San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is undoubtedly pleased with the overall performance of his secondary thus far in the season, as are the rest of the fan base, largely in part to new addition Carlos Rogers. But there is more to it that just that, as Fangio explained in his Thursday press conference at 49ers headquarters.
Has that whole spot, just as a whole, been a pleasant surprise with [CB] Carlos [Rogers] and [CB] Tarell Brown and the three guys you sort of cycled in?
"Yeah it has. We have good depth there. We have five corners on the roster. We have confidence in all of them. They all have played this year, significant snaps, and they are all very capable. Nothing would change, one way or the other, depending upon who was in there."
It's also good to hear about a 49ers secondary that bolsters confidence in the coaches in fans, because there honestly hasn't been one for a while. These guys really have gelled well, they just need to be healthy enough to be on the field at the same time.
Fangio also spoke about Tramaine Brock's progress after recently having a cast removed from his hand:
For him [Brock], was it an issue of not being able to grab and to do what he needs to do with that left hand?
"Yeah, you guys know how hard it is to play corner in this league. Trying to do it with a club on your hand, it becomes that much harder. I've had bad experiences with that in the past of playing guys that have a big cast on their hand, particularly at the corner position. You're basically playing with one arm and that's not a position to be playing one arm with. Again, our healthy players are better than Brock with a cast on his hand."
Fangio said he expects Chris Culliver to be healthy this Sunday, another good sign for the San Francisco secondary. He spoke about Shawntae Spencer's progress as well, and how it effects Fangio's options with the third corner.
How do you expect to use your third corner back this week, third corner? Who do you expect it to be and how do you plan to use them?
"I think it will be kind of similar to what it's been lately. [CB] Shawntae [Spencer] is improving, he's still not 100 percent. He's ready to play, but he's not 100 percent yet."
Hopefully he will be by Sunday.
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