49ers safety Adrian Colbert is back to his hitting ways

On a third-and-five in the third quarter, Dallas Cowboy quarterback Mike White threw a slant pass to wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, who was laid out by San Francisco 49ers safety Adrian Colbert.

As Colbert and 49ers linebacker Azeer Al-Shaair celebrated the hit, the back judge threw a flag for it.

The 49ers would win the game 17-9, but the former Miami Hurricane was ejected from the game for leading with his helmet, which was not a good welcome back to the NFL after finishing last season on injured reserve.

During a press conference on August 13, San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said the team is fortunate to have safeties like Colbert vying for a roster spot.

"There are legitimate safeties all over the place in that group," said Saleh. "I'm very excited about them. I'll go back to the second-year issue of most second-year players, not all of them understand what made them great their first year. They think they do, but they forget. They always go into that second year thinking they've got it. The three most dangerous words in the NFL are, "I've got it."

Saleh said Colbert needs to get back in touch with what made him great as a rookie.

"I was really excited for him to play in that game," Saleh said. "If he can reconnect to what he was as a rookie in terms of just playing disciplined in the middle of the field and understanding that he's got a special talent with regards to tracking, his speed, finding the ball from the middle of the field, going red line to red line, and tracking the ball coming out."

Colbert was drafted by the 49ers in the seventh round with the 229th overall pick of the 2017 NFL Draft. During his rookie year, he started six games and played in every game he was active.

Colbert became an enforcer in the Niner secondary, laying out anyone who came his way, including a vicious hit on Tavarres King in a 2017 Week 10 win over the New York Giants.

He finished his rookie year with two forced fumbles, five passes defensed, and 37 tackles with 34 of them being solo tackles.

During Colbert's second year, he started in six games while playing in seven and he registered a career game with seven tackles in a Monday night loss to the Green Bay Packers.

Colbert suffered a high-ankle sprain in a 39-10 blow-out loss against the Los Angeles Rams, which put him on the team's injured reserve list.

"He'll have a chance," Saleh added. "Again, for that safety room to answer your question, there's great competition all over the place."