PFF Says 49ers Should Sign Steelers Linebacker Elandon Roberts

It seems as though the 49ers will lose Dre Greenlaw this offseason.
Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA;  Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Elandon Roberts (50) reacts after stopping the Baltimore Ravens on a two point conversion attempt during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
Nov 17, 2024; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Elandon Roberts (50) reacts after stopping the Baltimore Ravens on a two point conversion attempt during the fourth quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images / Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images
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It seems as though the 49ers will lose Dre Greenlaw this offseason.

They have to give Brock Purdy a massive extension and probably won't have enough cap space to make Greenlaw one of the highest-paid linebackers in the NFL.

That's why Pro Football Focus says the 49ers should sign Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Elandon Roberts.

"After failing to make the playoffs, the 49ers will encounter a bit of a crossroads during the 2025 offseason," writes PFF analyst Bradley Locker. "While dealing with Brock Purdy’s probable extension, San Francisco will need potential reinforcements at tackle and cornerback. Don’t discount adding a linebacker or two through free agency, either. Roberts produced a career-high 77.2 overall PFF grade this season, buoyed by his 90.4 PFF run-defense grade — the sixth-best mark among defenders with 400 or more snaps. Coverage has been more of a problem for Roberts, but the 30-year-old could help solidify a linebacking group that ranked only 26th in PFF run-defense grade, even with Fred Warner."

The 49ers definitely need to improve their run defense and add to their linebacker corps. Which means Roberts would be a solid addition. Fred Warner certainly is a coverage specialist who needs a violent run-defender next to him. That's Roberts.

Still, the 49ers would be better off drafting a linebacker than signing a veteran, because they're already one of the oldest teams in the NFL. They need to get younger and faster, and Roberts would help them in those departments.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.