NFL penalizes 49ers Dee Winters and Deommodore Lenoir for missed infractions in Seahawks playoff win

The NFL dropped the hammer on the San Francisco 49ers after their messy divisional-round loss to the Seattle Seahawks. Adding fuel to the fire, the NFL fined LB Dee Winters and CB Deommodore Lenoir for separate on-field violations during the blowout defeat. The announcement capped a brutal weekend for San Francisco, turning a forgettable playoff exit into a costly lesson on discipline and how fast mistakes ruin January football.

NFL hands down fines Dee Winters and Deommodore Lenoir after Seahawks rout

The punishment stems from a game the 49ers would erase if they could. Seattle dominated from the opening kickoff, cruising to a 41–6 win that exposed San Francisco on both sides of the ball. According to Newsweek, the NFL released its weekly fines report on Jan. 24, confirming that Winters and Lenoir were each penalized for plays in the third quarter.

Winters was fined $5,907 for a hip-drop tackle at the 4:01 mark. The league has made that technique a point of emphasize, viewing it as a safety risk that can trap ball carriers' legs under a defender's weight. Lenoir's punishment was far steeper. He was docked $20,944 for the use of a helmet after head-butting Seahawks wide receiver Jaxson Smith-Njigba at the 10:05 mark of the same quarter.

Per the NFL norms, a hip-drop tackle is when a player "grabs the runner with one or both hands or wraps the runner with both arms" and then "unweights himself by swivelling and dropping his hips and/or lower body, landing on and/or trapping the runner's leg(s) at or below the knee."

After the game, Deommoddore Lenoir said, "To have those guys, [it would have been] a totally different game. But I mean we can't make no excuses. We had enough guys in here to get the job done."

Those brief descriptions carried real financial weight. For Winters, the fine came despite a productive outing. He led the team with nine tackles, added three tackles for loss, recorded a QB hit, and allowed 26 yards on three receptions in coverage. Lenoir, meanwhile, had a solid coverage day statistically, surrendering just one catch for four yards on two targets, per Pro Football Focus.

Still, numbers couldn't mask the larger story. The 49ers had only 236 total yards and 3 turnovers. Brock Purdy threw for 140 yards with an interception. Christian McCaffrey was bottled up all night. In that matter, the fines symbolized a loss of control as much as individual errors.

For the 49ers, the NFL decision closed the book on a season-ending collapse. The fines won't change the results, but they underline how slim the margin is in the playoffs, and how fast frustration can turn expensive when discipline slips.


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