Health will play a vital role in the San Francisco 49ers' 2019 campaign. The team was devastated by injuries last season and currently has several players banged up during organized team activities.
The hope is that the 49ers secondary will be healthy enough to see vast improvement during the upcoming season. Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh spoke with reporters after Wednesday's practice and discussed his secondary at length.
Cornerback Richard Sherman's struggles last season have been well-documented. While he was undoubtedly the team's best defensive back last year, he played through the majority of his 14 starts while dealing with a calf injury. This, of course, came after Sherman rehabbed from an Achilles injury sustained the year before while with the Seattle Seahawks.
"Health is always the big deal," Saleh told reporters. "I'll start with Sherm coming back with having now been a full two years removed from his Achilles (injury). He looks good out there. He had a really good breakup today — he should have caught it — on the sideline."
Cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon had an up and down season last year, his second in the NFL, before ending up on injured reserve.
"Spoon has come with a renewed mindset," Saleh noted. "He's looking like the person that we were having a lot of faith in after the first half of his rookie year."
The 49ers even went out and added a cornerback who is not only coming off of an injury but has been plagued with them during his entire NFL career. San Francisco signed Jason Verrett to a one-year deal in March.
There is no doubt that Verrett is talented when he can get onto the football field. He appeared in 14 games with 13 starts for the San Diego Chargers in 2015 and put together a campaign so impressive that it earned the cornerback a Pro Bowl selection.
Verrett has never appeared in more than six games outside of that Pro-Bowl-worthy season and missed all of last year after suffering an Achilles injury on the first day of training camp. Saleh noted that Verrett is "chomping at the bit" to practice and get reps.
"He's going to compete at corner," Saleh said. "When Verrett's healthy, no different than Jimmie (Ward), he's one of the top 20 corners in all of football. I mean, the guy is special. So he's going to enter into the lineup come training camp, and there's no doubt he's going to look good.
"His mindset, the way he carries himself, his work ethic out there with the trainers, the questions he asks in the meeting rooms, kind of just his overall presence in the building has been really special. I'm excited to see him work."
The 49ers are already without defensive back Jimmie Ward, who has also been plagued with injuries throughout his career. He suffered a fractured collarbone during practice last week. That has opened up more reps for younger players like second-year defensive back Tarvarius Moore, who lined up at free safety during Wednesday's practice after spending his first NFL season at cornerback.
Moore's reps at safety, the position he was most familiar with in college, could be a significant opportunity to show off his talents.
"We drafted [Moore] knowing that he's got great versatility where he can play corner and safety," Saleh said. "Him being back there at safety for these OTAs, if he lights it up, we'll see it."
Saleh still has confidence in Ward, who should be healthy and ready to compete by training camp.
"If you're ever going to take a risk on somebody, he's the guy," Saleh said of Ward. "I have faith that he's going to stay healthy this season, I do. You're probably looking at me like I'm crazy but something good is about to happen for him, and that's going to be 2019."
The 49ers didn't upgrade the safety position this offseason and Verrett was the most significant addition to the cornerbacks. The coaching staff has a lot of faith in the current defensive backs group and its ability to bounce back in 2019.
"It's an exciting group to work with if we can stay healthy," Saleh added.