According to one NFL insider, the San Francisco 49ers can count on losing outside linebacker Dre Greenlaw once free agency begins this week.
Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated predicts Greenlaw will be offered a one-year take it or leave it deal from the team, but stands to be offered much more on the open market. Greenlaw is also coming back from an Achilles Tendon injury, but he is sufficiently rehabilitated and teams will be making offers with guaranteed money.
"The San Francisco 49ers would like to keep Dre Greenlaw-but there's some doubt they'll be able to since he played well enough in limited action coming back from a torn Achilles to drum up a real market," writes Breer.
Greenlaw is still a very good football player. He is fresh as he did not play a lot of downs last season due to the injury. Whatever team he goes to will be getting a good football player.
"Among the available linebackers, he has a pretty solid skill set, and is still just 27 years old coming off his second contract," Breer said. "He should land right around what Derrick Barnes got (three years, $25.5 million) in Detroit."
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Coming into the offseason, outside linebacker is one of the weakest positions on the 49ers as they only have Dee Winters coming back who has 54 career tackles. It would be nice to get Greenlaw back, but he is going to be offered more money on the open market than he will by the Bay.
San Francisco will almost certainly look to add another two outside linebackers this offseason. They will probably obtain both via the college route due to the fact rookies are less expensive than seasoned veterans. The 49ers are operating on a tight cap space and will not be active in free agency,
Further, it has been proven defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has a knack for drafting quality linebacker prospects. He's the one who selected Greenlaw in the first place.
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This story was originally published March 9, 2025 at 4:09 PM.