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Why Ambry Thomas is on the 49ers' Roster Bubble

Now the 49ers recently drafted cornerback Renardo Green in Round 2, plus they signed veteran cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom and Rock Ya-Sin. So unless Thomas steps up his game significantly, he'll be gone soon.

Grant Cohn

Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf (14) catches a touchdown in front of San Francisco 49ers cornerback Ambry Thomas (20) in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver DK Metcalf (14) catches a touchdown in front of San Francisco 49ers cornerback Ambry Thomas (20) in the first quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
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All 32 of Sports Illustrated's NFL team publishers recently identified players who are on the roster bubble of the team they cover. For the 49ers, I picked cornerback Ambry Thomas. Here's why:

"The 49ers drafted Thomas in the third round of the 2021 draft, thinking he could become a starter at some point, but he hasn’t panned out. When he’s on the field, he’s a liability. So last season, he got benched from the nickel defense in favor of Logan Ryan, who had been retired. Now the 49ers drafted cornerback Renardo Green in the second round and there may not be any more space on the roster for Thomas."

The 49ers have given Thomas lots of opportunities to show he belongs in the NFL. When he was a rookie in 2021, he started five games and played 333 snaps, but he essentially was a liability. He gave up a passer rating of 118 when targeted that season. And that's why he hardly played in 2022.

In 2023, the 49ers had no choice to but turn to Thomas once nickelback Isaiah Oliver got benched. Thomas went on to play 481 snaps, and he allowed a passer rating of 97.9 when targeted. Then he got benched for Logan Ryan, whom the 49ers signed out of retirement -- that's how desperate they were to replace Thomas. And in five regular season games with the 49ers, Ryan gave up a passer rating of just 78.5. So he was an upgrade.

Now the 49ers recently drafted cornerback Renardo Green in Round 2, plus they signed veteran cornerbacks Isaac Yiadom and Rock Ya-Sin. So unless Thomas steps up his game significantly, he'll be gone soon.

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Grant Cohn

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.

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