San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle saw a silver lining after learning that his defensive teammate, cornerback Emmanuel Moseley, was likely to miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. Later, an MRI confirmed that. Moseley suffered a torn ACL on Sunday against the Carolina Panthers and will undergo season-ending surgery.
On Monday, head coach Kyle Shanahan said the 49ers have several options to replace Moseley on the football field. One of those options is Jason Verrett, who is returning from an ACL injury himself.
"Thank goodness that Jason Verrett is almost healthy," Kittle told Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle after Sunday's 37-15 win. "That's a decent backup to have for Emmanuel Moseley. That's the silver lining of it."
Verrett still has work to do if he hopes to claim the starting role. He hasn't played since Week 1 of last season and continues to work himself back into football shape. San Francisco opened his 21-day practice window last week but didn't activate him ahead of Sunday's game, feeling the cornerback still needs some more work before he gets back on the field.
"He's done the work to where he's healthy enough to get into practice now," Shanahan said on Monday, "but we just need him to practice some so he can make sure that he can hold up through everything and get his skillset back. If he does do that, I think you guys know, just like most of the people in this league know, how good of a corner JV is."
Shanahan added that Verrett being a big-time contributor down the stretch would not surprise him. With Moseley sidelined for the rest of the season, Verrett's return would be quite the storyline, especially if he returns to his 2020 form when he started 13 games and was arguably the 49ers' best cornerback in an otherwise forgettable season.
"If Verrett is good to go, I mean, Verrett's a big-time corner," Shanahan said. "So if Verrett can get these practice reps, and get out there, and get fully healed, and get back into game shape, and get ready to go, he'll end up being our guy."