Should the 49ers bring back Jason Verrett?

With NFL free agency just one week away, the San Francisco 49ers have a lot of decisions to make, not just regarding the possibility of bringing in new players, but also in re-signing some of their own free agents. One current 49ers free agent, who is certainly being discussed in Santa Clara, is cornerback Jason Verrett.

49ers General Manager, John Lynch, spoke last week at the NFL Combine. One of the topics he discussed was Verrett, and if San Francisco was interested in bringing him back. "We are keeping it open," Lynch said. "That position, you can't have enough of them, and Jason is a really good one, when healthy. His problem has been staying healthy."

The key part of Lynch's response is "when healthy." It's true that when Verrett is healthy, he is a terrific corner, more than capable of shutting down the top wide receivers in the game.

But Verrett's downfall has been his inability to stay healthy.

Matt Maiocco, of NBC Sports Bay Area, wrote, "Verrett has started more than four games in only two of his eight NFL seasons due to a long list of severe injuries he sustained since breaking into the professional ranks as a first-round draft pick of the Chargers in 2014." That kind of injury history makes teams very leery of signing players like Verrett.

And yet, his talent seems to keep teams interested, including the 49ers. Said Lynch, "We're interested to see -- we hear, talking to him, and talking to his agent, he really has a want to get back and so we'll monitor that closely and see where he's at," Lynch said. "We'll see if that's a possibility."

David Lombardi, of The Athletic, suggests there's a strong possibility the team brings back Verrett. "John Lynch said that 49ers CB Jason Verrett seems set on completing a comeback from his torn ACL. Verrett is a pending free agent, but it stands to reason that SF would be interested in re-signing him on a discounted deal, similar to what they executed with the CB in 2020," said Lombardi.

The question is, should the 49ers re-sign the oft-injured defensive back?

Verrett certainly has the talent. But he is also coming off of an injury that can take a long time to get back to full strength. And it's not uncommon for a player who is rehabbing an injury to sustain a different injury in their return. Normally that wouldn't be a concern we would bring up, but Verrett may be one of the unluckiest players in NFL history.

Last season the 49ers made a massive mistake in not having enough solid depth at cornerback. After Verrett went down, the team had to rely on journeymen corners that no other teams wanted, as well as two rookies.

This offseason hopes to be different. The 49ers have already been rumored to be interested in a few veteran free agent corners, including Stephon Gilmore and Charvarius Ward.

It seems like a great idea to bring in two or three veteran corners, so the team doesn't have to depend on a couple of second-year guys, or Emmanuel Moseley to be the number one corner. And it seems like a good idea to bring back Verrett.

If the 49ers can sign him to a one-year deal, based on incentives, that would be the best-case scenario. If Verrett is healthy and plays like a starting corner, it's a win for both sides. If he can't come back from the ACL or gets injured again somehow, the 49ers aren't hurt too bad.

For Verrett's sake, I hope he can come back and that his luck changes. For the 49ers, I hope they find the right veteran cornerbacks to make this secondary stronger than it was last season.

• Marc Adams
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