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Deommodore Lenoir is the MVP of 49ers Training Camp

Lenoir has intercepted Brock Purdy a whopping five times.

Grant Cohn

Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) holds onto the ball after breaking up a pass attempt against the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) holds onto the ball after breaking up a pass attempt against the Seattle Seahawks in the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports
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Through 17 days, the MVP of 49ers training camp has been cornerback Deommodore Lenoir and it's not particularly close.

Lenoir has intercepted Brock Purdy a whopping five times including once on Friday. In addition, Lenoir has broken up three other Purdy passes. So if there's one thing Purdy has learned in camp, it's that throwing at Lenoir almost always is a bad idea.

Lenoir is on the smaller side for a cornerback -- he's 5'10". So even when his coverage is tight, which it usually is, quarterbacks still want to test him because bigger wide receivers can make catches over his head.

Which means the best-case scenario when you throw at Lenoir is the receiver will make a difficult, contested catch. The worst-case scenario is Lenoir will intercept the pass. So the risk greatly outweighs the reward.

At this point in Lenoir's career, he's so confident that it seems as though he's trying to bait Purdy into throwing his direction just so he can pick him off. And Purdy keeps taking the bait. Which means Lenoir is the real deal, because so is Purdy.

Lenoir will be a free agent next offseason and is eligible for a contract extension right now. I'm sure the 49ers would love to extend his contract, but can't because they have to deal with Brandon Aiyuk and Trent Williams who each want more money. Which means Lenoir most likely is entering his final season with the 49ers.

If training camp is any indication, it's going to be a good one.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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