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49ers Linebacker Dre Greenlaw Will Play Against the Rams

More good news for the 49ers.

Grant Cohn

Oct 8, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 8, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) during the fourth quarter against the Dallas Cowboys at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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More good news for the 49ers.

Dre Greenlaw will make his season debut tonight against the Los Angeles Rams, according to The NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. It's unclear how the 49ers plan to use him in his first game action in 10 months, but it's safe to assume he'll be on the field quite a bit.

Greenlaw tore his Achilles jogging onto the field between series during the Super Bowl. Before he went down, the 49ers defense was playing quite well against Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs. After Greenlaw went down, the Chiefs moved the ball at will. He's that important to the 49ers.

Greenlaw most likely will replace Dee Winters as the 49ers' strongside linebacker. Winters typically plays 10 to 20 snaps per game and comes off the field when the 49ers use their nickel defense. That seems like a sensible way to get Greenlaw's feet wet.

Remember, Christian McCaffrey was rusty after missing a few months with Achilles tendonitis. Which means Greenlaw most likely will be rusty, too. It's unrealistic to expect him to be the Greenlaw we remember right away. If he simply can make a big hit or two early in the game, he'll provide an emotional boost to his teammates. And they could use an emotional boost considering they've been flat in most of their games this season.

If Greenlaw can help the 49ers' run defense too, even better. Because Rams running back Kyren Williams scored three touchdowns against the 49ers in Week 3. Maybe Greenlaw can shut him down near the goal line.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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