5 free agents who may follow Brandon Staley to 49ers
By Peter Panacy
No. 2: Linebacker Troy Reeder
The 49ers don't just have to bolster pass-rushing depth. They also need to account for the potential absence of star linebacker Dre Greenlaw, whose Super Bowl Achilles tear endangers the likelihood of him being ready for the start of the 2024 regular season.
Behind All-Pro Fred Warner, the depth chart is pretty thin. Immediate backups like Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Oren Burks are pending free agents, meaning an inexperienced and relatively untested second-year pro like Dee Winters could be pushed into the fray.
Instead, the Niners could lure in a former Brandon Staley understudy in inside linebacker Troy Reeder, who first joined the league as an undrafted free agent in 2019.
Despite bouncing around the league a bit, including a quick tenure under Staley with the Chargers in 2022, Reeder's entirety of regular-season games was with the Rams. He has 31 starts to his career and enjoyed a personal best in 2020 with the Rams under Staley in which he managed three sacks.
As a solid backup with starting potential, the 29-year-old Reeder could be an easy free agent to add on the cheap to help mitigate the loss of Greenlaw.