The San Francisco 49ers closed out the 2022 campaign boasting the league's No. 1 overall defense, and within that defensive unit, the team also owns the top-ranked linebacker corps in the NFL for a second-straight year, per Pro Football Focus.
The 49ers linebackers are No. 1 in coverage with an 88.5 mark from the PFF experts and are second-overall against the run, finishing with a 90.7 grade for the year.
The position group is headlined by First-Team All-Pro Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw, who wrapped up his third season with San Francisco. Warner and Greenlaw were the team's first and second tacklers in 2022, combining for 257 total tackles during the regular season. The dynamic duo worked in tandem with linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair over the course of the 2022 campaign, however, that is sure to change in the coming season with Al-Shaair departing to the Tennessee Titans during free agency.
The 49ers have plenty of depth at the linebacker position with Oren Burks, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, Marcelino McCrary-Ball and Curtis Robinson in the ranks and the recent addition of rookies Dee Winters and Jalen Graham via the 2023 NFL Draft. Burks started just three games in 2022 but played defensive snaps in 13 of the 49ers contests through their NFC Championship Game run while Flannigan-Fowles stepped in at linebacker in nine games throughout the 2022 season. McCrary-Ball and Robinson spent most of last year as part of San Francisco's practice squad.
Here's what the PFF writer Dalton Wasserman had to say about the 49ers linebacker corps:
"The 49ers boast two legitimate stars in Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw. Warner is the NFL's most consistent coverage linebacker and posted a career-high 89.7 run-defense grade this past season, too. Greenlaw had a career year in 2022, earning a 79.6 overall grade bolstered by a nearly 20-point jump in coverage grade," Wasserman wrote.
"The 49ers have the best pair of linebackers in football and the depth to fill in if one of them were to suffer a short-term injury. They are the current gold standard at the position."
