While much of the offseason capital of the San Francisco 49ers was poured into improved the defensive line, the secondary only got one notable addition in free agent cornerback Jason Verrett.
However, fellow cornerback Richard Sherman is confident with the group the 49ers will roll out on the back-end of their defense this season.
“I’m 100 percent good with (the secondary). I don’t think it’ll be an issue,” Sherman said, via Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee. “The secondary wasn’t the issue last year. We’d lose games by a touchdown down the stretch, the last second. It’s not like, ‘Oh man, the secondary was just getting killed the whole game and that’s why we lost.’ It was just guys’ immaturity, mistakes, just not executing. Not knowing how to finish, not having finishers.”
Sherman was never at full strength last season as he was recovering from a torn Achilles sustained in his last year with the Seattle Seahawks. Jimmie Ward ended up on injured reserve again as well due to a broken forearm and Adrian Colbert also hit the injured list due to a high-ankle sprain. While Verrett has shown he can play at a very high level when healthy, he’s played in just five games total over the last three seasons.
However, the group has potential if it can stay healthy. The possibility of a much-improved pass rush following the additions of Nick Bosa and Dee Ford don’t hurt either.
“We needed guys to hit (the quarterback) in the face,” Sherman said. “You need a few of them. Now we have guys that can rotate in and rotate out and put pressure. You have linebackers that they were looking for. Fred (Warner) is a year older, he’s not a rookie play caller anymore. I think that helps everybody. I’m much healthier. I was kind of out there on one leg.”
The 49ers actually ranked 13th in the league in total defense despite allowing the fifth-most points of any team in the league. The return of Jimmy Garoppolo from a torn ACL could help make the 49ers offense more potent as well, which in turn could take some stress off the defensive side of the ball as well.
