A nice competition is beginning to brew at the 49ers third cornerback spot.
The San Francisco 49ers have slowly seen a major training camp battle emerge over the first few weeks of the preseason, as second-year cornerback Renardo Green has impressed while getting major snaps.
As a result, he has seen all of the first-team reps at cornerback while Isaac Yiadom has dealt with an injury, seeing time both on the inside and the outside.
Heading into the third preseason game, what has been the coaching staff’s evaluation of Green?
“I wanted to give him the harder stuff early, because he hadn’t played in there [in the nickel],” defensive coordinator Nick Sorenson said about Green. It’s always easier, I think, to move back out to what you’re used to, then to try something really new. Then if we did it later, it would have been like, oh my gosh, blow your mind. Where when we gave him the hard stuff early, then he handled it while also playing corner. So now it’s like, let’s get you focused on playing outside and see if it clears your mind. Let you just play.”
“Now he just kind of has to know both. Just like [DB Deommodore Lenoir] DMo does. We like to challenge our guys and see what they can handle. And when you see that they can handle it, it’s awesome. It gives you that flexibility. And he’s just a competitive kid that’s smart, that wants to do it right.”
After starting more on the inside, we’ve seen Green start to ramp up with more reps on the outside, where he played much of the second preseason game. That was a part of San Francisco’s step-by-step plan to get the rookie to play faster and be more prepared come Week 1.
“Yeah, anytime you can, we told him in that block, it was like, ‘We just want you to focus on corner this block.’ So yeah, that’s going to free anybody. It’s just like when you’re learning, you have a linebacker who’s just playing one spot. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s like moving an O-Lineman to a different position. Anytime you do any of that, it’s just harder than you think. It may sound not that hard on paper when you just talk about it, but it is. It’s a big difference. So yeah, it definitely cleared him out to play faster and it was good to see.”
Still, with Green’s emergence, the 49ers are high on Isaac Yiadom, creating a tough battle at the position.
“We feel great about Ike [CB Isaac Yiadom],” Sorensen said. “He came in doing exactly what he did last year on tape. He competes at a high level. We love everything we’ve seen. Just like with anybody, once you have them come back, there’s always going to be some type of ramp up period to show that they’re ready to play. And then we just make the decision. There’s no two that are exactly the same. But the stuff that he did, we know he’s got experience. And he showed that when he got here. Just excited to have him get back and get him rolling again [after injury].”
One big difference compared to the beginning of the preseason is that Green has now showcased the ability to play both inside and outside, creating some versatility there.
Still, San Francisco has a tough decision on their hands as the rookie continues to trend up.