It looked initially like the 49ers found their starting nickel cornerback this offseason when they signed veteran CB Isaiah Oliver to a two-year deal. Now it appears his grip on that job has loosened following a rough preseason debut.
The 49ers tabbed Oliver to replace Jimmie Ward who held down that spot last season when Deommodore Lenoir was forced outside by an injury to CB Emmanuel Moseley.
Oliver was the lone “starter” to play for San Francisco on Sunday vs. the Raiders. His place in the lineup and subsequent rough performance were two indicators that he’s not necessarily in line to start per head coach Kyle Shanahan.
Shanahan on Monday in his press conference said there’s open competition happening at that spot.
“Just because he isn’t a guaranteed starter,” Shanahan said when asked why Oliver played. “He has been doing that spot a lot, but there’s a lot of competition there. We sat out our outside corners, but we didn’t want to sit out any nickels and needed some guys to play because there’s a lot of things we’re still deciding.”
Oliver was targeted four times and gave up four receptions according to Pro Football Focus. Shanahan is hopeful there’s some improvement from the veteran CB.
“There were a couple things where he stood out that weren’t always his fault and I think he needs a little bit more help on the goal line,” Shanahan said. “The touchdown they gave up, our corner playing with vision and understanding he’s got to come off on that for our quarters-type coverage there. But it was a good first game for him and hopefully he’ll keep getting better for us.”
A lack of game planning and playing with unfamiliar teammates makes things particularly tough on defensive backs in the preseason, so Oliver will get some benefit of the doubt from the coaching staff. Defensive coordinator Steve Wilks in May was very high on the former Falcons cornerback.
“Oliver is someone that I had the opportunity to go against being in that division,” Wilks said. “And we didn’t know exactly what was going to happen in free agency with Jimmie (Ward) and when that didn’t happen, we wanted to make sure that we sort of got the best nickel in free agency and that’s what we went out and did, so I’m excited about Oliver. He’s long, he’s physical, can tackle, can cover, he’s going to be a good blitzer for us, everything that we do within this defense.”
It’s not time to panic for Oliver just yet. He’s a veteran player who’s put out good tape in the NFL. There’s plenty of competition from younger players though. Second-year CB Samuel Womack III won the nickel job out of camp last year. Undrafted rookie D’Shawn Jamison is capable of playing inside, as is veteran CB AJ Parker who made a couple nice plays Sunday.
After it looked like the 49ers nickel CB job was sewn up, it can now be added to the list of camp battles for San Francisco to sort out over the final two preseason games.
