The 49ers have a somewhat ambiguous list of needs heading into the 2020 NFL draft. There are a slew of positions where they could use help, but how they’ll prioritize those needs with two first-round picks and then none until Round 5 remains relatively unclear.
Cornerback is one position that regularly comes up near the top of the 49ers’ list of needs. It’s the second-most popular position for them in mock drafts behind wide receiver, but it’s hard to imagine the team uses early draft capital on that spot unless the value is impossible to pass up.
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The logic tracks for San Francisco adding a young, cost-effective corner. They have three players vying for two starting jobs in 2020 – Richard Sherman, Ahkello Witherspoon and Emmanuel Moseley. All three players are set to hit free agency after the 2020 season. Sherman is 32-years old, Witherspoon hasn’t been consistent or healthy enough to hold a starting job, and Moseley hasn’t proven his value over a sample size larger than a couple games.
Sherman can be penciled in as one starting corner, leaving the other spot open for Witherspoon and Moseley. If last offseason taught us anything about how the 49ers operate, it’s that they’re going to give talented players a long leash to prove themselves capable of producing. It’s why they gave Witherspoon another shot after a rocky second season. It’s also why they re-signed Jimmie Ward and stuck with Arik Armstead on the defensive line.
History indicates they’ll go into 2020 with Witherspoon and Moseley battling for the starting job across from Sherman. Their roster calculus changes a little bit if they add a highly-drafted corner to the mix. That player would be expected to start right away – especially if the 49ers use a first-round pick on them. While they may not start out getting first-team reps, they’d get every opportunity to win the starting job over Witherspoon or Moseley.
That doesn’t follow the way San Francisco built their defense a season ago, and breaking from that trend after boasting the NFL’s best defense doesn’t seem like a prudent move. Especially since Witherspoon was playing at a Pro Bowl level before a foot injury sidelined him for six games, and Moseley played well in his time replacing Witherspoon. Neither has proven to be a great player, but they’ve shown enough to get opportunities next season.
A more likely scenario in this year’s involves the 49ers taking a corner later in the draft. In the middle rounds they can scoop up a project player they believe can start down the road, but won’t necessarily threaten Moseley and Witherspoon right away. If he does, it’d just be a bonus from a middle-round selection.
It should be noted that if the front office in Santa Clara believes they’re getting a long-time Pro Bowler, All-Pro type of talent, they’ll draft a corner and start him right away and figure out the rest later. That’s not liable to happen by the 13th pick in the draft though.
The big picture shows San Francisco needs some help at corner to avoid an empty cupboard there in the future, but that assistance doesn’t need to come from a first-round pick, and history tells us it won’t.
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