49ers Claim former Bucs Cornerback Parnell Motley off Waivers

The 49ers desperately need healthy cornerbacks.

So on Tuesday, they claimed cornerback Parnell Motley off waivers from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, according to ESPN’s Field Yates. Motley technically is a healthy corner. He can join the 49ers after he passes COVID-19 tests, which will take a couple days. So he won’t get to practice much this week. But that doesn’t mean he won’t play Sunday night against the Los Angeles Rams. The way things are going, Motley might start that game.

He can’t be worse than Brian Allen, last week’s practice-squad-corner-turned-starter, can he?

Yes, he can.

Motley, 22, is a rookie undrafted free agent who made the Buccaneers final roster out of training camp. That’s promising. He appeared in two games this season for Tampa -- Week 3 and Week 4 -- and played 22 snaps on special teams, but zero on defense. He never has taken a snap at cornerback in the NFL.

And yet, he probably is the third-best healthy cornerback on the 49ers roster right now after Jason Verrett and Ahkello Witherspoon. And Witherspoon isn’t fully healthy.

Uh oh.

The 49ers hope Emmanuel Moseley can return from a concussion he suffered Week 3 and replace Witherspoon in the starting lineup. But Moseley still hasn’t completed the concussion protocol, and now he has to see a specialist.

How did the 49ers get so desperate at cornerback? How did they descend to the Brian-Allen-Parnell-Motley level? Why didn’t the 49ers draft any cornerbacks this offseason when corner was the biggest weakness on the defense by far?

The world may never know.