Robert Saleh reveals how the 49ers will cover Jaxon Smith-Njigba

This is fascinating.

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Everyone knows the Seahawks have one great receiver -- Jaxon Smith-Njigba. He might be the best receiver in the NFL.

Other than him, the Seahawks have Cooper Kupp, who's old and needs to retire, and A.J. Barner, a solid tight end who scares no one.

So, after the 49ers beat the Bears on Sunday night, when a reporter asked Deommodore Lenoir in the locker room if he's looking forward to the matchup with the Seahawks, Lenoir immediately called out Smith-Njigba.

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"Hopefully, I'll get to shadow JSN," Lenoir said. "I'm ready for this. I hope he's ready. Man-to-man coverage, me and him. That's what I want. Me and him."

Of course. What an obvious strategy. Put the 49ers' best cornerback on the Seahawks' best wide receiver and live with the results.

Unfortunately for Lenoir, the 49ers never have used him this way. All season, he has played just one position, and that's left cornerback. He hasn't lined up in the slot once under defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

So on Wednesday, I asked Saleh to explain the strengths and weaknesses of asking one cornerback to shadow a receiver and cover him no matter where he lines up.

“That's a good question," Saleh said with a smile, eager to teach. "All right. We can go long on this one, but the reality is it's easy for the guy who travels, right? I got that guy. I'm going to travel wherever I want. But, we're a zone-based defense, right? So, if it was man coverage, easy for him, but then it is a little bit more difficult for the other guys. Like, how does everybody else align? Do you go match where everyone just picks a number? What if that number's not on the field? Do you pick a different number? Or is it, alright, we're all going to align off of DMo?

"And what if DMo’s in the slot? Does that put the nickel out on number one where he's not used to being? So, techniques change within your man principles because now you're in different locations.

"Alright, now put yourself in zone. You're trying to match up where he is and you're matching up now DMo’s in the slot. Does that mean [CB] Upton's [Stout] now playing corner third, which he hasn't done all year? And so, there are a lot of new techniques that you're going to ask a guy to do. It's very expensive, not for the guy traveling, but for the guys not traveling, if that makes sense. Now, can it be done? Of course it can be done. Do we have it in our inventory? Absolutely. Can we? Maybe. So, we'll see.”

What an eloquent answer. Essentially, Saleh is saying that the defense mostly plays zone coverage, so their defensive backs don't shadow anyone. And when they do play man-to-man coverage, moving Lenoir to the slot would make life difficult for nickelback Upton Stout, who would have to play outside cornerback, a position he's too short to play.

In addition, it sounds like Saleh has confidence in Stout to hold his own against Smith-Njigba. In fact, it sounds like Saleh might be more confident in Stout than Lenoir. For what it's worth, Lenoir has given up five touchdown catches this season while Stout has given up only one.

If Stout can't handle Smith-Njigba man-to-man, Saleh always can bench him on third downs, move Lenoir to the slot and play Darrell Luter Jr. outside along with Renardo Green. That's what Pete Carroll used to do against the 49ers when they had Anquan Boldin. On first and second down, Carroll would play zone coverage. But on third down, he'd call man-to-man, and Richard Sherman would move to the slot to cover Boldin. And this worked well for Seattle.

Keep in mind, Saleh coached under Carroll in Seattle from 2011 to 2013. He was on the staff that decided to shadow Boldin with Sherman man-to-man on third downs. He could make the same decision this Saturday with Smith-Njigba.

It's fair to say that Saleh doesn't want us to know his plan.