Verrett and Hyder have enjoyed 49ers but hope to cash in
Cornerback Jason Verrett and defensive end Kerry Hyder, both 29, are sevenyear NFL veterans who entered the 2020 season as backups after signing relatively modest oneyear contracts with the 49ers.
The similarities don’t stop there. Both were shoved into starting roles because of earlyseason injuries, and they responded with careerbest years that far exceeded expectations.
Now, Verrett, who finished as the 49ers’ top cornerback, and Hyder, who had a teamhigh 8.5 sacks, will share this in the offseason: Both will receive big pay raises.
The 49ers figure to make a strong effort to retain Verrett and Hyder, who each play a position of need. But it wouldn’t be a surprise if
both test a freeagent market that could include several very interested suitors for the first time in their injurymarred careers.
“I’ve never been in a situation in free agency where I wasn’t just hoping to be on a team,” Hyder said. “So this will be a different year for me where I won’t be an undertheradar signing. I’ll be a guy that will be on top of the market, so I don’t really know what to expect.”
Said Verrett of his looming free agency: “It’s definitely going to be a tough decision, for sure.”
Verrett and Hyder could be in a position of strength when it comes to negotiating with the 49ers.
None of the six cornerbacks who finished the season on the 49ers’ active roster is signed for 2021. In addition, the 49ers probably now have more interest in retaining Verrett than they do Richard Sherman, who will turn 33 in March and was limited to five games in 2020 because of a chronic calf injury.
As for Hyder, he proved he could provide pressure for a team that pointed to its top two edge rushers, Nick Bosa and Dee Ford, as a major reason for their 2019 Super Bowl run. Now, however, Bosa is rehabbing from a torn ACL and Ford might be not be ready for the 2021 season because of a back injury that sidelined him for the final 15 games.
Hyder, who has earned about $ 4.3 million in his career, could cash in this offseason for the first and, perhaps, only time. Few saw his 2020 season coming because Hyder entered the year with just two sacks since his breakout eightsack season in 2016 with the Lions.
Hyder suffered a torn Achilles in the 2017 preseason, an injury which, he has said, required nearly two years to reach full recovery. Hyder had one sack in 2019 as a backup in his lone season with the Cowboys and signed a oneyear,
$ 1.5 million deal with the 49ers in March.
The 49ers obviously got a bargain: Hyder ranked 14th in the NFC in sacks.
“I’ve had a couple mishaps in my career where I got injured or kind of got regulated to spot duty when I signed with a team,” Hyder said. “I just am really excited to earn that respect throughout the league, and I just want to continue to grow that and continue to lift my career.”
A key to Hyder’s career has been 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek, who was also his position coach when the undrafted free agent had his eightsack season in Detroit. The 49ers signed Hyder based on Kocurek’s recommendation, and Hyder, who called Kocurek a “brother for life,” said that connection would play a
“Seeing how ( the 49ers) turned things around for me physically and mentally, it’s kind of hard to not want to come back. It’s kind of hard to not want to see if we can work things out.”
Jason Verrett, 49ers cornerback, on his impending free agency
role in his freeagent decision.
“He’s close with me and my family, and I absolutely love being a 49er,” Hyder said. “So I want nothing more than to continue this relationship.”
Meanwhile, Verrett likely earned a significant salary increase after signing a oneyear, $ 910,000 deal in April.
After a slew of leg injuries that included a torn Achilles and torn ACL, limiting him to six games from 2016 through ’ 19, he improbably recaptured the form that made him a firstround pick of the Chargers and a Pro Bowl alternate in 2015.
“Seeing how ( the 49ers) turned things around for me physically and mentally, it’s kind of hard to not want to come back,” Verrett said. “It’s kind of hard to not want to see if we can work things out just because it’s a classact organization.”
Verrett is grateful to the 49ers for putting together a training plan that allowed him to finally make a full recovery from his leg injuries. In 2019, in his first season with the team, head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch convinced him to spend the year on injured reserve after he was clearly hobbled early in the season.
“At first, I didn’t want to go with that plan,” Verrett said. “I didn’t see exactly what they were envisioning at that time. But, obviously, it worked.”