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The San Francisco 49ers will be counting on quite a few young players in 2015, and it is not surprising one of them ended up on a list of breakout candidates. Earlier this month, ESPN's Field Yates took a look at eight second year players who could break out this season, and included outside linebacker Aaron Lynch and running back Carlos Hyde. We had some discussion about it, and I included some other potential candidates, including Quinton Dial, Brandon Thomas and Dontae Johnson.
Keith Reaser and Kenneth Acker are two guys that are not necessarily counted on for big contributions, but could help the cornerback corps develop tremendous depth. Both sat out the 2014 season due to injury. Reaser had two surgeries on an ACL tear, while Acker dealt with a supposed foot fracture in August and spent the season on injured reserve.
Both are officially in the mix for playing time at cornerback, but with all the mock drafts mentioning day one or day two cornerbacks, I am wondering what people expect from Reaser and Acker in 2015. It is hard to say much of anything about Reaser since he sat out the season, but Acker looked good in limited preseason action. That was a year ago, and it was just preseason, but the beat writers said he also looked good in training camp. Maybe he takes a step forward and emerges as a contributor this season.
Does the continued development of Acker and Reaser impact your thoughts on the 49ers cornerback need? Or are there enough questions that those two make no difference in terms of draft strategy?