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Will the 49ers Sign Cornerback Rasul Douglas?

The 49ers have a clear and obvious need for a cornerback.
Grant Cohn|
Jan 21, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas (31) reacts against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
Jan 21, 2024; Orchard Park, New York, USA; Buffalo Bills cornerback Rasul Douglas (31) reacts against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2024 AFC divisional round game at Highmark Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

The 49ers have a clear and obvious need for a cornerback.

They lost Charvarius Ward this offseason, and Deommodore Lenoir recently got arrested, so he might face a suspension. Behind him, the 49ers have no one proven.

That's why this week they tried to sign cornerback Damon Arnette, who instead signed a one-year deal with the Houston Texans. Arnette is extremely cheap. The 49ers have more than $46 million in cap space. If they want to spend a little bit more, they could wait until Asante Samuel Jr. passes the medical recheck on his neck at the end of the month and sign him.

Or, they could immediately sign cornerback Rasul Douglas, who is the best remaining free agent, according to ESPN.

"Douglas is a physical corner with the length to disrupt the ball and the willingness to set an edge against the run (five tackles for loss last season)," writes ESPN's Matt Bowen. "He's an easy fit in a zone system that allows him to reroute underneath and attack the ball from the outside third of the field. Douglas returned one of his five interceptions for a touchdown in 2023, and he had five pass breakups last season."

Translation: He's a perfect fit for the 49ers because they play lots of zone coverage and desperately want to improve their run defense. He's an established starter, similar to Richard Sherman when he signed with the 49ers in 2018. Douglas will turn 30 in August. He should have at least one more good season left.

Call him up.

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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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