Photo courtesy of the San Francisco 49ers
Jason Verrett, in April, signed a one-year deal to stay with the San Francisco 49ers. He did not have the chance last year to prove his worth enough, and arrived on the injured reserve after trying to recover from a torn Achilles. This time, however, it was due to an ankle injury suffered a year ago during training camp.
In the cornerback’s six NFL seasons, he has only once managed to keep the injured reserve. He had a brief appearance in Week 3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers last year before the 49ers decided to move him as the season progressed.
San Francisco initially gambled on Verrett, hoping to get the 2015 player who deserves a Pro Bowl selection. It gambled this offseason again by signing him again.
“Gamble”, by the way, is a word used by head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch.
“We absolutely love the player and the person we gamble on,” Shanahan said last season. “He did everything he could to get back.”
Lynid said last offseason: “He hasn’t been healthy, so there’s a lot of risk reward there, but we wanted to add in there, and we took a gamble. We think it’s a good flyer.”
The two “gamblers” can pay this season because Verrett is among those vying for the right to start against Richard Sherman. The GPS device embedded in his shoulder pads recently clocked a speed of 22.2 mph at training camp, according to Matt Barrows of The Athletic. A similar device recorded him hitting a 22.5 mph mark with the Chargers in 2014.
“I was absolutely delighted with that,” Verrett told Barrows on Saturday. “After all the operations I’ve been through, I was just able to get to the 21 and 22 (mph) mark. And I’m absolutely crediting the strength coaching team for bringing me back to those speed signs.”
Verrett has been solid in training camp. While Emmanuel Moseley, who started against the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV, is considered the frontrunner for the job against Sherman, Verrett garners a lot of attention from coaches.
“Verrett has a new confidence,” defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said this week.
We’ll have to wait and see if his training camp trips are enough to discover Moseley and smother Ahkello Witherspoon.
“He’s further this year,” Sherman said this week. “His feet look incredible. His confidence increases with each passing day. He’s so loud, and he’s so hard on himself, and so hard on himself. But he’s been fantastic on the rule of control. That’s something. that, coming into the camp wanted to improve on, and something he drastically improved on just from last year.
“In his best years he was incredibly on the line of control. I think he has that form and that confidence back. And it has been exciting to see for our team.”
The San Francisco 49ers are betting on signing Jason Verrett last offseason. Why would it be a gamble to add a Pro Bowl cornerback to your defense? After it became a first round of drafting by the Chargers in 2014, Verrett had just one healthy season – that 2015 Pro Bowl year. He has landed on every injured reserve in each of his other five NFL seasons, including last season with the 49ers. Verrett almost made it back in 2019. He made one game appearance, taking part in just four defensive snaps before being sidelined for the rest of the season. Safety Jimmie Ward knows what it’s like to be plagued by injuries. He came on injured injury for the fourth time last year, in a season in which he managed to stay relatively healthy.
The San Francisco 49ers held their second practice camp training session on Sunday. As will be the case with all practices, fans are not allowed and the restricted media that attend must observe social distance due to the coronavirus pandemic. That means keeping six feet away from players and staff and always wearing face cover. No face-to-face interviews are allowed as player and availability of staff is done via video conference. The 49ers have two more practices left before players get a day off on Wednesday. Monday’s session will be the first padded exercise. Below are some Sunday practice notes from various media outlets
TMZ Sports has posted a video claiming that the San Francisco 49ers offensively attacked Trent Williams in the driver’s seat of a 125 mph Ferrari (h / t to Alex Didion of NBC Sports Bay Area). The video is thought to have originated from Williams’ Instagram account and has since been deleted. NFL Star Trent Williams IG Post Sparks Concerns, 125 MPH in Expensive Ferrari https://t.co/V0KPDdwxL2— TMZ Sports (@TMZ_Sports)
