With 49ers OTAs in full swing, we’re taking a position-by-position look at the team’s roster to figure out the strengths, weaknesses, potential dark horses to make the team and other nuggets about the players who will be competing for jobs on the 53-man roster.
The 49ers won’t have a ton of turnover on their defense this year, but linebacker could be a possible exception. San Francisco saw Azeez Al-Shaair leave to join the Titans in free agency, leaving a vacancy at the starting Sam linebacker spot.
While the 49ers have to iron out who starts in Al-Shaair’s stead, they’ll also be aiming to iron out the rest of their depth chart behind that starter. Not only will they have a new starter, but they may have a couple of new faces among the reserves as well.
How the linebacking corps shakes out is a huge question mark since it appears every player on the 90-man roster has a real shot to make the club.
Let’s look at the LB group on the offseason roster:
Fred Warner
There’s a pretty strong consensus that Warner is the best off-ball linebacker in the NFL. Calling him ‘underrated’ would be wrong, but he doesn’t quite get enough credit for being a key reason the 49ers are so good defensively. Warner is one of the smartest players in football and he pairs that with the elite athleticism required to dominate the position in the modern NFL. While he’s a good run defender, his ability to play coverage and take away easy throws in the second level are absolutely paramount to what the 49ers are able to accomplish on defense. Nick Bosa is the 49ers’ defensive MVP. Warner is a very close second.
Dre Greenlaw
Greenlaw would be the best starting LB on perhaps half the teams in football. He’s less consistent than Warner, but he’s developed into a very good defender in the passing game while continuing to provide some thump against the run. The Greenlaw-Warner tandem is the NFL’s best, and there isn’t really an argument otherwise. Put it in stone that that duo will be starting and on the field for virtually every snap they’re available for.
Oren Burks
Anyone beyond Warner and Greenlaw are question marks in terms of their role and whether they’ll make the club. Burks is a good special teams player, which will all but assuredly keep him on the roster. He’s a good athlete though and hasn’t gotten many chances to be a starting LB since the Packers selected him in the third round of the 2018 draft. He has just 10 starts on defense in his career and he’s never played more than 19 percent of his team’s defensive snaps in a season. He’ll be in the mix for the starting Sam job where he’d have his biggest defensive role ever as a pro.
Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles
This may be Flannigan-Fowles’ last chance to carve out a spot on the 49ers’ defense. He’s mostly been a special teams contributor, though he has been the first LB off the bench in some spots during his tenure with the club. Flannigan-Fowles is probably the frontrunner for the starting Sam job, but he’ll have to have his best ever training camp to be there Week 1.
Dee Winters
The 49ers used their sixth-round pick on Winters. General manager John Lynch invoked Greenlaw’s name when discussing the undersized former TCU linebacker. Winters stuffed the stat sheet as a tackler, pass rusher and in coverage during his time with the Horned Frogs. San Francisco may project him as a long-term Will replacement for Greenlaw if he leaves when his contract is up in 2024, but if he’s as versatile in the pros as he was in college he’ll find a role on defense right away.
Jalen Graham
The 49ers used one of their seventh-round picks to select Graham out of Purdue in this year’s draft. He’s a more traditional LB who fits the role of a Sam more than Winters which may give him an immediate edge over his rookie counterpart. Graham didn’t test great, but his size and length are good. If his functional athleticism is better than his testing numbers there’s a chance the 49ers could lean on the seventh-rounder to be their third LB.
Marcelino McCrary-Ball
Don’t sleep on McCrary-Ball. He was an undrafted rookie last year who spent the entire season on San Francisco’s practice squad. He’s not a big player, listed at 6-0, 214 pounds which may impact his ability to play the Sam role in base packages. However, he’s a good athlete and converted safety who could hold some long-term value as a Will LB. If McCrary-Ball can play on special teams it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the second-year UDFA land a roster spot.
Curtis Robinson
Robinson played some for the 49ers at the end of 2021 and through the middle portion of last season. He’s been confined solely to special teams work with San Francisco. While that matters a lot for backup LBs, there are enough talented players here that Robinson may need to show more defensive value to gain a more permanent roster spot.
Mariano Sori-Marin
Sori-Marin was the lone UDFA linebacker signed by San Francisco this year. The Minnesota alum has very good size at 6-3, 245 pounds. His athleticism doesn’t pop, but he loves to hit and he spends a ton of time around the football. It’ll be interesting to see how he and other LBs develop with DeMeco Ryans (former NFL LB and 49ers defensive coordinator) no longer in the building. A win for Sori-Marin would be securing a practice squad spot since there’s a chance at least one of the other rookie LBs could be headed there.
Here are the other positions covered so far in our State of the Roster series:
