49ers LB Dre Greenlaw Reveals Why He Had a Tough Time With the Broncos

Dre Greenlaw opens up on his year with the Denver Broncos.

Nov 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

After one season away, Dre Greenlaw returned to the San Francisco 49ers in free agency.

The Denver Broncos opted out after just one year of his three-year contract, allowing the 49ers to immediately bring him back on a one-year deal worth $7.5 million.

Greenlaw was one of the 49ers’ most important players over the years, so his return is hardly surprising. But it has since come to light that his time in Denver was difficult, especially as he dealt with injuries that prevented him from making the impact he had hoped for.

“There were some dark moments,” Greenlaw admitted to The Athletic's Michael Silver. “It’s tough, because I never got a chance to give them all I had. There’s so much anger, frustration, and you just want to go out there and prove [your worth] to everybody, but you can’t. There were times when it was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to show my face in this building.’ Tough year.

“We were good, especially when I first came in,” Greenlaw told Silver. “And then you pop your quad, people start looking at you. Then, when we played the Jaguars [on Dec. 21], I had a little bit of a hamstring [injury]. After that, you kind of feel when the coach is, like, not really messing with you. I felt alone.

"I never felt like I was a part of the team because I wasn’t [out] there. I was always in the training room. I knew the trainers more than I knew the teammates."

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-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect

That said, Greenlaw took responsibility for why things went wrong in Denver rather than blaming the Broncos.

“I don’t blame anything on the Broncos,” he added. “Coming off the Achilles and the calf (injuries), I just wasn’t in the shape that I needed to be to go out there with them and give it all I got.

"I should have taken it slow. (But) naturally, they’d just paid me, so that’s all I wanted to do — go show them what I could do. And it bit me in the ass, the second day I got there.”

Now that he’s back in San Francisco and reunited with his partner in crime, Fred Warner, and back under Kyle Shanahan’s guidance. The move has all the potential to rejuvenate his career and help him rediscover the same form that made him such an important part of the 49ers’ defense.

“Oh, bro, it’s a happy ending now. There’s nowhere else that I would want to be," stated Greenlaw.