The 49ers have a lot of very good players. Trent Williams, Nick Bosa, Fred Warner, Christian McCaffrey, Deebo Samuel and George Kittle are all headliners who get plenty of praise as reasons San Francisco has been in Super Bowl contention despite their woes at quarterback.
While the high praise is well-earned for those stars, it leaves a slew of other important players flying under the radar. Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar wrote a piece highlighting every team’s most underrated player, and listed linebacker Dre Greenlaw for the 49ers.
Here’s Farrar on Greenlaw:
Last year, Greenlaw had a career-best season with a sack, six quarterback pressures, 125 solo tackles, 71 stops, and 87 catches allowed on 111 targets for 708 yards, 453 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, six pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 95.5. Basically, Greenlaw was close to the action at all times, and he was up to any challenge.
This is probably the correct choice. Greenlaw is so often overshadowed by fellow LB Fred Warner, who is atop the conversation for best off-ball linebacker in the NFL. In reality Greenlaw would be the best LB on perhaps half the teams in the league. Maybe more. He should get more shine as a reason the 49ers’ defense is as good as it is.
There are a handful of other players who fit here for the 49ers as well. Let’s look at that group: