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PFF: The 49ers Have the NFL's 2nd-Best Secondary
It''s amazing that the 49ers haven't won a Super Bowl yet under head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Because according to Pro Football Focus, they have the best running back room in the NFL, the best receiving corps, the second-best defensive line, the second-best linebacker corps and the second-best secondary.
"The 49ers secondary doesn’t boast household names, but the team consistently puts together a unit that makes life difficult for opposing quarterbacks and receivers," writes PFF analyst John Kosko. "The group is led by Charvarius Ward, who put up an 86.5 coverage grade in 2023. The Niners also added Isaac Yiadom (80.4) to man the slot and selected a couple of players in the draft to generate good depth in the room."
I agree with this ranking and feel PFF actually undersold the 49ers' defensive backs.
He didn't even mention Talanoa Hufanga, who was an All Pro strong safety in 2022. He was playing well last season too until he tore his ACL. He should be back for Week 1. In addition, second-year free safety Ji'Ayir Brown will enter his first season as a full-time starter and should be a significant upgrade over Tashaun Gipson.
Finally, while Yiadom played well last season, he was horrendous every season before that, so it's no lock he wins the no. 3 cornerback job. That job could go to rookie second-round pick Renardo Green, a nickelback who was outstanding during OTAs and minicamp.
With all the talent the 49ers have amassed on offense and defense, you'd think they'd find a way to win the Super Bowl this upcoming season. Stay tuned.
GRANT COHN
Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.