The San Francisco 49ers have been without one starting cornerback—Jason Verrett—since Week 1. Now, they will push forward without another starting cornerback. On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed that Emmanuel Moseley would miss "several weeks" with a high-ankle sprain.
Moseley left Sunday's game against the Seattle Seahawks after playing just nine snaps in the first quarter. He was replaced by rookie Deommodore Lenoir, who Dontae Johnson later replaced.
The 49ers are hoping the team's two rookie cornerbacks—Lenoir and Ambry Thomas—can step up in Moseley's absence. What's the plan at cornerback for Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals?
"We'll see how the week plays out," Shanahan responded. "We're obviously struggling in that area. Now, losing E-man definitely doesn't make it easier. But we're going to keep having the young guys compete. Hopefully, they can get more and more ready. D-Mo [Lenoir] did a couple of good things in the game but then struggled on some things also.
"I'm happy with Ambry and how he played on special teams. I thought it was his best game by far on special teams, having three tackles on it and doing the right thing on those.
"Hopefully, those two can up their game up and push Dontae and Norman a little bit, but those are the guys that we've got."
Shanahan added that he feels Thomas is showing significant improvement after struggling during the offseason.
"I thought, whether it was the year off, I'm not sure, not being able to do much in OTAs, I thought Ambry was way behind the eight ball in training camp," Shanahan said. "It got him off to a real slow start. D-Mo was ahead of him back then, and I think it's evened out.
"I think Ambry has really turned it on here in practice this last month or so. He's been getting better each week, and he's definitely got himself a chance to not only push D-Mo, but to push the two starters out there too now."
