The San Francisco 49ers may be changing the way they build their roster on the defensive side of the football.
They agreed to a five-year, $92 million contract extension with cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, which was first reported Tuesday afternoon. At the start of the season, it looked like the team's various financial obligations might force it to allow Lenoir in free agency. Veteran Charvarius Ward is playing the best football of his career and will also hit the free agent market after the 2024 season.
It wouldn't have been a surprise if the 49ers decided to let Lenoir go. During the John Lynch-Kyle Shanahan era, they didn't prioritize the secondary, preferring instead to focus their resources on building a strong pass rush.
Their defensive fronts have been disappointing in recent years, and in 2023 they were forced to make two midseason trades to find pass rush help. Instead, their secondary shined on their way to the Super Bowl, where they faced a Kansas City Chiefs defense loaded with top-notch defensive backs.
It may be that the 49ers undergo a philosophical shift on defense by investing more in the secondary and perhaps trying to build a deeper defensive front that features effective players alongside superstar defensive player Nick Bosa.
Replacing players like Dee Ford, DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead hasn't been easy, and finding players of that caliber like they did in 2019 may not be in the cards given their financial commitments and lack of top draft picks able to do this.
The Lenoir Treaty is not the only signal of possible change. The team also spent a second-round pick on Florida State CB Renardo Green in this year's draft. It's the first time they've drafted a cornerback in the Lynch-Shanahan era, and Green had a great performance as a rookie taking over the nickel CB role. While the 49ers added Leonard Floyd, Yetur Gross-Matos and Jordan Elliott as free agents, none of those players broke the budget. Even Maliek Collins was acquired with a seventh-round pick. The team placed a heavy emphasis on defensive depth and invested significant resources in the secondary defense in this year's draft with Green and fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha. They also traded safety Ji'Ayir Brown in the third round of the 2023 draft, where they didn't select until Round 3.
Maybe this is just a function of the talent available and the 49ers will return to their defensive philosophy down the road, but for now, the front-to-back defense we saw in San Francisco could become a front-to-front defense where the secondary defense is the star.
