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Why Dre Greenlaw is the 49ers' Biggest Loss of the Offseason

Of all the players the 49ers let leave this offseason, Dre Greenlaw probably will be the one they miss the most.
Grant Cohn|
Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner (center) poses for a photo with San Francisco 49ers linebackers Dre Greenlaw (left) and linebacker Fred Warner (right) after the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Dec 10, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner (center) poses for a photo with San Francisco 49ers linebackers Dre Greenlaw (left) and linebacker Fred Warner (right) after the game at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

Of all the players the 49ers let leave this offseason, Dre Greenlaw probably will be the one they miss the most.

No disrespect to Talanoa Hufanga, Charvarius Ward, Aaron Banks and Leonard Floyd. They're good players and the 49ers will feel their absence as well. But Greenlaw was a foundational player on their team -- as important as Fred Warner, George Kittle and Nick Bosa.

And in one half of football against the Rams at the end of last season, Greenlaw showed that he still had the speed, agility and violence that made him great before he tore his Achilles. Whether he can stay healthy for a full season anymore, that's unclear. But when he's healthy, he's still Greenlaw.

And without Greenlaw, the 49ers might never have gone to two Super Bowls under head coach Kyle Shanahan.

In 2019, Greenlaw made the game-saving tackle at the goal line against the Seattle Seahawks in the final game of the season to clinch the No. 1 for the 49ers. And they needed the No. 1 seed to reach the Super Bowl both times they made it.

In 2023, Greenlaw intercepted Jordan Love twice in the divisional playoffs, and the second interception ended the game. Without Greenlaw, the 49ers probably would have lost that game. And that team had nine players rank in the NFL's top 100.

Then in the Super Bowl in 2024, Greenlaw tore his Achilles running onto the field early in the second quarter. When he went down, the Chiefs had no points. If he had stayed healthy, who knows, the 49ers might have won that game.

Now they have to find someone to replace him. And that won't be easy. He's not just a great linebacker, he's mean on the field.

The 49ers defense is soft without him.

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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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