© Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
A pair of old names floated in and out of the 49ers’ roster on Tuesday. The first was veteran cornerback Dontae Johnson.
After more than a year of dealing with injuries and bouncing around the league, Johnson is back with the 49ers. He was drafted back in 2014 before signing a four-year, $2.62 million deal and playing nearly every game over that span, missing just one game over the 64-game window that he was with the team.
But the past year has been a mess for Johnson, who, after signing a one-year deal and winning a starting corner job with the Seattle Seahawks, suffered a hip injury and was released by the team with an injury settlement. He moved on to the Buffalo Bills (where he was cut), the Cleveland Browns (where he was cut), the Arizona Cardinals (where he was cut) and finally the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason (where he was cut again).
Now, he’s back with San Francisco, where he’ll be fighting for a heavily competitive but fairly wide open starting cornerback job (or backup job) against the likes of Ahkello Witherspoon, Tarvarius Moore, K’Waun Williams, Jason Verrett, rookie Tim Harris and others.
In order to sign Johnson, the 49ers waived Pita Taumoepenu, a 2017 sixth-round pick from the University of Utah, who appeared in just six games for the 49ers over the past two seasons.
The team also released former first-round pick and veteran offensive tackle Anthony Davis who retired from the league in 2015 before coming back and retiring again in 2016, citing head injuries and health concerns as causes his decision to step away. He was, however, reinstated by the NFL on Tuesday, according to Matt Barrows, and the team decided to release him:
The NFL today reinstated OT Anthony Davis off the reserve-retired list. The #49ers released him. He is now free to sign with any team.
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) May 28, 2019