The Weakest Link on the 49ers Defense

If only the 49ers had addressed this position at the trade deadline.

Until a few weeks ago, the 49ers defense had no weak links.

It had 11 quality starters. Every player on the field was dangerous. And so the 49ers had the No. 1 defense in the league.

Then Emmanuel Moseley tore his ACL in Charlotte.

The 49ers have suffered lots of injuries on defense this season, but Moseley is the only player so far who won't return this season. And he was playing extremely well before he went down -- he gave up just 5.9 yards per target and a passer rating of 66.9. With him and Charvarius Ward on the field, the 49ers could play aggressive, bump-and-run man-to-man coverage on the outside and force passes to go over the middle.

Not anymore.

Now the starting corners are Ward and Deommodore Lenoir. And teams can avoid Ward now, because they target Lenoir, who's the weakest link on the defense. He might as well have a giant green light over his head when he's on the field.

So far this season, Lenoir has given up 26 catches on 35 targets (74.3 percent), 8.7 yards per target and a passer rating of 100.4. To his credit, he hasn't given up a touchdown catch. but he also has broken up just one pass and intercepted none. He's playing extremely conservative, soft coverage, meaning he's trying to keep the wide receiver in front of him and not give up big plays. Instead, he's giving up lots of shorter catches and not putting up much resistance. He essentially is content to concede catches and make tackles. This will be a problem in the playoffs when the 49ers face offenses with serious firepower.

By then, the 49ers hope Jason Verrett will have returned from a torn ACL. And if he does, the 49ers once again will have no weak links, because Verrett is an excellent player. But he hasn't returned yet. He's still a giant question mark.

If only the 49ers had added a cornerback at the trade deadline. Oh well.