On Friday, March 28th, 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was arrested in San Jose, California on felony hit-and-run, weapons possession, misdemeanor hit-and-run, and driving with a suspended license. Police received a call shortly after 10 a.m. local time after a bicyclist was hit by a car and fled the scene. A witness who saw the accident followed Culliver and was able to block him off in a nearby neighborhood. According to the reports, that is when Culliver exited his vehicle and threatened the witness with brass knuckles. While leaving that area, he hit the witness’ car as well. Culliver was arrested later that day without incident and a search of his vehicle revealed a set of brass knuckles.

So what does this mean for the cornerback who missed all of the 2013 season with a torn ACL and who is best known outside of the 49er fan base for his controversial comments before Super Bowl XLVII, when he said he wouldn’t accept an openly gay teammate? Right now the 49ers are thin at the cornerback position, even assuming Culliver is completely healthy and back to his old form. Do the 49ers cut him and have Tramaine Brock and Eric Wright as their starting cornerbacks right now? Culliver has one more year before he becomes a free agent and what will likely happen is the 49ers will keep him on a short leash for his remaining year and see how he does. If he slips again, he will probably be gone. Even if he stays straight, I don’t know if they decide to re-sign him. He is a solid player but he’s certainly not transcendent and might not be worth the headache to them.

Before Culliver’s arrest the cornerback position was already one of the biggest needs the 49ers had. After his arrest it might be the single biggest need they have. With six picks in the first 100 in this year’s draft, the 49ers have a lot of options and can move up in a lot of different places. Before this arrest, I think they may have been looking for a cornerback who could take a year or two to develop into a solid starter. With Culliver’s status being so up in the air, I think they may want to move up and take a guy they know can start this year. This would give them a lot more freedom at the position.

One of their other big needs is a safety. I don’t think there is a ton of value at that position in the first round of this year’s draft so I don’t see them taking a safety in the first round. They can afford to wait until the second or third rounds to get the guy they want and even if he’s more of a project than they’d like, they acquired Antoine Bethea during free agency and he would be able to at least keep the seat warm for a year or two.

A third big need for them is at wide receiver. But this draft is incredibly deep at that position and you can find great value in almost any round so I don’t see them taking one in the first round.

Again, that leaves cornerback. Before Culliver got arrested I don’t think they would’ve been too concerned about taking one in the first but now I think they take one because of need and also for insurance. This arrest shows awful judgement on Culliver’s part and the 49ers organization can’t be too confident in him staying out of trouble and can’t plan their future around someone who continually makes poor choices. This draft will most likely tell us exactly how the 49ers feel about Chris Culliver moving forward.