During this draft cycle, the San Francisco 49ers have shown interest in three cornerbacks projected to be drafted in the first round: Cooper DeJean, Kool-Aid McKinstry, and Nate Wiggins.
The following one-liner from 49ers general manager John Lynch’s pre-draft press conference Monday stuck out: “You’re not always drafting for the immediate. Sometimes, it’s drafting for future needs. So we have to be cognizant of that.”
Here’s a look at the 49ers current depth chart at cornerback:
Charvarius Ward – All-Pro starter in line for a lucrative extension
Deommodore Lenoir – Overachieving former fifth-round nickel cornerback who fits the scheme, entering the final year of his contract
Isaac Yiadom – 28-year-old cornerback off a career season, but has never played more than 634 snaps in season during his six-year career
Rock Ya-Sin – On a one-year contract. He turns 28 next month and has an extensive injury history.Let’s examine each player more thoroughly to determine what they bring to a team and whether they’re worthy of being selected in the first round. First, their height, weight, speed, 40-time, vertical, and broad jump—based on historic percentiles on Mockdraftable.com among cornerbacks.
Lower body power is one of the best athletic predictors of performance. The 40, vertical, and broad jumps are all different ways to measure the speed side of the strength-speed continuum, so I used them. We don’t have agility times for any of the three cornerbacks.
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