With Charvarius Ward leaving the San Francisco 49ers after three seasons to join the Indianapolis Colts, Deommodore Lenoir was tasked with becoming the team's top cornerback coming into this 2025 season, and the fifth-year veteran has done a solid job in that role thus far.
Lenoir, who finally put an end to the Niners' NFL record 14-game drought of interception-free football with a pick against the Houston Texans this past Sunday, albeit in a loss, has been so strong that the Analytics Team at NFL Next Gen Stats has named the 26-year-old as the fifth-best shutdown cornerback in the entire league behind only reigning Defensive Player of the Year Patrick Surtain II (Broncos), Trent McDuffie (Chiefs), Quinyon Mitchell (Eagles), and Sauce Gardner (Jets).
That's some pretty solid company right there.
Now, when looking solely simple stats, some may not think Lenoir belongs in such an elite group, as his 2025 totals include just 21 solo tackles, three passes defended, and the aforementioned interception. But shutdown corners simply can't be defined by simple stats, as the whole point of being a shutdown corner is scaring quarterbacks away from ever throwing the ball in your direction.
As such, NFL Next Gen Stats and AWS came up with a set of metrics that they call Coverage Responsibility, which they say most accurately identifies "which players are truly taking receivers out of the game on a snap-by-snap basis" and tracks the "quiet wins that never show up in the box score."
Here's what they had to say about Lenoir, and as you'll see, they included plenty of pertinent stats to warrant his inclusion:
"Lenoir crafted his “Hyena” nickname to stand out as unique among his NFL peers, but contrary to his moniker, he has quietly dominated receivers with effective play. This season, he has allowed the second-fewest yards per coverage snap (0.5) among cornerbacks with 100+ coverage snaps and has spent the seventh-most time in tight coverage (109.3 seconds). On 10 targets beyond 16 air yards, Lenoir has not allowed a single completion.
"His 11.6% target rate this season is the 12th-lowest among 104 cornerbacks with 100+ coverage snaps, a stark change from 2024, when his 18.4% target rate well exceeded the position average (15.1%). Lenoir frequently played the nickel position that season. However, since the start of 2024, Lenoir has allowed only one touchdown on 124 targets. No other cornerback targeted 120+ times has allowed fewer than four scores in that span, and his 5.6 yards per target is also the fewest among that high-volume group."
Yep, that's a shutdown cornerback alright.
Lenoir will next look to scare off Jaxson Dart from throwing the ball his way when the 49ers look to get back on the winning track this Sunday when they visit the New York Giants.