The tea leaves were clear all along, and linebacker Dre Greenlaw did leave the San Francisco 49ers in free agency. However, as expected based on reporting that was out there and the details of his three-year, $31 million contract with the Denver Broncos, his departure was about more than money.
In theory, the Niners could have kept him on what's a one-year, $11.5 million deal as a practical matter.
During an appearance on a Denver radio station, ESPN's Adam Schefter noted how San Francisco tried to keep Greenlaw even after he had agreed to a deal with the Broncos. Ethical protocol might say you don't pursue a player when he has an agreement in place with another team and it's been reported, but perhaps the 49ers had good reason to not give up on trying to keep Greenlaw.
That effort to keep Greenlaw went all the way to the very bitter end, and he rejected that final overture.
We now know the extent of the Niners' effort, which was clearly too-little, too-late, to keep Greenlaw.
Full extent of 49ers' late effort to keep Dre Greenlaw has been revealed
According Luca Evans of The Denver Post, with an increased contract offer apparently in-hand, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch flew to Greenlaw's home in Texas to check in with him:
"San Francisco, eventually, had outbid the Broncos, who’d honed in on Greenlaw to revamp the heart of their defense. But the 49ers’ brass only flew out — and their offer only increased — after the Broncos had already come after Greenlaw, sources said."
Greenlaw's adopted father Brian Early called a spade a spade regarding Shanahan and Lynch flying to Texas.
"That was, like, a last-ditch effort,” Early told The Post.
If the 49ers truly wanted Greenlaw back, they would have worked harder to get him signed before free agency started. It appears there wasn't much (or any) effort made there, and Greenlaw saw through what can only be called a reaction to the Broncos making him a priority.
In February Matt Barrows of The Athletic indicated Greenlaw wanted to escape the shadow of Fred Warner, and the opportunity to "run his own shop" as a team's bellwether at linebacker. Early spoke to that in his conversation with Evans, as he encouraged Greenlaw to pursue the role the Broncos are lined up to give him.
"Hey, man, you stay in San Francisco, you’re Scottie Pippen,” Early said he told Greenlaw. “And Fred Warner is MJ [Michael Jordan]. Go be frickin’ MJ.”
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