49ers Agree to Three-year, $39 Million Contract With Richard Sherman

It didn’t take long for star cornerback Richard Sherman to find a new NFL team.

Sherman will also be staying in the NFC West, as he and the San Francisco 49ers reportedly came to terms on a three-year, $39 million contract on Saturday night. It was first reported by ESPN’s Josina Anderson that the 49ers and Sherman were discussing a three-year deal, and then confirmed by Adam Schefter of ESPN that the two sides had reached an agreement.

There was widespread interest in Sherman across the NFL, as he told ESPN that he had received preliminary interest from the Tennessee Titans, Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Green Bay Packers after he was released by the Seattle Seahawks on Friday. The 49ers were of course among the interested teams in that pool, and Sherman likely agreed to meet with the 49ers first after he, his wife, and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan had dinner the night before their meeting in California.

The meeting on Saturday between the 49ers and Sherman was to make sure that Sherman was healing well two separate surgeries. Sherman is expected to be back running on a treadmill next week, and will be ready for when 49ers training camp rolls around in the summer.

Cornerback was perhaps the biggest part of the 49ers roster that needed upgrading. 49ers general manager John Lynch told reporters at the NFL Combine last week in Indianapolis that it didn’t take a “savant” to know that the 49ers needed to supplement that position with depth. San Francisco is very confident in the development of  Ahkello Witherspoon, who was a third-round pick by the team in 2017, and believe he and Sherman could be the start of a great cornerback duo.

Sherman is very familiar with playing in the Bay Area. He played in San Francisco at least once a year every year for seven straight years as a professional, and played his college football at Stanford before the Seahawks selected him in the 2011 NFL Draft with the 154th overall pick.

In Seattle, Sherman rose to superstar status, and became perhaps the most recognizable figure on a Seahawks defense that was nicknamed the ‘Legion of Boom.’  Opposing quarterbacks were often scared to look Sherman’s way, and if they did, there was a good chance they weren’t going to complete the pass. Or, Sherman was going to intercept it. Since he entered the league, no cornerback has as many interceptions as Sherman’s 32. He also has the lowest passer rating allowed in coverage in that time span, at 50.9.

For his NFL career, Sherman has 286 total tackles, 104 pass deflections, and those previous mentioned 32 interceptions. He is a four-time Pro Bowler, and a first-time All-Pro member on three separate occasions.

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