Jason Verrett Tears Achilles in Practice
SANTA CLARA -- What a sad story.
Jason Verrett tore his left Achilles tendon Wednesday during practice, and the 49ers cornerback is done for the season. Again.
Verrett was recovering from a torn right ACL which he suffered Week 1 of last season. He completed the year-long rehab process, got medically cleared to play and was in line to make his season debut this Sunday night against the Los Angeles Chargers. Then he ruptured his Achilles during practice. In retrospect, he probably wasn't ready to return to football.
Verrett has had incredible misfortune in his career. The former first-round pick quickly proved that he's one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL, but he simply couldn't stay on the field. He has now torn both of his Achilles and both of his ACLs. Just brutal.
The 49ers were hoping that Verrett could take over the starting cornerback job after the Bye week, considering starter Emmanuel Moseley is out for the season with an ACL tear. Now the 49ers will have to rely on second-year cornerback Deommodore Lenoir for the remainder of the season. Lenoir has held his own so far this season, but he's nothing like Verrett, who's as good as any cornerback in the NFL when healthy.
The 49ers most likely will add another cornerback to the roster to replace Verrett, but the free agent options typically aren’t great at this point in the season. Unfortunately for the 49ers, the trade deadline passed last week. Perhaps they should have traded for a cornerback when they had the chance.
