49ers corner’s hard work haunts receivers
Long before there was so much talk about Jason Verrett’s comeback season, Keenan Allen was confident his buddy was poised to finally bounce back.
And that’s because the 49ers cornerback was talking … a lot of trash.
Allen, the Chargers’ Pro Bowl wide receiver, and Verrett, his alwaysinjured friend and former teammate, spent much of their offseason together at a training facility in Irvine.
Allen initially had the upper hand when their oneonone battles began in March. But Verrett got stronger — and louder — throughout a spring in which he gradually got back his swagger.
“There were like one or two days during the week where I couldn’t even get off the line,” Allen said in a phone interview. “I knew it was getting good for him. His confidence was really growing. He was talking more. … Telling me that he owned that. He’s locking it up. Saying ‘ You can’t get none.’ ”
Months later, in a development few others saw coming, a host of NFL wide receivers have gotten none, or at least very little, against Verrett in the first half of the season.
Verrett, 29, has made five starts — matching his total from 201619 when he ended each season on injured reserve — and shown he might be better than ever instead of hopelessly broken down.
The 2014 firstround pick of the Chargers who was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2015 has been targeted with 19 passes and
allowed eight completions for 70 yards and came up with a playofthegame endzone interception in a 2416 win over the Rams.
His older brother, Tre, 31, is among those in awe of the resilience that’s been required for Verrett to regain his form.
“Not a lot of people are built this way,” Tre said. “I’m not saying that because he’s my younger brother. I’m saying that because I witnessed it.”
Quarterbacks have a 30.6 passer rating when testing Verrett, who will receive his biggest test Sunday. The 49ers will visit the Seahawks, whose 51 start has been fueled by their dynamic passinggame trio of quarterback Russell Wilson and wide receivers Tyler Lockett and D. K. Metcalf.
How will Verrett, 5foot10 and 188 pounds, handle Metcalf ( 64, 229)?
“He’s probably going to try to bully guys,” Verrett said. “It’s just going to be one of those matchups where the bigboy pads have got to come on.”
Verrett prepared for such battles by spending four months regularly facing Allen, 28, an impeccable route runner who ranks third in the NFL in receptions ( 347) and fourth in receiving yards ( 4,269) since 2017.
It was part of an offseason that set the stage for his renaissance. Verrett also hired a private defensive backs coach, Mike Scott, whose NFL clients include Chargers safety Derwin James. The 2018 firstround pick is another friend of Verrett’s who also worked out with him in Irvine.
Scott, 51, who played in the Canadian Football League, said he helped get Verrett “back in alignment.” And Verrett was out of whack after barely playing for the previous four seasons because of a host of injuries that included a torn ACL, a torn labrum and a torn Achilles tenProactive don.
Verrett played in just six of 64 games the previous four seasons, a stretch in which he played four snaps from 201819. After spending most of his time rehabbing, he’d developed rust.
“That was the main thing I wanted was to get back into press coverage and be able to get my hips, feet, hands and eyes all in the same motion,” Verrett said. “And we just grinded every day.”
Scott acknowledged he had plenty with which to work. Pro Bowl left tackle Trent Williams, 32, said Friday that Verrett, before his injuries, was viewed as “one of the better cover corners that we have in this league.”
And Scott said he was seeing vintage Verrett near the end of their four months together.
“I was telling people around the end of June, Jason Verrett — he’s going to be a different type of dude this year,” Scott said. “It was like, ‘ I’m telling you, just watch.’ ”
Scott felt confident in his assessment because he’d watched Verrett face Allen. The exteammates spent five seasons together and they relished the chance this spring to reprise their past oneonone trainingcamp battles.
They worked out at training facility with a group that included Raiders wide receiver Tyrell Williams.
“He knew exactly what it was I needed to get back in the feel of the game,” Verrett said. “It was everything for me. Keenan’s obviously one of the best receivers in the game and he might be the best receiver off the line of scrimmage.
“Being in front of Keenan was pretty much the icing on the cake that I could still do what it is I do. There were times where I got him. And there were times where he got me. But I was still able to recover the next day. That kept giving me more and more confidence that I was getting back to where I wanted to.”
Allen said their competition wasn’t limited to the field: They battled to see who could finish their weightroom workouts faster.
“He never backed down,” Allen said. “And I never backed down. And we just kept getting better.”
Before Verrett wasn’t backing down from Allen, he had to, yet again, pick himself back up after another injury setback.
Last year, Verrett made his debut with the 49ers during a Week 3 win against the Steelers and his foursnap performance was disastrous: He was benched after he committed a 32yard passinterference penalty and allowed a 39yard touchdown reception.
The 49ers placed Verrett on seasonending injured reserve less than two weeks later because he needed more time to recover from his leg injuries.
Verrett knew he wasn’t healthy. But he also wasn’t sure if his injuries had left him permanently diminished. A question he said he asked himself: Am I not good anymore?
It wasn’t the only hard question he pondered in conversations that included his brother and fiancee, McKayla Roary. He considered retiring in 2018 after he tore his Achilles at the end of a conditioning test on the first day of training camp. He again wondered if he was done after his “embarrassing” performance against Pittsburgh.
“Thoughts about retiring crossed my mind,” Verrett said. “‘ Why are these things happening to me?’ But I knew deep down what I want from this game. And what I had left in the tank. It was just a matter of ‘ Can my body do it?’ … I wiped my tears and went headfirst into the next step.”
The next step involved rest. Verrett began his latest comeback attempt by taking several weeks off before spending the rest of the 2019 regular season rehabbing with the 49ers’ s tr eng th and conditioning staff.
That set the stage for his crucial offseason work with Allen, who knew his buddy was back when he started talking trash.
“He’s unbelievable,” Allen said. “He did such a great job weathering the storm and coming back and becoming the player he used to be.”