For Dre Greenlaw, it didn’t work out with the Broncos, so he’s headed back from whence he came: to the San Francisco 49ers.
The inside linebacker agreed to terms with the club that drafted him on a one-year, $7.5-million contract. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport was first to report the move.
The return to the Bay Area in the wake of the Broncos’ decision to release him comes as no surprise. After the Broncos and Greenlaw came to terms on a free-agent deal, 49ers general manager John Lynch and head coach Kyle Shanahan flew to Texas to meet with him face-to-face in an attempt to change his mind, but it was to no avail, and Greenlaw moved on to Denver, signing a three-year contract.
Last April, Shanahan said the 49ers “tried to” work out an extension with the veteran linebacker before the Broncos pounced during that year’s legal-tampering period.
“Well, we tried to,” Shanahan said then. “There’s negotiating tactics and everything.
“And you’re also — it’s not just one player at a time. You’re working 20 different things at a time. You’re trying to get a backup tackle, you’re trying to get a quarterback. You’re working on linebackers, you’re working on safeties. You’re working on all these positions, and they don’t just go in order like that. You’re negotiating with agents, and these things happen.”
But he would only play one year of the deal, seeing action in just 10 games total — eight regular-season contests and both postseason games in December.
HOW IT DIDN’T WORK OUT FOR GREENLAW
Greenlaw suffered a strained quadriceps muscle during an April workout barely a month after signing with the Broncos and missed all of the team’s on-field work in the offseason, then aggravated the injury early in training camp while covering J.K. Dobbins in a one-on-one drill.
Greenlaw didn’t finally make his regular-season debut until Week 7, then promptly incurred a one-game suspension after an incident with referee Brad Allen during a celebratory hubbub following that week’s comeback win over the New York Giants.
He would play in seven-consecutive games after returning from the suspension before suffering a hamstring injury against Jacksonville in Week 15, sidelining him for the final two regular-season contests. When Greenlaw returned for the postseason, it was as a reserve behind Justin Strnad, who started both playoff games.
Greenlaw and Strnad had a near-even split of defensive snaps in the postseason: 62 for Greenlaw, 61 for Strnad. But the Broncos opted to re-sign Strnad and Alex Singleton, of whom general manager George Paton said, “If we let those guys leave, what are we doing?”
But keeping both meant no likely starting spot for Greenlaw. And that ended up portending his release.