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Why the 49ers Defense is Tied for Last in Interceptions Since 2017

The 49ers do not seem to value recovery speed or ball skills -- the two most important traits for a defensive back.

Grant Cohn

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Last season, the 49ers defense ranked fifth in sacks, but only 26th in interceptions.

Those numbers don't add up.

The 49ers pass rush is too good for their defense to intercept so few passes. You would think all the pressure the pass rush creates would make for easy interception opportunities for the secondary. And the defensive line certainly does its part -- the 49ers invest heavily on the defensive line.

But they do not invest heavily in their secondary, and that's why they don't intercept many passes.

Since 2017 -- the season Kyle Shanahan and John Lynch took over -- the 49ers defense has intercepted just 45 passes -- tied for dead last in the NFL with the Jets. That's indefensible, and yet easily explainable.

The 49ers value only certain traits in defensive backs, particularly length, wingspan and tackling. And you can find cornerbacks with these traits in Rounds 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the NFL draft. 

The 49ers do not seem to value recovery speed or ball skills -- the two most important traits for a defensive back. Typically, teams have to spend first- or second-round picks on defensive backs to find ones with recovery speed and ball skills.

But the 49ers haven't spent anything higher than a third round pick on a defensive back since 2015 -- back when they took Jaquiski Tartt. And next month, they likely will let him leave in free agency so they can replace him with last year's fifth round pick, Talanoa Hufanga.

So what the 49ers will have in the secondary is one good starter -- Jimmie Ward -- a couple solid starters, a couple fringe starters and zero impact players. The 49ers have impact players at every position group except defensive back. And that's why their "elite" defense ranked just 20th out of 32 teams on third down last season.

It's time for the 49ers to get with the times and invest more heavily in their secondary.

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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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