SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have to find a role for Renardo Green in their defense.
That’s what they learned last Thursday when he made his first career start against the Seahawks. He’s too good to not play. He made a crucial interception in the fourth quarter. He’s a closer and a playmaker and the 49ers need more of those.
For the first six weeks of the season, the 49ers played veteran cornerback Isaac Yiadom over Green as the no. 3 cornerback in their nickel defense. But Yiadom is not a playmaker — he has just two interceptions in 93 career games. And he has given up a passer rating of 89.9 when targeted. As opposed to Green, who has given up a passer rating of 47.2.
I recently asked defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen how much his confidence in Green has grown since training camp. Here’s what Sorensen said:
“It’s continued to grow. I think with him it was, he always felt like he could do it and then when he goes out and does do it, it just keeps growing and it’s kind of grown from the offseason on because we’ve kind of progressed him as far as immediately teaching him nickel and he’s gotten better at that. Then going back to corner and then being able to do both. I know he hasn’t played nickel, but he’s trained and then going out and performing in the game because we’ve kind of been rotating again, much like with De’Vondre Campbell and Dee Winters, him and Isaac Yiadom. Getting those snaps in and to see him step in when Charvarius Ward couldn’t go was awesome because all those guys were, all three of our corners, Deommodore Lenoir and Ike and R.G. were just fired up to go play and just compete regardless of who they went against. And I think they all stepped up.”
It will be interesting to see which cornerback goes back to the bench when Ward returns — Green or Yiadom.
At this point, the only thing Yiadom has over Green is seniority.
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