The San Francisco 49ers cornerback depth chart lost a nickel back this week. The team announced on Monday that cornerback Chris Davis has been placed on injured reserve. To fill his spot on the roster, the 49ers have signed cornerback JaCorey Shepherd to a two-year deal.
Davis suffered a knee injury in Thursday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals, and was carted to the locker room. He had an MRI on Friday, and the results were clearly not good. We don’t know specifically if it was a torn ACL, but IR would suggest some kind of ligament tear.
Davis had been playing limited snaps the last two games, so it does not drastically change how the depth chart looks. Rashard Robinson will remain the starter opposite Tramaine Brock while Ward is sidelined. Keith Reaser will come on as the first cornerback off the bench, with Jaquiski Tartt the first safety off the bench when they use other sub packages.
As for Shepherd, he was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the sixth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He missed his rookie season with an injury, and was then released on Sept. 3, 2016. He spent some time on the Eagles practice squad
Shepherd attended the University of Kansas, where he appeared in 42 games and finished his college career with 90 tackles, five interceptions and 37 passes defensed. Shepherd left the school ranked fourth all-time in Kansas history with 1,350 kickoff return yards.
Here are some scouting reports