The San Francisco 49ers have had to deal with too many injuries on defense this season. The losses of stars Fred Warner and Nick Bosa obviously hurt the most, but one injury may have actually opened the door for a journeyman veteran to steal a rookie’s job.
Cornerback Chase Lucas got the start on Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons in place of rookie Upton Stout, who was ruled out ahead of the game with an ankle injury.
The rookie has looked solid at times this season, but opposing teams have also targeted him because of his youth and inexperience.
Lucas stepped up in a big way and may be making a strong case to be the starter going forward.
The veteran looked strong out there and had a great defended pass and also put a great hit on quarterback Michael Penix Jr. as he rushed from the nickel spot.
From @CoachYac on Twitter/X:
• 26 coverage snaps
• 2 targets
• 0 yards allowed
• 1 pass breakup
• 1 forced incompletion
• 0 touchdowns allowed
• 77.9 coverage grade
• 81.0 overall grade
• 39.6 passer rating when targeted
• 1 pressure
Chase Lucas just created a 49ers controversy at nickel cornerback
Lucas seemed very comfortable and confident out there which suggests that his strong showings in the preseason were far from a fluke. In basically every preseason game, he made plays that made him look like a starter, but Stout seemed to have a lock on the starting job based on what the coaching staff saw from him in training camp before he got injured.
That calculus may be changing with how Lucas played against Atlanta.
The 28-year-old veteran has been a journeyman in the NFL. He began his career with the Detroit Lions but did not get very much playing time there at all. He played in six games for Detroit in 2022 and 12 games in 2023, recording three tackles each season. He joined the 49ers last season but spent the entire year on the practice squad, which gave him motivation in the offseason to improve and earn actual playing time.
That is exactly what Lucas has done.
We will see how long Stout’s ankle injury will keep him out, but as long as he is not one hundred percent healthy it seems obvious that Lucas is the superior option at nickel.
This does not mean that the rookie is a bust or that he will not get playing time going forward, but it simply reflects that Lucas has played well enough to be the starter.
We will see how the cornerback situation evolves over the course of the season, but Lucas’ huge step forward from last season is commendable and could shake things up at cornerback.