Over the years, when they have been healthy, the San Francisco 49ers have had one of the NFL’s best defenses. But in addition to all of the injuries they have had to deal with during the Kyle Shanahan era, they have also undergone a transition in their secondary.
Charvarius Ward, who was a stud cornerback for them, left following the 2024 season, as did ascending safety Talanoa Hufanga and veteran safety Tashaun Gipson. Since then, San Francisco has been relying on a cadre of youngsters to fill the void created by those departures.
Deommodore Lenoir has emerged as a reliable cornerback, and Ji’Ayir Brown has shown some potential at the strong safety spot. But Renardo Green, the team’s other starting corner opposite Lenoir, as well as Jack Jones, a corner it brought in this spring, have something to prove amid a crowded secondary competition.
One former 49ers standout safety made it clear that he doesn’t believe in Green or Jones at this point.
Donte Whitner: “I don’t trust either one of them”
From 2011 to 2013, Whitner was the Niners’ starting strong safety during the Jim Harbaugh regime. During an appearance on “The Grit Code” podcast, he made it clear that he’s not exactly thrilled at the prospect of the Red and Gold relying on Green and Jones, per Coach Yac on X (formerly Twitter).
“I don’t trust either one of them. Renardo Green has talent. He’s young, he’s physical, but now we’re starting to see a pattern with injuries. I don’t care how talented you are — if you’re not available, I can’t trust you. Availability matters, especially at corner, because that position is already hard enough when you’re healthy.
“Now, Jack Jones, he gives you experience, he gives you ball skills. He’ll make a play that will make you say ‘Damn, that was nice’, and then two series later he’ll do the same [expletive] that make you say ‘What the hell was that?’. That’s inconsistency.
“… 49ers have bodies at corner, but I’m not convinced they have a corner that I can fully trust yet. Talent is one thing, reliability is everything, and they don’t have either.”
Green, a second-round draft pick in 2024 out of Florida State University, has recorded a total of 23 passes defended, one interception and 121 total tackles (77 solo) in his two NFL seasons. He became a full-time starter last year for Shanahan.
But Pro Football Focus gave him an overall grade of just 53.6, which ranked 93rd among 114 corners, for the 2025 campaign. He missed three games last year, and he suffered a hamstring injury that has hurt the secondary’s depth versus the Los Angeles Chargers last Thursday. While the injury is thought to be mild and while there seems to be hope that he’ll be ready for Week 1 of the regular season, it does point to that pattern of injuries Whitner mentioned.
Jones has four years of NFL experience after being taken in the fourth round of the 2022 draft. Last year, he posted six passes defended, one interception, four tackles for loss and 77 total tackles (40 solo) after he had 16 passes defended, three interceptions and one pick-six in 2024.
For 2025, PFF gave him a 54.7 coverage grade, an 84.9 pass-rush grade and a 77.8 run defense grade.
