All 49ers

Will the 49ers Re-Sign Dre Greenlaw this Offseason?

The 49ers have a tough decision to make.

Grant Cohn

Nov 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Nov 19, 2023; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw (57) during the third quarter against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
In this story:

The 49ers have a tough decision to make.

Should they re-sign outside linebacker Dre Greenlaw this offseason? He'll be a 28-year-old free agent coming off an Achilles tear. Is he still a good player? And how much is he worth at this point in his career?

Greenlaw never was the best player on the 49ers' defense, but he was their heart and soul. No one played faster or hit harder than he did. Without him this season, the 49ers defense seems soft, particularly against the run.

The 49ers recently opened Greenlaw's practice window, and there's a good chance they'll activate him from the Injured Reserve List next week for their Thursday night game against the Los Angeles Rams. Which means Greenlaw could play the final four games of the season.

It's unreasonable to expect Greenlaw to immediately return to his peak form -- he hasn't played football in almost a year. Look at how rusty Christian McCaffrey was after returning from a six-month layoff. And McCaffrey didn't tear his Achilles. Greenlaw did.

If Greenlaw shows glimpses of the player he used to be, if the 49ers feel he can potentially bounce back and be an impact player again, they should give him a one-year prove-it deal this offseason. And then if he plays well next season, they can give him a multi-year extension in 2026. But they shouldn't give him that multi-year extension this offseason. Doing so would be an emotional decision, and the 49ers need to stop making those.

Download and follow The Cohn Zohn Podcast.

Published |Modified
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.

Home/News