How baller Lenoir is making his presence known at 49ers training camp

How baller Lenoir is making his presence known at 49ers training camp originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area

SANTA CLARA — The 49ers have an abundance of superstar players, but one name that continues to outshine most of them in training camp is fourth-year cornerback Deommodore Lenoir.

Lenoir was primarily a rotational corner for the first season and most of his career before gaining a more consistent role in the second half of the 2022 NFL season. The 24-year-old started all 17 games for San Francisco last season and split time between the nickel and outside corner positions.

Now entering his fourth season, Lenoir has been the talk of camp thus far and his versatility and dedication to his craft have earned him countless accolades from coaches and teammates alike.

“I think he’s been solid. I think being able to enter [and] out there, he took the next step,” defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said Sunday. “Another year of just being comfortable and being able to see it through. I’ve said in the past that it’s difficult to do this within the game, playing inside and outside.

“I think it’s clicking a lot faster. It’s like anything, time on task he continues to improve in both positions because he’s playing both positions.”

Lenoir’s talent became clear immediately after the 49ers selected him in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft, but as is the case with any young defensive back — much less someone who plays all over the field like Lenoir — the learning curve it was steep. . There were times when the excessive thinking and mental obstacles that Lenoir faced hindered his progress.

“That’s it, that’s it. Anywho, how quickly can you stop thinking about everything and get to the point where you’re anticipating and just reacting,” Sorensen added. “That’s really anyone’s main goal.”

Quarterback Brock Purdy has struggled to keep the ball out of the defense’s hands so far in training camp, and one of the culprits has hauled in an interception (a pick six) from the third-year signal-caller and continues to make his presence felt in the secondary It’s Lenoir.

“He’s a player, man. He has good instincts on the ball and understands football well,” Purdy shared. “He gets more and more reps, obviously, as his career goes on. And for us, every time we walk to the line and I see him in man coverage, I think ‘this is going to be a battle here.’ So he pushes our guys, he pushes me, I have to be precise with the ball because he’s going to be on the back of the hip really hard and he made some really good plays.”

If the 2024 NFL season started today, Lenoir’s role on paper wouldn’t change much as the starting nickel alongside outside corners Charvarius Ward and Ambry Thomas, but instead of being the rising young star who turns heads on the field San Francisco’s defensive end, Lenoir is now an established veteran presence and could make the leap to one of the best overall defenses in the league this season.

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