Deommodore Lenoir reveals his Super Bowl request that the 49ers were in no position to grant
Unlike many players, Deommodore Lenoir isn’t afraid to relive the pain of Super Bowl defeat. The San Francisco 49ers cornerback revealed in an interview on ‘The Richard Sherman podcast’ that he has in fact watched the tape of their Super Bowl 58 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Even for a Super Bowl, the Niners’ […]
Unlike many players, Deommodore Lenoir isn’t afraid to relive the pain of Super Bowl defeat.
The San Francisco 49ers cornerback revealed in an interview on ‘The Richard Sherman podcast’ that he has in fact watched the tape of their Super Bowl 58 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Even for a Super Bowl, the Niners’ loss to Kansas City was particularly painful, with San Francisco coming up short in overtime having been one defensive stop away from victory.
For Lenoir, the most frustrating memory concerns his role in the game. Lenoir had played the majority of his snaps in the slot in the dramatic playoff wins over the Green Bay Packers (35) and Detroit Lions (36). However, against Kansas City, he played only two snaps in the slot, with Logan Ryan operating inside instead.
Lenoir did his utmost to try to get the 49ers to put him in the slot in the Super Bowl but, as he explained to Sherman, his pleas fell on deaf ears.
"I talked to [then defensive coordinator Steve] Wilks before the game and I was just telling them how I was feeling," Lenoir said.
"Me, I watch a lot of film, so I was just seeing where the ball was going. And I was like, 'It's mainly between the hashes, it's going to the slots.' They don't really got no dominant outside guy, so I was telling them I feel like I should be in the slot this game.
"I'd never question a coach, never question decisions or nothing. That was the only time I came to them and I said that. They have [their] philosophy and what they felt worked, what was going to work and they made that decision. I was like alright 'I'm going to just roll with it, and I'm going to try to do what I can to help us win."
The numbers suggest Wilks should have listened to Lenoir. Ryan struggled, giving up five catches on seven targets for 43 yards and a touchdown.
Sherman, who played on the 49ers team that fell victim to a fourth-quarter comeback by the Chiefs in Super Bowl 54, had some frank advice for Lenoir.
"Look, I'm going to tell you this from experience and as an old man who don't play no more, just go talk to Kyle [Shanahan]," Sherman said.
"At that point, if you get any kind of feeling in your heart, you got an inkling, just go talk to Kyle… Because I think that will move the needle next time. If you would have said that to him, you would have been playing inside in the Super Bowl and that would be the end of it."
Sherman is obviously speaking from tremendous experience as a future Hall of Famer, but it's questionable whether Shanahan would have acquiesced to a request from Lenoir.
The 49ers benched Ambry Thomas, who had been playing on the outside on nickel downs to allow Lenoir to kick inside, during the NFC Championship Game due to consistently shaky play in the postseason. Beyond Thomas, the other two options to play across from Charvarius Ward at outside corner were Samuel Womack III and Darrell Luter Jr, who would have each been picked on by the Chiefs given their inexperience.
San Francisco was in a difficult spot at corner in the Super Bowl due to a lack of depth. Playing Lenoir outside with Ryan in the slot was the safest option, even if it did not work out in hindsight. The saving grace for Lenoir is that, with the 49ers having signed two veteran corners in Isaac Yiadom and Rock Ya-Sin and spent a second-round pick on Renardo Green, he's unlikely to be in a position where the Niners won't be able to consider such a request again in the 2024 season.
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