The San Francisco 49ers welcomed back defensive coordinantor Robert Saleh during the offseason after a failed tenure as the New York Jets head coach.
One return to the defense that didn't happen, though, is where a six-year veteran signed elsewhere in free agency. After a half dozen seasons and two trips to the Super Bowl with the Niners, linebacker Dre Greenlaw said goodbye to the Bay Area and hello to the Denver Broncos.
After his rookie year in 2019, he failed to play a full season. In the last five years, Greenlaw averaged just 9.6 games per season because of various injuries.
And it's impossible to leave out the brutal torn achilles suffered in-game during the Super Bowl in February of 2024, which all but derailed the linebacker's subsequent campaign.
The separation between the 49ers and Greenlaw may not be a bad thing when it comes to San Francisco's hopes of making it to a third Super Bowl this decade.
In fact, they're now Denver's problem.
Dre Greenlaw's injury woes are no longer a 49ers problem
A three-year deal worth $31.5 million was enough to entice the former 49ers linebacker away from rejoining Saleh in San Francisco. Even though Greenlaw now plays for Broncos head coach Sean Payton, he has yet to take the field in 2025.
ESPN's Jeff Legwold reported that "Monday morning, Broncos coach Sean Payton said linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who was signed in free agency this past March, would be ready to play 'sooner than later.'"
Legwold went on further to say that Greenlaw missed Sunday's season opener with a thigh injury -- he had practiced last Monday, but did not practice for the remainder of the week. Greenlaw missed the on-field portion of the offseason program with a thigh injury and was limited in training camp as well, not partaking at all during the preseason.
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Even when Greenlaw was on the field, he was not always in the game. Take the 49ers-versus-Eagles game in 2023 when the linebacker had an altercation with Dom DiSandro, a security staff member for Philadelphia, that resulted in both gentlemen being ejected from the game.
Despite the Broncos beating the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, Payton missed one of his new assets. Denver held the opposing quarterback, Cam Ward, to a lowly 50-percent completion rate while sacking him six times.
In 64 regular season-games for the 49ers, Greenlaw accumulated 455 total tackles and 14 defended passes. The linebacker even returned an interception for a touchdown in one of only three games he played in 2021.
Impactful when on the field, Greenlaw nevertheless has struggled to stay on it during his career, and that's something worrisome to the Broncos' immediate future.