The San Francisco 49ers have had things easy for the past couple seasons, and that ends soon.
With standout quarterback Brock Purdy on the cheapest of all rookie contracts, the 49ers have had the luxury of paying for superstars while still possessing ample cap space to make in-season moves. It’s the ultimate market inefficiency, and it’s helped the 49ers stay contenders in the NFC all the while.
This winter, though, Purdy is up for an extension, and quarterbacks are regularly signing for $50 million or more per season. That could put a huge strain on the payroll, and some of the 49ers’ most valuable players could bolt for other teams in free agency as a result.
Deommodore Lenoir is one of those players, as the 25-year-old budding star cornerback is in the final year of his rookie contract. Bleacher Report’s NFL Scouting Department predicted that Lenoir would sign with the Indianapolis Colts this spring as a first-time free agent.
“If Jaylon Jones and Samuel Womack continue to prove themselves, then the Colts won’t have to target a top-tier cornerback in free agency. For now, it remains a move that should be on the table. Deommodore Lenoir has become a lockdown corner over the course of his rookie contract in San Francisco,” the authors said.
“The Niners are already paying a lot of players at the top of their market. Re-signing Lenoir is going to be difficult. If the Colts could add him to their young cornerback group they wouldn’t have to worry about the position for a while.”
The 49ers seem somewhat resigned to losing 2023 All-Pro corner Charvarius Ward in free agency, so they’d likely be devastated by the loss of Lenoir. The fourth-year corner Lenoir has outplayed Ward to this point in the season and looks like a candidate to keep breaking out.
The market will likely decide whether Lenoir stays or goes. If a team like the Colts is willing to overpay for the chance to nab him from San Francisco, that could spell trouble. But the 49ers will certainly have something to say about the chance Lenoir walks away for good.
More NFL: 49ers predicted to trade for $4 million ex-Super Bowl champion from Titans
