Now that we’re full-on into the playoffs, it’s time to stop looking in the rearview with our Secret Superstars series, and start looking forward to the next game with Postseason X-Factors. The principle
is the same — using game tape and metrics to uncover those hidden gems for every team who are primed to bring their best when their franchises need it the most.
The San Francisco 49ers have at least 10 different hidden gems you could mention in a season where so much has gone wrong in an injury sense, and nearly everything has come up roses in a coaching sense. For now, let’s focus on defensive lineman Keion White, whose October trade from Foxboro to the Bay Area has made an impressive difference at all the right times.
That Kyle Shanahan should be the NFL’s Coach of the Year, and Robert Saleh should be the Assistant Coach of the Year, based on what they’ve done with all the injuries they’ve had to deal with this season — well, that’s as much of a no-brainer as you’ll ever see in the NFL. But that kind of great coaching isn’t just about making the most of the players you have; you also need to go out and find credible replacements for the stars you don’t have anymore.
For the 2025 49ers, case in point was the late October trade with the New England Patriots for the services of defensive lineman Keion White. Selected by New England in the second round of the 2023 draft out of Georgia Tech, White was one of my favorite defensive linemen in his class, as he showed a ton of disruptive ability from multiple gaps. And I assumed that under head coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams, White would uncover his NFL potential in ways he didn’t in his first two NFL seasons.
It didn’t happen. The Patriots’ new regime utilized the 6’5”, 290-pound White primarily as an edge-rusher, when he’s better terrorizing ballplayers from every gap. Saleh must have been licking his chops when it was discovered that White was available.
“Everyone’s a little bit different,” Saleh said of White after the trade happened. “With Keion, it reminds me of someone like [New York Jets linebacker] Quincy Williams, who we had at the Jets. He was drafted in the third round by the Jaguars, didn’t quite work out, cut after the second year. We get our hands on him and he’s an All-Pro linebacker, which [is a] credit to him and the work he put in. So, sometimes it just takes being in the right situation with the right staff.
“It’s not one staff being better than the other, it’s just a matter of just that connection. So, with Keion being in this situation, we feel great about his skillset. We know exactly what that skill set looks like and how it fits for us and what we do. I know he’s excited about it and I think with everyone being so excited about what he’s capable of, whatever he’s capable of in the NFL I think he’s going to be able to show it here.”
Under Saleh’s vision of his talent, White finally was able to show it somewhere. After amassing no sacks, three pressures, four solo tackles, and three stops in five games with the Patriots, White turned it on once he got the hang of his new defense, and it’s all gravy now. In 10 games as a rotational force with San Francisco, White has three sacks, 24 total pressures, eight tackles, and seven stops.
White’s best game to date may have been the 49ers’ 23-19 Wild Card win over the Philadelphia Eagles, with his sack and four pressures. Not that Eagles offensive coordinator Kevin Patullo needed a ton of help to shut down his own offense in the 2025 season, but White was more than happy to help, regardless.
And as much as White has been important to the 49ers’ recent success, he could be even more crucial to their future. Because now, San Francisco has to travel to Seattle’s Lumen Field on a short week for a Saturday Divisional Round game against a Seahawks team that took all of their lunch money in a 13-3 Week 18 takedown. One of the few 49ers players who acquitted themselves well in that game, with four pressures that shut down plays and drives was… well, you guessed it.
The 49ers’ combination of coaching and roster construction in a situation that would have most teams begging for mercy and missing the playoffs has been spectacular all season long. Keion White is just one of the people who have benefitted; now, he gets to pay it back and forward with another outstanding performance this week.
