49ers cornerback Jason Verrett is still on the Physically Unable to Perform list after tearing his ACL in Week 1 of last season. San Francisco re-signed the veteran CB to a one-year deal this offseason despite his ongoing injury woes. That’s a testament to the quality of player and teammate Verrett is, as is head coach Kyle Shanahan’s eagerness to get him back on the field.
Shanahan on Saturday in a press conference talked about Verrett and said he wanted to get him back for training camp or Week 1, but he’s willing to push that timeline back to ensure Verrett is returning fully healthy.
“We’d love to get him into camp. We’d love to get him ready for Week One,” Shanahan said. “I think that’s his mindset. And so I’ll never go against him on that, but I’m definitely ready if he’s not ready for Week One to get him to whenever he’s ready. If he comes back Week One, Week Four, Week Eight at the end of the year that guy is, everyone knows how talented and good of a player he is, but he’s one of the best leaders on our team too.”
Part of the hesitation with bringing Verrett back is what happened three seasons ago. In 2019 Verrett, who was coming off a torn ACL, had to step in for the 49ers in Week 3 when CB Ahkello Witherspoon went down with a foot injury. The result was disastrous.
“I thought our first year we had him here was similar,” Shanahan said. “I thought we brought him back a hair too early because he was healthy, but he didn’t have his legs back quite yet. And he got thrown in that game verse, I think Pittsburgh in Week Three, he got beat on a go route. And that’s when we saw he wasn’t quite there yet. And then it’s hard to start back, so we definitely don’t want to do anything too soon and give him the time to get back to being Jason.”
The good news for the 49ers is their CB depth won’t push them to rush Verrett back.
While Shanahan may want him to be on the field in camp and for Week 1, the more likely scenario appears to be that he’ll start the season on the PUP list where he’ll have to stay for a minimum of four weeks before returning to action. On top of that added time off, the 49ers wouldn’t necessarily need him to come back in a starting capacity. They could keep him in a reserve role depending on what the secondary looks like by the time he’s coming back.
Bringing Verrett back on a one-year deal is already paying off even though he hasn’t been on the field. That’s another reason the 49ers can afford to keep him on ice to ensure he’s fully healthy. He can make an impact on the club just by being in the building and around their young group of corners.
Whenever Verrett can get back in uniform the 49ers will certainly take it though. And if he sees the field and stays healthy, he could be an upgrade for an already improved secondary.
