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Will the 49ers Sign Kansas City Chiefs Linebacker Nick Bolton?

The 49ers have to figure out what to do at weakside linebacker.

Grant Cohn

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton (32) takes the field before Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Nick Bolton (32) takes the field before Super Bowl LIX against the Philadelphia Eagles at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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The 49ers have to figure out what to do at weakside linebacker.

They could re-sign Dre Greenlaw who will turn 28 in May and missed all but 34 snaps last season due to injuries. They could draft a linebacker. Or they could sign one of the top linebackers in free agency such as Nick Bolton of the Kansas City Chiefs.

Pro Football Network expects the 49ers to choose Option C -- sign Bolton.

"It is intriguing to put a player like Nick Bolton next to Fred Warner." writes PFN analyst Ben Rolfe. "Bolton was the centerpiece of the Chiefs’ defense and has the chance to be Warner’s long-term partner in the center of the 49ers defense. We have seen that the 49ers place a high importance on the position and Bolton could be the next evolution of that.

"Bolton has three 100-tackle seasons in his first four years and has also proven a nuisance around the quarterback. He is a versatile piece that feels like a luxury for the 49ers, but he can get after the passer or drop into coverage. The thought of Warner and Bolton together in a defense will be terrifying for opposing offenses."

Rolfe is correct that the 49ers highly value the weakside linebacker position. Once, they spent a first-round pick on Reuben Foster. And when he didn't work out, they signed Kwon Alexander to a four-year, $54 million contract.

Don't be surprised if the 49ers offer Bolton a similar deal. Robert Saleh was the 49ers defensive coordinator when they drafted Foster and signed Alexander, and he's a former linebackers coach. He won't allow the 49ers to have a weak linebacking corps for the second season in a row.

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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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