There was no great fanfare when the 49ers signed cornerback Isaac Yiadom, but he could play a key role in 2024.
SANTA CLARA — The signing of cornerback Isaac Yiadom was mostly under the radar last March 18, the same day Leonard Floyd arrived as a bookend to Nick Bosa and linebacker De’Vondre Campbell came aboard as a potential solution to Dre Greenlaw’s likely early-season absence while rehabbing a torn Achilles.
But if eight training camp practices are any indication, Yiadom will be a key contributing member of the 49ers’ free-agent class after blossoming as a cover corner in eight starts last season with the New Orleans Saints.
“It’s a winning team, a great franchise,” Yiadom said Friday. “You don’t decline an offer to play for a team like this. To come in here and play a role with these players, Bosa, Fred (Warner), those type of guys, I couldn’t pass that up.”
Yiadom, at 6-foot-1, 188 pounds, has prototype length for an outside cornerback and could end up a starter should the 49ers decide to use Deommodore Lenoir extensively as a slot corner. At the very least, he’s the favorite to play outside corner opposite Charvarius “Mooney” Ward on plays where Lenoir moves from outside to inside.
After being selected in the third round by Denver in 2018 out of Boston College, Yiadom lasted two years in Denver before being traded to the New York Giants for a seventh-round draft pick, then was dealt to Green Bay before ending up in Houston. He began on the New Orleans practice squad before everything came together in seven starts to close the regular season.
“We were a big fan of Isaac coming out of college, thought he played at his highest level last year and we thought he was playing his best football,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “Since we’ve gotten him, we feel even stronger about that. He had a hell of an OTAs and so far he’s having a hell of a camp.”
In eight 2023 starts, including the final seven weeks of the season, Yiadom broke up 14 passes, a rate of 1.75 per game. That’s better than Ward, who led the NFL with 23 breakups in 17 games for 1.35 per game. According to the analytical site Pro Football Focus, Yiadom was sticky in press coverage, giving up just a 30.4 percent completion rate.
How does one become a sudden success at age 28 after six years in the league?
“I really just did the same thing I’ve been doing my entire career,” Yiadom said. “I got an opportunity, I got older and I’ve been learning with all the different vets, coaches and schemes I’ve been playing with, and just made the most out of it.”
One of those coaches in the early days was Brandon Staley, the 49ers assistant head coach/defense who was with the Broncos the year after Yiadom was drafted. Staley coached outside linebackers in 2019 but became a trusted voice for Yiadom anyway.
“I had an up-and-down year when I was in Denver, but I was really close to him,” Yiadom said. “I could go in his office and talk ball with him, and he would help me out. He’s playing a big part of my game right now. He’s trying to take it to a different level, he believes in me, and he’s a big reason why I came here.”
While declining to get into specifics, Yiadom likes the variety of the 49ers’ scheme and the emphasis on communication and trust with it.
“We do a variety of different things,” Yiadom said. “We play some zone, a little bit of man, but there’s somebody in every single window. There’s help everywhere. Once you take a dive deep into it, and believe in it, you see why players such as Fred (Warner) and Mooney take off.”
Here’s a look at how other free-agent additions are shaping up through eight practices:
D-line overhaul
Floyd (6-3, 240) has the slender build of an outside linebacker but will be counted upon to provide another outside threat to go with Bosa. Maliek Collins is in line to start alongside Javon Hargrave inside, with Jordan Elliott getting snaps inside and Yetur Gross-Matos both outside as an edge-setter and inside as a change-of-pace.
LB Da’Vondre Campbell
An All-Pro in 2021 with Green Bay, Campbell, at 6-4, 232, provides a different look and style as the 49ers seek to move ahead temporarily without Greenlaw. He’ll compete with returnees Dee Winters and Jalen Graham.
TE Logan Thomas
Currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, Thomas caught 55 passes for Washington last season. Over the previous two seasons, 49ers tight ends other than George Kittle have caught 11 passes. Eric Saubert was signed after playing for six teams since 2017.
WR-PR Trent Taylor
Selected by the 49ers in the same round as George Kittle in 2017, Taylor caught 79 passes in three seasons as a slot receiver 5-8, 180-pound slot receiver before moving on to Cincinnati and Chicago. He’s a potential punt returner to replace Ray-Ray McCloud if he sticks. And Taylor has had a very good start to camp.
QB Josh Dobbs
In a battle with Brandon Allen to back up Brock Purdy, Dobbs, who started for both Arizona and Minnesota last year, found the allure of learning the Shanahan system too enticing to pass up.
OT Chris Hubbard
Hubbard has been consistently running with the second team as a backup to Jaylon Moore with Trent Williams holding out. Former 49er Daniel Brunskill, now with Tennessee, recommended him as a fit for the system. Hubbard, 31, started nine games at right tackle last season and can play both guard spots.
