Veteran San Francisco 49ers cornerback Jason Verrett cannot catch a break, it seems. Playing in the 10th season of his NFL career, Verrett will undergo season-ending surgery for a heartbreaking eighth time. According to Matt Barrows of The Athletic, Verrett suffered a shoulder injury in practice Friday that will require surgery on his rotator cuff.
Verrett’s career has been marred by injury. Since being drafted 25th overall in the 2014 NFL Draft by the Los Angeles Chargers, Verrett has been forced to miss two entire seasons and has seen eight total seasons cut short due to varying injuries from a foot injury to torn ACLs to torn Achilles tendons. This is the first upper-body injury that will sideline Verrett since his rookie season, when three labrum tears and a rotator cuff tear caused him to miss 10 games.
The loss of Verrett is a tough one for San Francisco, despite the team having the No. 1-seed locked up in the NFC. Because their playoff seeding is already determined, the 49ers had plans to rest several starters in their regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Rams this weekend. With key players likely to get some rest on Sunday, Verrett was expected to see extended playing time against Los Angeles. In his only game appearance of the year, Verrett saw a mere five snaps, so this would’ve been an opportunity for the team to get their veteran some time to possibly participate in the 49ers’ playoff run.
The injury reportedly occurred when Verrett jumped for a pass in practice and landed on his shoulder. Head coach Kyle Shanahan estimated that the timeline for Verrett’s possible return will include about 4-6 months of rehabilitation time. This would allow Verrett a small cushion of time to work his way back in time for the start of the 2024-25 NFL season, if he’s interested in continuing to play at 33 years old and finds a team that will provide him another opportunity.
Besides Ambry Thomas, who is on the injury report with a hand injury, no other cornerbacks are set to rest for the entire game this weekend. The likely plan was for the starters to sit after a series or two, but with Verrett becoming unavailable, those players may have to play a little more than anticipated.
Leave a Reply