Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00And all right, River Island's guest line, let's welcome him in.
00:02Very, very much appreciate you giving us a call.
00:05D'Amador Lenore, star cornerback for the Niners.
00:10D'Amador, thanks for coming on.
00:11Demo, how you doing?
00:12I'm doing good.
00:13Thank you for having me.
00:14No, thanks for doing it.
00:16Where were you today, man?
00:17How come you're not out there right now?
00:19I have to get my body right.
00:23Body maintenance.
00:25Body maintenance.
00:26I like it.
00:26Yeah, what's going on?
00:28How are you feeling?
00:28What are you working on?
00:30I'm feeling good.
00:32Just one of the vet days, you know.
00:36Those are good days.
00:38Rewarded.
00:38Rewarded in that day.
00:40Yeah.
00:41Yeah, you got to love the vet days.
00:42And now that you're kind of in that vet spot where, you know, you and Renardo Green starting corners,
00:49you're kind of the dude now.
00:50Does that put a little extra pressure on you going into the season?
00:54Not at all.
00:55I feel like the only pressure I ever had was just to make the team when I first got here.
01:02I feel like after that, I didn't, you know, build the confidence within myself to believe I can do it every year consistently.
01:12Timo, I wonder, because this is a question that obviously Brock got a lot over the last month,
01:20which is now that you've got the contract secured, how does it kind of change your approach on the field?
01:26And I get the answer, which is, no, nothing's going to change.
01:29But at the same time, these are life-changing contracts that you guys have achieved.
01:35So how does that sort of adjust the motivation that you bring out to that field every day now that you've got that in the rearview mirror?
01:44I mean, I feel like it's just an even bigger chip, you know, within just being paid so much money.
01:53I feel like this is kind of like you've got to prove yourself.
01:57Like, you still have to prove yourself.
01:59You've got to prove why you're worth that much.
02:02So I feel like it's still, like, kind of a chip on my shoulder.
02:05Yeah, and I've got a new coordinator in town, Robert Sala, who left right before you came to the 49ers.
02:12What have you heard from the guys who were here before about the system?
02:15And what do you like about what coaches bring into the defense?
02:20Really the energy.
02:22The energy you bring, you know, just trusting us and trusting the back end, you know,
02:27because there's not a lot of guys on the defense right now that have played together
02:32and, you know, built that camaraderie, but him trusting in us and believing in us
02:37that we can work together and, you know, get the job done is just, you know, a blessing for us.
02:43Diamino Lenore is joining us here on Willard and Dibs.
02:47Demo, I also wonder, with Charverius moving on,
02:50what is that sort of set up for you in terms of how the DB room kind of works?
02:57Does your role change a little bit?
02:58Do you take on more responsibility?
03:00Yeah, I feel like I take on more responsibility, you know, being a guy that's been played
03:07and had more experience.
03:09I feel like I'd have to take that leadership role on and be, you know, the spokesman for the group,
03:16you know, or just be that vocal person whenever something is going wrong
03:21or something needs to be said.
03:23Mooney would be a guy who at times would travel on defense and, you know,
03:27match up with the best wide receiver on the other team.
03:30Is that something that you prefer to do when you're in man coverage
03:33or are you more of a I want to play my side kind of corner?
03:38I feel like I'm at my best when I'm playing against their best.
03:43So I feel like if I'm able to do that, I would love to do that.
03:47Kind of a bummer that DK Metcalf is gone, though, huh?
03:53Yeah, I'm sad about that.
03:58Who's your guy in the division now that you're kind of like, you're going to circle that guy?
04:05I don't really got no guy that's circled.
04:07I think they should have me circled.
04:09I like that answer.
04:10They probably will.
04:11I mean, well, what about when you're playing the Rams?
04:16Devontae or Puka?
04:17Whichever one was hot at the time.
04:23Is there any wide receiver that, you know, comes out and talks trash in the division
04:28or maybe in the NFL or somebody that you kind of think about that you want to go at?
04:33I'm just thinking about Marvin Harrison Jr., the youngster out of Arizona
04:36and other young receivers that you're going to face.
04:38Is there any receiver out there that you think tries to come at you verbally?
04:45I haven't met him yet.
04:48Yeah?
04:50Hey, Demo, Robert Sala was interesting today with regard to talking.
04:55He was asked about Kyle Shanahan, and he was kind of talking about how honest Kyle Shanahan is
05:02with all of you people in the building.
05:04I got a couple of Shanahan questions.
05:06Here's the first one.
05:07Do you believe that there's sort of a misperception about him in the public?
05:14Like, you know, is there a difference between the way maybe the fans see him versus the way you guys see him?
05:20I feel like everybody love him.
05:24I haven't seen nothing that said anything bad about him or heard any teammates talk bad about him, you know.
05:31So, he's all good with us and good in my eyes.
