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49ers CB Renardo Green Expected to be a Breakout Player this Year

The 49ers need some young players to step up on defense this year.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox (88) makes a catch against San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Dec 1, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills tight end Dawson Knox (88) makes a catch against San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green (0) during the second half at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images | Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers need some young players to step up on defense this year.

They still have Nick Bosa, Fred Warner and Deommodore Lenoir. But after those three, the 49ers mostly have question marks. However, one player who is expected to be a breakout player is second-year cornerback Renardo Green, according to Fox Sports.

"In a Niners season that was mostly a bummer, Green was one of their few bright spots," writes Fox Sports' David Helman. "The second-round pick graded out in the top 25% of all corners as a rookie, according to Pro Football Focus. Granted, there’s a difference between being a pleasant surprise as a rookie and being asked to fill the shoes of a Pro Bowler like Charvarius Ward. He'll have every opportunity to be the next young star on Robert Saleh’s defense."

Last season, Green played only 63 percent of the 49ers' defensive snaps. And yet, he led the team with 13 pass breakups. Deommodore Lenoir finished second with nine. That's how impressive Green was.

Now Green has to prove that he wasn't a one-year wonder. Teams will target him heavily early in the season because they respect Lenoir. If Green picks off a pass or two, teams will respect him too and leave him alone.

Unfortunately for Green, he has a new defensive coordinator in Robert Saleh. Last season, Green played well under former defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen. Granted, Saleh is much better than Sorensen, but it's not a given that Green will flourish in his defense.

Stay tuned.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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