The 49ers Secondary Looks Considerably Better than it did in 2021

Get ready to see lots of check downs against the 49ers defense this season.

Grant Cohn | May 30, 2022

In this story:

San Francisco 49ers

It's still extremely early in the offseason, so take this for what it's worth, but the 49ers secondary looks considerably better than it did in 2021.

Last Tuesday when the 49ers practiced for the first time this offseason in front of the media, Trey Lance completed 18 of 21 passes -- excellent for him, not for the defense. But it was mostly 7-on-7 -- meaning no pass rush -- and Lance completed zero long passes, and 13 of his completions went to tight ends and running backs.

When Lance tested the starting cornerbacks, he was unsuccessful. He targeted Charvarius Ward twice while throwing to Jauan Jennings both times and completed neither pass. Then Lance targeted Emmanuel Moseley once while throwing to Brandon Aiyuk and that pass landed incomplete, too.

The only wide receiver who caught a pass against the 49ers' starting secondary was slot receiver Ray Ray McCloud, who caught two 15-yard passes over the middle against Darqueze Dennard, the starting nickelback for now, but maybe not for long.

Which means the 49ers cornerbacks completely outmatched the 49ers' wide outs.

Keep in mind, Deebo Samuel wasn't there, and George Kittle didn't practice, and when those two return in training camp, the secondary's job will become much more difficult. But by then, the secondary also will have the benefit of a pass rush, and Lance will have to get rid of the ball quickly. And as we saw during the first week of OTAs, he doesn't seem confident targeting Aiyuk or Jennings when they're covered by Moseley or Ward.

Get ready to see lots of check downs against the 49ers defense this season.

Published May 30, 2022

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.