05:35Well, great in my eyes.
05:36So, I don't know where that, like, I don't know if anybody ever say anything bad about him.
05:43I never heard it or never seen it.
05:45Well, yeah.
05:46He probably didn't see me on Twitter saying something.
05:49Well, yeah, I mean, fans, I mean, as always, right, fans have what they're going to say,
05:55and until you get over the top and win a ring, they're going to have opinions about that.
06:00But Salah said he's elite with his honest communication.
06:04What is the most honest he's ever been with you?
06:10When I asked him how would he attack me in practice, not in practice,
06:16but I said if he was a coordinator and he was a game planner for me, I asked him this last season.
06:23I said, how would you attack me?
06:25And his answer, I mean, his answers was very honest.
06:29So, I respected that, and then I worked on that.
06:33And then I knew he was serious because he tried it in practice.
06:36So, then I was like, oh, yeah, that's what he really felt.
06:39So, then I worked on that, and then I came back better.
06:42What was it he said?
06:43What were the specifics of what he said?
06:46I can't really disclose, though, because it's kind of, it's probably a weakness.
06:51You know, he's a genius, so he might give somebody some game.
06:54Yeah, and if you put it out on the radio, I'm sure the other 31 head coaches are listening
06:58because our show is...
06:59Oh, yeah, for sure.
07:00I mean, our show is that popular.
07:01Anything about the Niners, they listen.
07:02Yeah, no doubt, especially here on Willard and Divs,
07:05the Amiro Lenore here on 95.7 The Game.
07:07So, between last year and this year, what were the things that you worked on,
07:12and how much did you carry last year's disappointment into the offseason
07:16to make you work even harder to get back to where you were two years ago?
07:19Just being here for the past five years, we always carried ourselves with a certain standard,
07:29and just our record alone was just not the standard of what we normally used to.
07:35So, ever since I've been here, we've been in the playoffs, a championship game, and a Super Bowl.
07:44So, that's what the standard was.
07:47Like, we're not missing the playoffs.
07:49Like, that's rule number one.
07:51And for us to do that last year, it was just like a sickening feeling.
07:56Like, I felt like we let each other down.
08:00You know, we're just not holding that standard.
08:03D-Mo, you know what's interesting about that is Trent Williams said yesterday,
08:08just kind of based on the energy of minicamp,
08:11there's no way you would guess that this was a 6-11 team last year.
08:17Do you agree with that?
08:18How do you see it?
08:20I wholeheartedly agree with that.
08:22I was talking with Coach Bullock the other day at practice,
08:29and I was telling him I was proud of, like, our group.
08:33You know, how far we came with, you know, guys like Luter, Jalen Mahoney, Chase Lucas,
08:40like practice squad guys that had bought in and, you know, learned how we do things here
08:48and just, you know, just been excelling and always getting better.
08:51So, OTAs and minicamp are in the rearview mirror, and you've got about five or six weeks until actual training camp.
08:59So, what does D-Mo do between now and then?
09:02Is there a little vacation, or is it just all work for you?
09:06I'm just really sharpening my tools, you know, I'm going in to play corner and to be the CB1,
09:15and I've got to play 60 minutes, you know, combative football, and I've got to be ready and prepared.
09:23D-Mo, before you go, Pro Football Focus ranked you as the 23rd best cornerback in the league.
09:31What is your reaction to that?
09:34It was funny.
09:36I mean, you know, to say that, when I ain't gave up a touchdown in three years, like, it's crazy.
09:43But, like, the rankings really don't matter to me because I was drafted in the fifth round,
09:49so I was already ranked.
09:50I was already ranked lower than everybody, so that really don't matter.
09:57It's just about who show up on Sunday, and I'm betting on myself again that I'm going to show up every Sunday,
10:06and we're going to revisit this 23rd ranking or whatever they said,
10:13and we're just going to see who get the last last.
10:15So what if instead of going to PFF.com for the rankings, we went to D'AmadorLenor.com?
10:23What would the ranking be there?
10:27I'm sorry, I can't hear you.
10:29Like, what would your ranking be for you?
10:33For me?
10:34Yeah.
10:35One, no doubt.
10:36Okay.
10:37Yeah.
10:38No doubt.
10:39May have to change that uniform number from two to one, am I right?
10:45Something.
10:45You got it, D.
10:50Demo, thanks so much for hopping on for a few minutes.
10:53We're looking forward to seeing you in about a month or so.
10:57Yes, sir.
10:58Appreciate you.
10:59All right.
10:59There it is.
11:00Demo.
11:00D'Amador Lenore on Withered and Dibs.
11:03See you in 1 to us.
11:06We're looking forward to seeing you in about a month.
11:13Here you can see you in about a month.
11:15I'm on an month.
11:19We're looking forward to seeing you in about an hour.