? Different outlets have projected market values for some of New Orleans’ pending free agents, so let’s take a look at the numbers from Pro Football Focus, Spotrac, and Over The Cap: