49ers Waiver Wire Tracker: Why Darrell Luter Jr. Was the NFL’s Most-Claimed Player
Five teams battled to land the versatile cornerback, forcing San Francisco to pivot their defensive strategy after the Raiders snagged the league's most coveted waiver wire target.
Video Transcript
Francisco 49ers only lost two players to the waiver wire on Monday as teams finalized their initial active rosters and practice squads following fifty three-man cutdowns.
The first was undrafted rookie defensive tackle Bryson Eas-Easton.
The six two, two, three hundred and twenty-three pound Tennessee product put together an impressive preseason tape in San Francisco, positioning himself as a prime candidate for a team's potential practice squad.
However, the Kansas City Chiefs scooped him up off waivers to bolster their interior D-line on the fifty three-man.
The second player lost was cornerback Darrell Luter Jr., who was claimed by the Raiders using the number one overall priority spot on waiver wire.
Luter, a fifth round selection by San Francisco in the twenty twenty-three NFL draft, spent the first three seasons of his professional career earning a spot on the 49ers' fifty three-man roster.
Though injuries limited his availability early on, he's put together a durable campaign last season, appearing in all seventeen regular season games with three starts while serving as a key contributor on special teams coverage units.
Despite the track record, San Francisco elected to keep six other cornerbacks on their fifty three-man.
Deommodore Lenoir, Richard Green, Upton Stout, Jack Jones, Efianays Prisont, and Nate Hobbs.
San Francisco's depth chart at that position is already battle tested by injuries.
Green, Prisont, and Hobbs are each dealing with physical setbacks, with Hobbs eventually reverting to the IR with a des-designed return after making the initial roster.
According to ESPN's Field Yates, Luter was the single most claimed pi-player on the entire waiver wire on Monday, and the margin was not close.
While the Raiders possessed the top priority and used their sole claim on him, four other teams, the Tennessee Titans, the Miami Dolphins, the Dallas Cowboys, and the Indianapolis Colts, also submitted claims for the veteran defender.
No other player across the NFL received more than two claims.
Luter is now headed to Las Vegas with a legitimate path towards early playing time.
John Lynch may still need to add another secondary player to navigate practice reps ahead of week one
