The San Francisco 49ers added yet another player to the defensive side of the ball on Friday with the signing of cornerback Isaac Yiadom, who agreed to terms with the 49ers on a one-year deal.
Yiadom, 28, is the seventh defensive player added by the 49ers this week, joining defensive linemen Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos, Jordan Elliott, and Maliek Collins; linebacker De'Vondre Campbell; and defensive back Chase Lucas. Here's what to know about Yiadom as his time with the 49ers begins.
Coming off a big season
Yiadom (6-1, 188) has been a bit of a journeyman since joining the NFL, but the 2023 season was his best one yet. Yiadom played in 17 games with the New Orleans Saints last season and wound up starting eight times as he helped fill in for the injured Marshon Lattimore. He finished with 37 tackles, 14 passes defensed and one interception. Yiadom also held quarterbacks to a completion percentage of 48.9 percent when targeting him. He carried a rating of 81.1 at Pro Football Focus last season.
Yiadom entered the NFL as a third-round selection of the Denver Broncos in the 2018 NFL Draft. A product of Boston College, Yiadom played two season with the Broncos before being traded to the New York Giants in 2020. He totaled 46 tackles and five passes defended in 16 games (10 starts) with the Giants before being traded to the Green Bay Packers in 2021. Yiadom played one season with the Packers in a reserve role, then signed with the Houston Texans in 2022. He played three games with the Texans before being released, then caught on with the Saints for six games in late 2022.
Through six NFL seasons, Yiadom has 28 starts in 87 games with 158 tackles, 26 passes defensed, and two interceptions. He most likely figures to compete for a spot on the outside with the 49ers.
Making his family proud
Yiadom's parents hail from Ghana. He was born in Alexandria, Virginia, then moved to live with his father in Massachusetts after his mother passed away when he was a high school freshman.
His road to the NFL has helped make his family's journey into a success story.
"It was hard for my dad to come over here first, and then he ended up bringing my mom, and then they ended up having me and my three other siblings," Yiadom told KHOU-TV in 2022. "Of course, coming from any other country, America is the dream. So the American dream -- came here, my dad started a family, grinded his ass off trying to work every single day; my mom as well. I feel like for my dad and my mom to see me in the NFL now, it makes them so proud because something they came here to do was have kids and make sure their kids were successful and not live a hard life like they did growing up. I'm happy I'm able to make my dad and my parents proud all the time. They look back on their kids and are able to smile."
High school legacy
Yiadom was a standout at Doherty Memorial High School in Worcester, Massachusetts, helping the school in 2013 to their first Division 4 state championship, which was the first state title by a public school in Worcester since before World War II. Yiadom was the Co-Defensive MVP at Division 4 in Massachusetts and had become a leader on and off the field after making the move from Virginia.
"I faced a lot of challenges that year," Yiadom told Worcester Magazine in 2014. "I was worried when I moved up here to live with my father because I didn't know anybody and I didn't know if the coaches would like me... I ended up loving Doherty."
Yiadom played at Doherty with his brother Paul, who went on to play football at Central Connecticut State.
College and Pre-draft
Yiadom went on to stand out at the next level at Boston College, where he started 28 of 48 games and totaled 110 tackles with three interceptions, 24 passes defended, and one forced fumble.
At the NFL Scouting Combine, Yiadom clocked in at 4.52 seconds in the 40-yard dash with a 10-foot broad jump and a 20-yard shuttle time of 4.18 seconds.
"Yiadom looks long and lean, but he plays with adequate strength in disrupting routes and has the aggressiveness to challenge and muddle the catch-point," wrote NFL.com's Lance Zierlein in Yiadom's scouting report. "He's more aware than instinctive, but can handle both zone and press-man responsibilities. Yiadom's special teams value may move him ahead of similar cornerbacks in this draft. His man coverage skills need more work, but he has the talent to go from backup to starter within a couple of seasons."
Famous couple
Despite being an NFL player, Yiadom is not as famous as his girlfriend.
Yiadom is dating model Savannah Montano, who has 1.5 million Instagram followers to his 31,000. But he seems to have no problem whatsoever with the fact he might not get recognized as much as his girlfriend.
"It's funny," Yiadom told KHOU-TV in 2022. "Every time we'll be out, people will want to take pictures with her. So I just grab the camera and snap away."
