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The Worst Player on the 49ers Defense

Last season, the weakest link on defense was Chase Young or Isaiah Oliver or Logan Ryan, but those three are all gone now. So there has to be a new weakest link.

Grant Cohn

Aug 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; General view of the San Francisco 49ers helmets before the start of the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; General view of the San Francisco 49ers helmets before the start of the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports / Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports
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We just named the worst player on the 49ers offense. In the interest of fair and balanced journalism, let's name the worst player on the 49ers defense.

Last season, the weakest link on defense was Chase Young or Isaiah Oliver or Logan Ryan, but those three are all gone now. So there has to be a new weakest link.

It could be cornerback Isaac Yiadom or strongside linebacker Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, but those two are part-time players. Flannigan-Fowles plays in the base defense and Yiadom plays in the nickel defense.

Weakside linebacker De'Vondre Campbell is supposed to play 100 percent of the snaps until Dre Greenlaw returns from a torn Achilles. Which means Campbell currently is the worst player on the 49ers defense.

Campbell used to be terrific -- he was an All Pro in 2021. But now he's 31 and he's coming off a miserable season. He played in just 11 games, and he gave up a whopping 12 yards per target -- more than any other linebacker who started at least five games. In addition, his average tackle depth was 3.5 yards downfield -- ninth worst in the NFL. So he was terrible against the run and pass.

The 49ers hope that Campbell can stay healthy and bounce back to the player he was a few years ago, but that's unlikely. They need to hope for one of their young linebackers such as Dee Winters, Jalen Graham or Tatum Bethune to step up and take the job from Campbell until Greenlaw returns.

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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.

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