One of the first moves that the San Francisco 49ers made this NFL offseason was the acquisition of former longtime Seattle Seahawks star cornerback Richard Sherman on a three-year, $39 million deal. This came shortly after the Seahawks had decided to part ways with him following seven seasons.

Through much of that time, Sherman spent it being a thorn in the side of the 49ers in the NFC West divisional matchups. During a recent interview with Pro Football Talk Live with Mike Florio, general manager John Lynch stated that the team's fan base will learn to love and embrace their new cornerback.

“There’s a lot of Niners fans that didn’t know what to think because they’ve really not liked Richard Sherman,” he said. “My message to them is, I think you’ll love him now.”

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Sherman has built a reputation as being one of the most confident players in the league in his ability, and his talk has backed up his stances. Some of this came in the way of some intense matchups against the 49ers with the 29-year-old having a major impact.

The most notable one being with 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter of the 2013 NFC Championship Game where deflected pass that was intended for Michael Crabtree that was intercepted by then-teammate Malcolm Smith sealing the win. This led to one of the most rememberable postgame interviews that saw him go after Crabtree for the trash talk prior to the game. It didn't exactly endear himself to 49ers fans in the time following that as he continued to give San Francisco problems.

Now he's on the other side of things as potentially a crucial part of their secondary as possibly their top cornerback. He has a chance to become a foundational piece for the franchise in their renewed effort toward rebuilding a playoff contender this upcoming season and beyond. Only time will tell if he can prove he can still be an effective player coming off a torn Achilles tendon that could be a beloved cornerstone defensively for the 49ers to build around for the next few years.