Which Linebacker Will Replace Dre Greenlaw in the 49ers Defense?

Some people believe the 49ers would have won the Super Bowl a few months ago if Dre Greenlaw hadn’t torn his Achilles’ tendon running onto the field.

Greenlaw went down with 9:26 remaining in the second quarter. At that point, the Chiefs had scored no points and their offense was struggling to move the ball. Then Oren Burks stepped in at linebacker, and the Chiefs targeted him mercilessly and successfully, leading to their victory.

Now Burks is on the Eagles. So who will fill in for Greenlaw this season until he returns?

This offseason, the 49ers signed veteran linebacker De’Vondre Campbell to replace Burks and fill in for Greenlaw. However, Campbell will be 32 this season and was cut by the Packers due to his poor performance last year. He gave up a passer rating of 111.2 when targeted, compared to Burks’ passer rating of 61.4 during the regular season.

This means Campbell could potentially be a downgrade from Burks, which wouldn’t be good for the 49ers.

Fortunately for them, they drafted two linebackers last year—Dee Winters and Jalen Graham. Plus, they drafted another one this year, Tatum Bethune. The 49ers need just one of them to step up and play better than Campbell.

And one did step up and play better than Campbell during OTAs and minicamp. That linebacker was Dee Winters, according to All-Pro Fred Warner. He called Winters the 49ers’ best player in all of OTAs, which is high praise from a great player.

If Winters becomes a quality starter for the 49ers, their defense could be the best in the league.