The 49ers Still Must Improve Their Run Defense

When healthy, Greenlaw is the 49ers' fastest linebacker and most violent tackler. The run defense simply isn't the same without him.

Grant Cohn | Apr 1, 2024

Jan 28, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; Detroit Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams (9) runs / Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

One of the 49ers' biggest weaknesses last season was their run defense, and it's still a weakness.

This offseason, they released Arik Armstead, who was their best run defender when healthy. To be fair, he hasn't been fully healthy since 2021, so the 49ers made the right decision to release him, but they still will miss his run defense, because his replacement, Maliek Collins, is more of a pass rusher than a run defender. Same for Leonard Floyd, who will replace Chase Young as the starting defensive end opposite Nick Bosa.

The 49ers did address their run defense by signing rotational backup defensive linemen Jordan Elliott and Yetur Gross-Matos. Those two should help. But don't forget the 49ers lost starting linebacker Dre Greenlaw to a torn Achilles in the Super Bowl and the team doesn't know when he will be able to return to full strength.

When healthy, Greenlaw is the 49ers' fastest linebacker and most violent tackler. The run defense simply isn't the same without him. And to replace him while he's out, the 49ers signed De'Vondre Campbell, who's much better in pass coverage than run defense. Last season he was with the Packers, whose defense gave up a putrid 2,181 yards on the ground, and Campbell was a big reason why.

If Campbell has to start lots of games for the 49ers next season, their run defense will be in trouble. So they have to hope Greenlaw misses zero time, or they have to draft a linebacker who's good enough to start and stuff the run as a rookie.

We'll see what the 49ers decide to do.

Published Apr 1, 2024

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.