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This offseason, the San Francisco 49ers decided to bring in veterans who can help them win a Super Bowl during the 2026 NFL season. Mike Evans, Christian Kirk, and the return of Dre Greenlaw are expected to make an impact right away for the Niners.
Greenlaw finished the 2025 season with a 74.8 overall PFF defensive grade for the Denver Broncos, placing him 19th among 88 qualified linebackers. His coverage grade of 67.1 also ranked 19th, while his run-defense grade of 82.3 was 13th at the position — his pass-rush grade of 50.6 ranked near the bottom, 79th among his peers.
In 324 snaps, Greenlaw recorded 25 solo tackles and generated three total pressures, including one sack as a blitzer. When targeted in coverage, he allowed an 80.6 passer rating and was charged with four missed tackles over the season.
Now that he’s back for a second stint, Greenlaw spoke about why returning to San Francisco made sense for him at this point in his career.
“It’s the relationships that I built in that building, from top to bottom, with the Yorks, with John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan,” Greenlaw said during an appearance on the March 30 edition of The Set with Terron Armstead.
“It really sucked to have to go through the offseason and what had gone down, because the whole year I was listening to my son go, ’49ers Faithful, ride with me,’ and he’d be like, ‘Put the 49ers song on!’ And I’m like, ‘Man, you gotta cut that off. I’m over here playing for the Broncos and you’re over here wanting to listen to the 49ers song.’”
Dre Greenlaw Talks Reuniting with Fred Warner
Moreover, Greenlaw spoke about reuniting with Fred Warner to be the 49ers’ linebacker duo again for the 2026 season.
“There’s just a certain feeling we got when we play— it’s not for each other, but when we look across and we see each other, you dang right it’s for each other,” Greenlaw added. “You not going to let me down and I’m not going to let you down. It’s such a weird connection. He knows I’m going to put all I got on the line and I know he’s going to do the same. That’s all you can ask for. It’s like a partner in crime.”
Greenlaw has 455 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, two fumble recoveries, and three interceptions in 64 games during his first stint with the 49ers, per StatMuse.
49ers Cannot Afford to Sign Another High Price Veteran
As far as adding another veteran on defense, that might not happen at least not an expensive one like free agent pass rusher Joey Bosa. While seeing the older Bosa play with his younger brother, Nick Bosa, would be interesting, 49ers general manager John Lynch put cold water on that speculation.
“I know that would make Mama Bosa happy, but I don’t know if we can afford him,” Lynch said (h/t David Lombardi of the SF Standard).
Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see whether San Francisco makes another move for a veteran player who fits within its budget to improve the team that is eyeing a championship after seeing their NFC West rival, the Seattle Seahawks, win one last season.
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
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