Former Arkansas and Fayetteville High standout Dre Greenlaw underwent successful surgery Thursday to repair a fully torn Achilles tendon in his left leg, suffered against Kansas City in Sunday’s Super Bowl LVIII.
San Francisco’s 6-foot, 230-pound weakside linebacker has been a mainstay on that daunted Niners defense since his impactful rookie season in 2019. He was voted the No. 79 player in the NFL’s “Top 100 Players of 2023”.
Kansas City was being shut out through the first 20 minutes of the Sunday’s game, while Greenlaw was on the field. All of the Chiefs points were scored after he was carted off, in the 25-22 Kansas City comeback victory.
The Chiefs were able to take advantage of the 49ers without Greenlaw, who finished with three tackles. Quarterback Patrick Mahomes went right at Greenlaw’s replacement, Oren Burks. Mahomes targeted Burks’ assigned receiver nine times, completing all nine passes, including a touchdown.
The freak injury occurred in the second quarter, as Greenlaw began jogging from the sideline onto the field, after a change of possession. He fell to the ground and immediately began grabbing his lower leg. He was eventually carted off to the locker room.
“Dre is the heartbeat of our defense … to lose a guy like Dre, it’s tough,” 49ers tight end George Kittle told ESPN. “He’s just such a fantastic football player, and he’s everything the Niners stand for, so to lose him, it just really, really sucks.”
With full recovery generally taking between six and nine months, the 26-year-old Greenlaw could miss the beginning of his sixth NFL season.
Greenlaw had been dealing with some Achilles’ issues this season, limiting him to just 15 games. He still finished second on the team in tackles behind only All-Pro Fred Warner, racking up 120 stops, with 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hits and four passes defensed, in the regular season. In the three postseason games, he added 18 tackles, with two interceptions and two passes defensed.
In four seasons at Arkansas, Greenlaw amassed 321 tackles, including 13 for a loss, and four sacks. He also had three interceptions, three fumbles forced and three recovered.
