Shanahan states 49ers intend to sign Jason Verrett to practice squad
The 49ers are looking to bring a very familiar cornerback back to the Bay Area.
Kyle Shanahan shared on Friday after practice that the team had worked out veteran corner Jason Verrett on Thursday and plans to sign him to the team’s practice squad in the coming days.
“We tried him out,” Shanahan said. “We don’t have him signed yet. [We’ll] work over that this weekend and see how that ends up for next week. Most likely practice squad. That’s where he was in Houston [Texans], but nothing official yet.”
Verrett was selected by the then-San Diego Chargers as the No. 25 overall pick of the 2014 NFL Draft and spent four seasons in Southern California. The shut-down corner appeared in only 25 games over that span due to a rash of devastating injuries including an ACL tear in 2016.
In 2019, the 49ers signed Verrett to a one-year prove-it deal as he made his way back from an Achilles tear that he suffered in training camp the year prior. A knee injury in Week 3 of 2019 ended his campaign early, but the club re-signed Verrett the following year after he considered retiring.
In 2020, Verrett appeared in 13 games for the 49ers and recorded 60 tackles — 50 solo, two for a loss and two interceptions. He was a leader for the young secondary which Shanahan found incredibly valuable.
“I think you guys know how I feel about J.V.,” Shanahan said. “It’s amazing he’s even back and able to do that stuff. If we’ve got a chance, we’d love to get him in here. J.V. has been one of the most respected guys we’ve had in our building.”
Verrett had a very productive training camp with the 49ers in 2021 but he suffered an ACL tear in the club’s Week 1 loss to the Detroit Lions and did not play again. San Francisco re-signed Verrett in May of 2022 after his recovery, but during training camp that fall, Verrett suffered an Achilles injury that would end his season before it started.
The 49ers brought Verrett in for a workout in October prior to him signing with the Houston Texans’ practice squad and Shanahan shared why it was one of the most unique workouts he’s seen.
“I remember when he did work out here, the first time, about a month ago,” Shanahan said. “We had about seven players just go out and watch it. Which I’ve never seen before. Just shows how our team felt about him.”
Shanahan’s respect for the veteran player is evident and Verrett’s leadership and determination would quickly be welcomed in the locker room.
“The way he carries himself, how talented he is, his footwork and how he played with us,” Shanahan said. “Guys always looked up to him in that way. I think he was a mentor to a lot of the guys, but it was just the perseverance and how he carried himself that guys loved.”
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Brock Purdy states Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel are 49ers’ culture
Tristi Rodriguez
Brock Purdy states Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel are 49ers’ culture originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers played two consecutive games without two of their most important offensive pieces when both Deebo Samuel and Trent Williams sustained their respective injuries.
They lost both contests, and extended their losing streak to three games.
But when Samuel and Williams returned for San Francisco’s Week 10 clash against the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, quarterback Brock Purdy was excited to have his guys back on the field with him and knew how important they would be to break out of their skid.
“They’ve been huge pieces the last couple of years for this offense,” Purdy told reporters Thursday. “Guys that we can all look to in terms of creating the energy, the spark. Before the game, Trent is the one who breaks us all down before we go out to the field. And when he’s not playing, he doesn’t do it. Even just having that aspect and energy. He’s a huge piece to this culture.
“And Deebo as well. Being able to get him the ball, make plays, feed off his energy and swagger that he plays with. They’ve had so much success in helping build this place to what it is now over the past couple of years. So having those guys back is huge. They’re a part of our offense. And for me as a quarterback, those are two of the guys I always want to be playing with. And for me, it helps out my confidence every play. They’re definitely huge for us.”
“Those are two of the guys I always want to be playing with.”
Samuel and Williams’ impact on the field goes without saying. But it’s the energy boost they provide that makes all the difference. The pair leads San Francisco’s boombox walkout before every game. And that energy was noticeable Sunday as the 49ers dominated in northern Florida and handed the Jaguars a 34-3 beatdown at EverBank Stadium.
Even coming off their bye and in the week leading up to the game, coaches and players described feeling a different kind of energy at practice.
With the offensive stars back in the mix for San Francisco, the 49ers hope to build off last week’s win and keep things rolling throughout the rest of the 2023 NFL season.
Programming note: Watch Greg Papa’s full interview with Kyle Shanahan on “49ers Game Plan,” airing at 9:30 p.m. PT Friday on NBC Sports Bay Area
The 49ers looked like a completely different team coming out of their bye week, delivering an emphatic 34-3 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that sent a resounding message to the rest of the NFL that this San Francisco squad is still among the league’s elite teams.
One of the ways the 49ers got back to their winning roots was by dictating the game flow to create multiple scoring chances on both sides of the halftime break. During an interview with Greg Papa on NBC Sports Bay Area’s “49ers Game Plan,” Kyle Shanahan detailed how this creates a massive momentum swing that is crucial to the outcome of any given game.
“We ended with one more possession than them in the game; I think we had nine [and] I think they had eight,” Shanahan said. “It’s usually that way or dead even. That happened because we scored with no time left in the second quarter, then right when we got back, we got the touchdown. It’s a 7-3 game with four minutes in the second quarter, and you go on a four minute [drive], you get to kill that clock, you kick a field goal, three of them to finish the second quarter.
“We take about 20 minutes off, come back out, and their offense hasn’t touched the field for about an hour now. And last time they were out there, they were down four, now they’re down ten, so it’s a completely different feeling … It’s a huge difference. They’re going in there thinking it’s a tight game at halftime, then when you get the ball back next time, it’s two scores. When you do that, usually good things happen.”
The 49ers’ head coach then revealed this strategy is a calculated formula backed by decades of data pointing to a massive spike in winning percentage for teams that hold the ball to end the first half.
“It’s one I’ve heard for a long time, used to always hear it as a coordinator, never really followed it, started doing it our third year here,” Shanahan told Papa. “There’s a huge stat over the last 40 years that the team who finishes with the ball at the end of the second quarter or if they score at the end of the second quarter, their winning percentage in that game over these last 30 years just right below turnovers. I think blocked punts is bigger. So it’s one of the top stats in the league for winning. It doesn’t completely make sense. That’s why I ignored it for so long.”
Shanahan also detailed that while scoring before the half is the ideal outcome, simply keeping the ball away from your opponent still yields incredible results for the team that can register the second quarter’s final possession.
“As long as they don’t get an opportunity to do it,” Shanahan explained. “That clock runs out. If you score, obviously much better, and that percentage goes up. But just finishing with the football, that stat is like that. I had the same facial expression as you for a while. We spent a lot of time looking into it, and it was all accurate. 2019 was the first year I really tried it. I thought our defense was going to be pretty unbelievable that year, and we were going to take that in and commit to it. If you watch how that year went, it went that way the whole year. We were so successful with it, the stats were even better than what I imagined, and we’ve always stuck with that.
It’s easy to see why Shanahan quickly bought into this strategy, as the 49ers boasted an eye-popping 10-2 record in
