There weren’t many 49ers who didn’t feel the impact of Kobe Bryant’s death in a helicopter accident on Sunday. Cornerback Richard Sherman, a Southern California native, was friends with Bryant and spoke candidly about coping with the loss ahead of Super Bowl LIV.
Sherman told reporters during Super Bowl Opening Night that he’s using things he learned from Bryant to prop himself up going into the game, rather than letting sadness take over.
“I just know how he would’ve wanted me to take this and to react – especially in this moment and this game,” Sherman said. “I was really sad yesterday, and I was sad this morning and I was kind of down, I was in the dumps. And then I just thought about what he would tell me. He would tell me to stop being a baby and man up and play it, and do it in his honor and win this game for him and that’s what we’re gonna try to do. I’m gonna go out there and try to play some dominating ball just like he wanted. The Mamba Mentality still lives on.”
Bryant explained the Mamba Mentality in a 2016 visit to the Philippines.
“To sum up what Mamba Mentality is, it means to be able to constantly try to be the best version of yourself,” he said. “It’s a constant quest to try to better today than you were yesterday.”
That’s not something new for Sherman, and whether explicit or not, it’s how he’s appeared to approach football since he entered the NFL as a fifth-round draft pick in 2011. Since then he’s earned three First-Team All-Pro nods, five Pro Bowls, a Super Bowl ring and a likely ticket to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Sherman, like Bryant, found a career even after a devastating Achilles injury. That’s something that can end a career, but Sherman and Bryant both bounced back to put together productive years after their Achilles tears. The 49ers’ cornerback called that the biggest Mamba Mentality moment of his career.
“I guess the biggest Mamba Mentality moment of my career was getting up from a torn Achilles and walking off the field,” Sherman said. “I saw him do it. I saw him make two free throws and walk off with a torn Achilles. And once I tore mine, I knew I had to walk off. Like he said before, ‘we’re different animals, but the same beast.’ We’re built of a lot of the same stuff and I had to get up and walk that off.”
Sherman recovered from that Achilles tear to put together a strong 2018 the following year, then earn a Second-Team All-Pro nod in 2019 while allowing the lowest passer rating against in the NFL.
The bond between Sherman and Bryant goes deeper than their on-field or on-court exploits though, and that shows in the way Sherman plans on stepping his game up Sunday despite the loss of a friend.
“He’s a tremendous idol,” Sherman said. “There’s not enough praise I can give him.”