Barber: The last chance for 49ers' Jason Verrett

SANTA CLARA - Nick Bosa, the second pick in the 2019 NFL draft, sprained his ankle at a training-camp practice on Aug. 7, and the world nearly stopped spinning. Would Bosa be ready for the 49ers' regular-season opener? Could they mount a decent pass rush without him? Was this indicative of the defensive end's tendency toward injury?

Another 49ers defender sprained an ankle that same day. It got far less attention, but on a personal level, it was a bigger blow. Jason Verrett, an immensely talented cornerback who has rarely been healthy since coming to the NFL five years ago, was sidelined again.

It was a hurdle, albeit a low one, in Verrett's attempt to kick-start his career with the Niners.

“When I'm out there, I'm striving to be the person that I know I could be on the football field,” Verrett said in front of his locker Thursday, just before heading to the practice field. “And I try not to think about the things that happened from previous years. But I know it's the nature of the game and things happen. From there, I mean, it's just trying to stay as positive as possible. Especially with what I've been through, I don't really have time to try to think about the negative stuff.”

For much of Verrett's life, it was mostly positive stuff that came his way. He grew up in Fairfield, surrounded by a loving and supportive family. After one season of football at Santa Rosa JC, he was offered a scholarship by TCU coach Gary Patterson, who formerly coached the Bear Cubs. Verrett, always considered undersized, was dazzling enough at corner to convince the Chargers to draft him in the first round, at No. 25 overall, in 2014. He made the Pro Bowl after his second season, at the age of 24.

Then the negative stuff crowded out the positive.

Verrett missed 12 games in 2016 with a partially torn left ACL, then aggravated the knee and missed 15 games in 2017. He sat out the entire 2018 season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. That's a total of five games played over the past three seasons.

Truth be told, Verrett's body showed signs of breaking down even before that. He tore his left labrum and rotator cuff and missed 10 games as a rookie with the Chargers in 2014. And as SRJC head coach Lenny Wagner, who used to be Verrett's defensive coordinator, divulged Thursday, the cornerback suffered an Antonio Brown-style condition before it was trendy. Just before Verrett's freshman season, he fell asleep while icing his legs.

“He ended up having, like, third-degree burns on both his hamstrings,” Wagner said.

It has been a terrible string of luck for a defensive back who is widely admired for both his athletic ability and his leadership, and he is suffering for it financially. The 49ers signed Verrett to a one-year “prove it” contract potentially worth $3.6 million, but with only $1 million guaranteed.

With such an extensive medical file, you may wonder why the 49ers signed him at all. It seems especially risky for this team, which already had one defensive back, the versatile Jimmie Ward, who has yet to prove he can stay intact. Ward broke a finger Wednesday; defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said Thursday he didn't know whether he would play against the Buccaneers.

It sounds even less likely that Verrett will play in the opener. But Saleh expressed no regrets about bringing him in.

“I think Jason took a chance on us just as much as we took a chance on him, if you want to say that,” Saleh said.

Why the interest? Because Verrett has been damn good when he's been able to stay on the field. Pro Football Focus ranked him eighth among NFL cornerbacks in 2015, with an overall grade of 88.4, and had him at 85.1 as a rookie. The numbers dropped precipitously over the next couple of seasons. The lack of continuity was hurting Verrett's play.

Saleh is betting on Verrett to recoup some of that dominance, though he doesn't really fit the coordinator's profile for cornerbacks. Richard Sherman is 6-foot-3, 195 pounds. Akhello Witherspoon, expected to start on the right side Sunday at Tampa Bay, is 6-2, 195. Dontae Johnson, who started 16 games at left cornerback in 2017, is 6-2, 200 pounds.

Verrett is a compact 5-10, 188, and yet he has always played an aggressive style of coverage. He's had to find ways to compensate for those extra four or five inches.

Wagner acknowledged there are situations that might be disadvantageous for a shorter corner. One is going up for a ball thrown to a taller wide receiver. The SRJC coach said Verrett has a great sense of timing that allows him to high-point the football better than most of his opponents.

“And he's so fast,” Wagner added. “So you know, when a guy's open, he's open for about a millisecond. And then his closing speed is good. So they've got to throw a perfect ball and make a perfect catch most of the time with him, because he's so fast.”

The other challenge is tackling. Wagner noted that while Verrett doesn't shy away from hitting, he knows better than to try to blow up a 230-pound ball carrier. He picks his spots. Still, it is reasonable to conclude that Verrett's pugnacious style (like Ward's) factors into the injury history. It's also part of who Verrett is at this point.

“I mean, I got here,” he said. “So obviously I was doing something right to be able to perform at a high level, making it to a Pro Bowl, being known for a scrappy corner. (The size issue) was something I dealt with in high school and college. I'm here now, so that doesn't really matter.”

Though it is Verrett's body that has betrayed him, his mental state will play a huge role in his attempted rebound. Coming back four times, from at least three separate injuries, must take its toll. How long can an athlete be expected to swim against the current, rehabbing hour after hour, if there is no payoff?

Verrett understands that he has many doubters at this point.

“At the end of the day, they're not going through it, so I don't need to give energy to somebody that, one, I don't even know,” he said. “And them being in my shoes, they don't know how they would handle the situation. So all I can control is how I can feel.”

Realistically, the 49ers represent Jason Verrett's last crack at the NFL. Everyone knows he had elite talent before the leg injuries. But he won't get endless chances to prove he can stay healthy, or that he can once again play at an elite level. The NFL will not wait forever for his comeback. Quarterbacks will not take time to mourn the prime years he lost. And Verrett knows it.

“Of course, I could think about, you know, if it didn't happen. What would have happened?” he said. “End of the day, that's just the cards I was dealt with and I'm just taking them head on.”

You can reach columnist Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com. Follow him on Twitter: @Skinny_Post.