49ers sign veteran CB

Released from the Steelers practice squad last week, Anthony Brown has another deal in place. This one will provide a spot on a 53-man roster.

The 49ers are signing Brown to their active roster, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. A six-year Cowboys contributor, Brown is attempting to come back from a December 2022 Achilles tear.

San Francisco saw two of its corners — starters Deommodore Lenoir and Ambry Thomas — exit during its Week 2 win in Los Angeles. Lenoir was cleared from concussion protocol, returning to the game and intercepting a Matthew Stafford pass, but Thomas did not return to action. With the 49ers preparing to host the Giants in a Thursday-night matchup, they are short on time to have the third-year corner back in action.

Lenoir has worked as San Francisco’s nickel starter in each of the first two games but moved outside when Thomas went down against the Rams, bringing offseason addition Isaiah Oliver back into the mix. The 49ers closed the game with a Lenoir-Oliver-Charvarius Ward corner combination. Brown is on track to become a depth piece.

Brown, 29, spent much of his Cowboys tenure as the team’s primary slot corner. He fared well enough to earn a second contract with the team. The Cowboys re-signed Brown to a three-year, $15.5M deal in 2020 and kept him in place as a regular during Dan Quinn‘s first two seasons. Last year’s tear has thrown the 2017 sixth-rounder’s career off course, but the 49ers evidently feel comfortable with his form.

Quinn used Brown as a full-time player up until the injury, using the 5-foot-11 cover man on at least 90% of Dallas’ defensive snaps in each of the past two seasons. Helping the Cowboys rebound from a dreadful 2020 defensive effort, Brown played a career-high 1,048 defensive snaps in 2021. He intercepted three passes that year, giving him nine for his career. The Cowboys, who also lost Jourdan Lewis to a season-ending injury last year, traded for Stephon Gilmore in March and are using 2022 Brown replacement DaRon Bland as their slot defender this year.