One young San Francisco 49ers player I'm excited about is cornerback Dontae Johnson. I thought Johnson, like Jimmie Ward, was thrown into the fire as a rookie and the immediate results were relatively disastrous. But unlike Ward, who showed no real progression throughout the season, I thought Johnson primarily improved from week to week, especially when the 49ers used him outside.
I'm not sure Johnson is any good at all from the nickel, but he was solid outside and given the fact that he probably didn't expect to play much at all as a rookie, I thought he did quite well.