Grades, analysis from 49ers nail-biting win Week 1 over Lions

49ers Linebackers

Players: Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Azeez Al-Shaair, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Marcell Harris

Grade: A

It’s hard to grade linebackers from the naked eye or box scores simply because volume tackling is not always a sign of a good linebacker; it’s the sign of a linebacker who is near the end of the play, for better or for worse. But today, it was apparently clear that the 49ers best position group during the game was the linebacking corp.

Fred Warner was his usual solid self, racking up tackling and generally playing strong coverage. It seemed at times he wasn’t being leveraged as best as possible given his unique talents, but he certainly played well.

Dre Greenlaw continues to fascinate as he always seems to break late into coverage but manages to wrap up tackles securely. Today though, his tackling was as solid as ever and he tracked a bad Jared Goff throw into a pick-six, a crucial play as it seems in hindsight. Greenlaw had a lot of potential and a lot of growth left, but before he got hurt, he seemed to be playing very well.

The SAM (strongside) linebacker who eventually took over Greenlaw’s spot, Azeez Al-Shaair, was phenomenal. He was aggressive against the run, broke quickly and effectively in coverage, and his instincts flashed all over the field. It may not be a stretch to say at times he was playing the best of any player on the field.

Overall, a strong day for the linebackers. All they’ll want next time is to have their performance spill over to the defense as a whole.