As the 49ers look to reshape their roster and get younger, San Francisco hasn’t been one of the NFL’s biggest spenders or most active franchises in NFL free agency. That doesn’t mean the 49ers don’t still have several moves in front of themselves, though.
In ESPN’s look at the best team fits for unsigned players, San Francisco is among the ideal landing spots for former Minnesota Vikings cornerback Stephon Gilmore.
While the 34-year-old Gilmore doesn’t fit into the getting younger category, San Francisco has a need at cornerback after watching starter Charvarius Ward walk in free agency. Ward inked a three-year, $60 million deal with the Indianapolis Colts.
Gilmore would inject a wealth of experience back into a group of 49ers cornerbacks that currently features Deommodore Lenoir, Renardo Green and Tre Brown.
Here’s what ESPN had to say about why Gilmore might make sense for San Francisco.
Gilmore is the rare cornerback capable of playing man-to-man at a high level into his 30s. Between the Patriots, Cowboys and Vikings, he has played in some of the league’s most aggressive defenses. And while he occasionally gets beaten, the now 34-year-old has held his own. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, he allowed an 87.5 passer rating and slightly negative EPA as the nearest defender in coverage last season. Doing that as part of a defense that often asked him to cover on an island is an impressive feat.
The Vikings only signed Gilmore last offseason after they seemed to realize they didn’t have enough at cornerback. He was more than worth their $7 million investment. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same scenario happened this year, where a team that looks thin at cornerback and doesn’t love what it sees from some of its young guys in camp goes after Gilmore as a plug-and-play solution over the summer. – Bill Barnwell, ESPN.
If the 49ers could bring in Gilmore on an identical one-year, $7 million deal, that’s a pretty cheap asking price for someone that would arrive with 180 career games played and 173 starts. Gilmore started 15 games for the Vikings last season where he tallied 56 tackles, nine pass breakups and one interception.
In his 13-year NFL career, Gilmore has totaled 617 tackles, 149 pass breakups and 32 interceptions with a pair of touchdowns.