In the offseason, the San Francisco 49ers had to part ways with one of the team's biggest pieces on the team's defense: all-Pro Fred Warner's running mate at inside linebacker, Dre Greenlaw.
It came after Greenlaw's torn Achilles injury in Super Bowl LVIII hampered most of his campaign last year, and he played in only two games before suffering a calf injury that ended his 2025 season.
Despite an 11th-hour attempt to retain him, the Niners ultimately lost Greenlaw in free agency to the Denver Broncos.
Losing his production was always going to be difficult to replicate, let alone replace. His goal-line stand against the Seattle Seahawks in the 2019 season finale was what helped the 49ers secure the No. 1 playoff seed. He had a team-leading 17 tackles in the 2023 playoffs, had a game-sealing interception in the 2024 NFC divisional round against the Green Bay Packers, and was a huge driving force on defense since being drafted in 2019.
But, the 49ers may have found their answer with third-year linebacker Dee Winters.
Dee Winters is admirably filling Dre Greenlaw's shoes for 49ers
The TCU product has progressively improved since being drafted by San Francisco on day three of the 2023 draft.
Against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1 last Sunday, he truly showed out. He had six total tackles (five solo) and had a career-high two tackles for a loss. And looking at the analytics, according to Pro Football Focus, Winters was one of the best players for the 49ers. Winters had the third-highest overall defensive grade at 76.7. He also had the second-highest tackle grade (81.1), the sixth-highest pass rushing grade (62.2), and the highest pass coverage grade (90.3) on the team.
Not only did Winters have the best coverage grade for the Niners, but he also had the best coverage grade out of all the defensive players.
A lot of what the 49ers lost with Greenlaw heading to the Broncos was his sideline-to-sideline tackling and his ability to cover. If Winters can continue to play up to the same standard he did against Seattle, he will get closer to the type of production Greenlaw gave to San Francisco for many years.
Winters will likely still split some of the snaps with fellow WILL linebacker Luke Gifford who had a strong game as well, including being a more reliable run defender with a PFF grade of 69.0.
But if defensive coordinator Robert Saleh can continue to look at ways to replicate close to the type of play Greenlaw put together, the 49ers will be in a much better situation moving forward.