5 Bold Predictions for 49ers Training Camp: Defense Edition

The boldest of the bold.

Yesterday, I listed five bold training-camp predictions for the 49ers offense. Today, I give you five bold training-camp predictions for the 49ers defense.

Enjoy.

1. Cornerbacks Emmanuel Moseley and Ahkello Witherspoon both will play well and improve.

Each will face young, inexperienced 49ers wide receivers, and play behind one of the best front-sevens in the NFL. Moseley and Witherspoon are set up to succeed. And both played extremely well last season during training camp -- Moseley was the first-team nickelback, because starter K’Waun Williams missed camp after he had a knee scope. And teammates raved about Moseley all offseason.

Moseley probably will keep the starting job opposite Richard Sherman, because the 49ers want to keep their Super Bowl defense intact as much as possible. But Witherspoon probably will play well, too, and earn a role in the 49ers dime defense as an outside cornerback while Moseley and Williams play in the slot.

And by the end of the season, Witherspoon could become a starting corner opposite Moseley.

I’ll explain.

2. Richard Sherman will decline.

Sherman played well last season, as the 49ers expected he would. Here’s what John Lynch said about Sherman two months ago just before the draft: “We had a hunch that maybe his best football for us would be in Year 2 when he was a little bit more healthy.”

Meaning the 49ers expected Year 2 to go better for Sherman than Year 1 OR Year 3 of his contract with the 49ers. 

Year 3 is coming up.

In Year 1, Sherman was coming off a torn Achilles. And in Year 3, he’ll be 32 -- quite old for a cornerback. And he already has begun to show his age - he showed it last season in the playoffs when he gave up a 65-yard catch to Packers wide receiver Davante Adams, and a 38-yard catch to Chiefs wide receiver Sammy Watkins.

Sherman should play well during training camp while his body is fresh and healthy. But he could wear down quicker next season than he did last season. And if he gets injured, he might not get his starting job back.

Next season almost certainly will be his last on the 49ers.

3. Kwon Alexander will be the Will linebacker and Dre Greenlaw will be the Sam linebacker.

The “Will” is the weakside linebacker, and the “Sam” is the strongside linebacker. They’re both outside linebackers -- the positions are similar. But the Will plays more than the Sam, because the Will stays on the field in the Nickel defense while the Sam runs to the bench.

Last year, the 49ers gave Alexander a four-year, $54 million contract to be their starting Will linebacker. Not to be a Sam, which is a part-time player. Rookie Dre Greenlaw was the Sam.

But Alexander tore his pec Week 9 against the Cardinals and missed the rest of the regular season. So Greenlaw became the new Will and surprisingly played better than Alexander, because Greenlaw missed fewer tackles.

Alexander returned for the playoffs, and the 49ers played him at Sam because he had missed so much time and still wasn’t 100-percent healthy. And he didn’t play well in the postseason -- he was rusty.

But Alexander will be 100-percent healthy for camp, so I believe the 49ers will give him back the Will linebacker job. They might cut him at the end of the season if he plays poorly, but as long as they pay him $13.5 million a year, he will not be a part-time player. Fuhgettaboutit.

4. Dee Ford won’t practice much.

Ford had a procedure this offseason to treat severe tendinitis in his knee, and says his knee feels much better than last season, and I’m sure it does.

But the 49ers still must handle Ford with extreme care.

Ford has a degenerative knee, similar to Todd Gurley, which always will be an issue. Always something Ford has to manage and take care of. Probably not something that ever heals completely.

Meaning the 49ers shouldn’t overwork Ford’s knee during July and August. The 49ers should keep him healthy for December and January, unlike last season, when Ford essentially played on one leg down the final stretch.

I expect Ford will play as little as possible during training camp -- four or five days, tops -- and zero games during the preseason. Why risk it?

5. Fred Warner will replace DeForest Buckner as the leader of the defense.

Sherman is the voice of the team because he’s so smart and experienced, but he’s not the leader of the defense.

The leader has to be the best player. Last season, it was Buckner. He was the defense’s best veteran. Now, Nick Bosa is the defense’s best player, but he’s young -- just entering his second season. And he’s quiet and deferential to older players.

Players such as Warner, who will enter his third season in 2020. And he’s extremely vocal on the field -- he’s the quarterback of the defense. He calls the plays. I expect he will take ownership of the defense in training camp, which means he’ll be in line for his first All Pro selection if the 49ers defense ranks top two or three again next season.