The 49ers Should Extend Deommodore Lenoir's Contract Now

He has been in the NFL three years, which means the 49ers could extend his contract today if they wanted to. And they should want to, because next year Lenoir will be a free agent, and his price tag could be much more expensive by then.

Grant Cohn | Apr 2, 2024

Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers cornerback Deommodore Lenoir (2) / Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

Brandon Aiyuk isn't the only player on the 49ers who's eligible for a contract extension this offseason.

Deommodore Lenoir also is eligible for an extension. He has been in the NFL three years, which means the 49ers could extend his contract today if they wanted to. And they should want to, because next year Lenoir will be a free agent, and his price tag could be much more expensive by then.

Lenoir is just 24-years old. The 49ers picked him in Round 5 of the 2021 NFL Draft, and he has improved each year he has been in the NFL. As a rookie in 2021, he started two games, gave up a quarterback rating of 125.4 and got benched. But in 2022, he started 13 games, gave up a quarterback rating of 91.2 and and played exceptionally well in the playoffs. Then in 2023, he started all 17 games and gave up a quarterback rating of just 75.2. Stock up.

I'm not saying Lenoir is an elite no. 1 cornerback, because he's not. But he is one of the best no. 2 cornerbacks in the NFL. He can play outside and in the slot, he's an excellent tackler and he intercepts passes. Last season, he intercepted three.

If the 49ers extend Lenoir right now, they probably can afford to keep him. If they wait another year and he continues to improve as he probably will, it's likely he'll price himself out of town, considering the 49ers will have to extend Brock Purdy's contract next year, too.

Don't wait.

Published Apr 2, 2024

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.