49ers cornerback Richard Sherman isn’t worried about the team’s lack of additions in the secondary. While much was made during the offseason about the 49ers needing help at cornerback and safety, San Francisco made only minor lateral steps at those positions. Sherman shares the front office’s view that adding new players to the defensive backfield wasn’t necessary to improve that unit.
“The secondary wasn’t the issue last year,” Sherman told Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee. ‘We’d lose games by a touchdown down the stretch, the last second. It’s not like, ‘Oh man, the secondary was just getting killed the whole game and that’s why we lost.’ It was just guys’ immaturity, mistakes, just not executing. Not knowing how to finish, not having finishers.”
To Sherman’s point, they lost six games by eight points or fewer, and several of their losses came down to the inability to get off the field on third down. They were 21st in the league in third-down conversion rate allowed.
The eight-year veteran went on to echo the front office and coaching staff’s evaluation of the defense’s needs. He told Biderman that improvements in the front seven will by proxy make the secondary better.
“We needed guys to hit (the quarterback) in the face,” Sherman said. “You need a few of them. Now we have guys that can rotate in and rotate out and put pressure.”
San Francisco had 37 sacks as a team, but 8.0 of those came against a porous Raiders’ defensive line. DeForest Buckner posted 12 sacks from the interior of the defensive line. The 49ers’ inability to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks was a problem in their third-down struggles, red-zone issues, league-worst pass defense, and NFL record-low two interceptions.
The front office chose to bank on their relatively inexperienced secondary, returning virtually every starter from last season. Sherman will return, along with Ahkello Witherspoon, Tarvarius Moore, K’Waun Williams and DJ Reed. San Francisco did sign oft-injured former Charger Jason Verrett, and spent a sixth-round pick on Virginia’s Tim Harris. They re-signed Jimmie Ward and Antone Exum Jr. to ensure the safety room remained entirely intact.
It’ll be up to Sherman in part, who is healthier than he was a year ago, to hold up the secondary’s end of this bargain. How that unit improves in 2019 will play the biggest role in whether the 49ers’ defense can elevate to a championship level. If not, there will be big changes coming in San Francisco’s defensive backfield.
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