The 49ers unsurprisingly landed atop Pro Football Focus’ rankings of the NFL’s best linebacker units. Fred Warner leads the way for that group, but it’s the two players alongside him that help elevate San Francisco’s LB corps above the rest of the league. Things might only be getting better for San Francisco, too.
Warner spearheads that group and may be the best off-ball linebacker in the NFL thanks to his high football IQ, athleticism and ability to control the middle of the field in coverage. He may not get discernibly better, but his dominance figures to continue as he enters his mid-20s. As long as he’s in red and gold the 49ers will have a good group of linebackers.
What’s happening on either side of him is fascinating though. Both Dre Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair have emerged over the last two years as potential Pro Bowl caliber players.
In 2019 it was Greenlaw who shined with Kwon Alexander out for roughly half the year. Last season it was Al-Shaair who stepped into a larger role when Greenlaw went down with a groin injury in Week 1.
Their games are different, but they both offer the athleticism required to be an every-down linebacker in the modern NFL. They’re also in a spot to take a leap with unrestricted free agency looming for both in 2023.
Greenlaw since he landed the Will linebacker role where he’s virtually an every-down player has turned into a key cog in the 49ers’ second level. The 2019 fifth-round pick from Arkansas in limited action last year had his best season in coverage and didn’t miss a tackle from Week 18 through the postseason after missing four in his other two regular season games per PFF. Quarterbacks last season also posted a passer rating of just 60.2 when targeting Greenlaw.
When Greenlaw was out, Al-Shaair stepped in and played his first significant defensive role since joining the 49ers as an undrafted rookie in 2019. He was up-and-down all last year from play-to-play and game-to-game. The good news for Al-Shaair and the 49ers is a lot of his mistakes (including 14 missed tackles) came as a product of either inexperience or over-aggressiveness. He flies to the football and plays with a ton of energy. If he can rein that in some and turn some of those mistakes into positive reps, he’ll round out what would prove to really be the best starting LB trio in the NFL.