Richard Sherman is one of eight San Francisco 49ers players with Super Bowl experience, according to NFL Network. That means most of the players on the team's young roster have never played in a game as important as the one they are about to play. Some question the 49ers' inexperience headed into Super Bowl LIV against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sherman is not one of those individuals.
The 49ers' veteran cornerback already knows what it means to win a championship and what it means to fall just short of one. Super Bowl experience is overvalued, in his opinion.
"It's overrated," Sherman responded on Friday when asked if Super Bowl experience is an asset for a player. "Before I won a Super Bowl, we didn't have any experience, and we won the game (Super Bowl XLVIII against the Denver Broncos) 43-8. Did it make a difference? To guys, it's a football game."
That last comment is noteworthy because that's what Super Bowl LIV is to this 49ers squad — just another game. The team treats every matchup as a must-win opportunity. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has worked this week to make sure his players don't treat the Super Bowl as the event and spectacle that it is.
"You've got to focus on the task at hand because once you get down there, it's hectic," Shanahan said earlier this week. "Everyone wants to be taken care of and stuff, but we've got a job to do, and that's what we're going to do. We're going in there to play in the Super Bowl, which is a very important football game. For us, we can't get caught up in an event. This is just a game."
Sherman insists that nothing about this game is different — aside from the attention it attracts. The field is the same size, and the rules are the same as the 49ers' previous 18 games.
Sherman's last visit to the Super Bowl resulted in disappointment, but that doesn't mean he feels there is some unfinished business.
"I don't think about the last time very much," Sherman said. "This is an entirely different team, different organization. I look forward to another opportunity to go chase that trophy, and I think we have a great [opportunity]."