49ers' 5 best candidates to earn first Pro Bowl nod in 2023
By Peter Panacy
49ers Pro Bowl candidate No. 2: Dre Greenlaw
Of all the Niners candidates who could have made the Pro Bowl a season ago, few were as big a snub as linebacker Dre Greenlaw.
Sure, Fred Warner overshadows Greenlaw by a wide margin. However, the 2019 fifth-round pick out of Arkansas has finally started to gain the national attention that'll be necessary to earn Pro Bowl votes once the 2023 season concludes.
Read more: Dre Greenlaw highlights this list of 49ers Pro Bowl snubs from 2022
Both NFL.com and Pro Football Focus ranked Greenlaw as the No. 8 linebacker overall in the league entering the upcoming season, a feat that's awfully impressive and worthy of Pro Bowl status.
As long as Greenlaw stays healthy, there are few reasons to suspect a drop in his play. Should he live up to that No. 8 overall billing among all linebackers this season, plenty of fans and voters will look at Greenlaw as a legitimate Pro Bowler for the first time.
They should have done so a year ago, too.