When the San Francisco 49ers head to Washington to take on the Redskins, there will be at least one reunion. Cornerback Carlos Rogers was a free agent acquisition that was met with mixed reviews when the move was made. San Francisco was apparently in on the Nnamdi Asomugha sweepstakes, and then were making a play for other names like Jonathan Joseph and maybe even Antonio Cromartie.
But the signing was Rogers, considered the last of the "above average" cornerbacks on the market at the time. When Nate Clements departed for the Cincinnati Bengals, Rogers stepped in as his replacement. In Washington, he was the butt of a lot of criticism, mostly from his inability to hold on to an interception. More than one time Rogers dropped an interception that may have been able to seal the game in their favor. The fans were often out for his blood.
Rogers was always a solid cover corner though, something the fans always took for granted. He would lockdown receivers at times, do his best to minimize mistakes, and, yes, at times, would drop an interception. Honestly, that should have been good enough for Redskins fans. But it wasn't, so they were happy to see him go, and the 49ers have scooped him up.
Now Rogers is playing as well as most cornerbacks in the league and has three interceptions on the season. Apparently the 49ers defensive coaches know how to instruct a player on properly closing his fingers around a football, something that is apparently beyond the scope of Washington coaches. Rogers' three interceptions equal the amount of picks thus far from the entire Washington secondary. He's got nine passes defensed to his credit, too.
There was also recent talk of how Rogers apparently wanted out of Washington a couple seasons ago. There wasn't a ton of animosity or anything like that, but Rogers never really felt comfortable there, and his strong play in San Francisco under Jim Harbaugh and Vic Fangio is indicative of that as well. On Sunday, he'll go into Washington and play a team he never really felt was much of a team that cared about its players and concentrated on football first.