There aren’t many positions open for competition on the San Francisco 49ers as we head into the next phase of the offseason program.
When Kyle Shanahan was asked whether Dre Greenlaw was locked in as a starter at WILL linebacker, he responded, “Yeah, definitely.”
That’s no surprise after the 49ers traded Dee Winters to the Dallas Cowboys. The spots after Fred Warner and Greenlaw are the ones up for grabs. Shanahan said as much when asked where second-year pro Nick Martin stands: “I think we’ve got
two guys who established as starters, and I think we’ve got a big-time competition for our three, four, five and six.”
For now, “There isn’t a leader” at SAM linebacker. That was Luke Gifford’s spot last season. Shanahan said, “Gif held that the strongest last year. But it’s open for everyone right now.”
That was last year. Gifford made his mark on special teams. When he was on the field, teams went out of their way to target him in the passing game. Despite playing only 51 passing snaps in 2025, Gifford was targeted seven times. He allowed four completions for 77 yards. Gifford turns 31 in August.
“There isn’t a leader,” said Shanahan, doubling down again, adding, “it’s open for everyone.” He also explained why the Niners dealt Winters:
“Oh, we did. And lots of linebackers play also. I mean when it’s base, there’s three out there, so we would’ve loved to keep Dee. We also just looked at our overall roster when you look one to two years out. Also knowing the number of unrestricted free agents we have, the number of guys that we do feel can make this team at linebacker, the thought that we were going to add linebackers in the draft and it’s hard to stockpile players. When you can add a Draft pick and add a younger guy when you might be losing someone the next year and stuff, last thing I wanted to do is trade Dee. We love Dee as a player. We love him as a person. We know how much he’d help us as one of our top three backers, we know how much he’d help us if Dre or Fred got hurt. But then you also look into contracts, how a year out and stuff that is, what you’re doing in the Draft and sometimes you’ve got to make tough decisions like that that can possibly help you in the future.”
From a business perspective, it makes sense to deal a player with one year remaining on his contract. Winters was excellent playing next to Winters. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough of that through the two seasons he was on the field.
One player who will likely make the roster is Tatum Bethune. He’ll continue to man the MIKE position, although Shanahan believes Bethune will need to be prepared to play each position:
“Linebacker, just like receiver and just like interior linemen, you’ve got to be an option at all three. I mean, you’ve only got so many people up on game day, so you’ve always got to be an option. We do believe MIKE’s Tatum’s strength, that’s what he did in college. That’s where we feel his skillset is at the best. But, we usually have five guys make it, sometimes six. You’re always going to usually keep the best five or the best six, however that pans out.”
Bethune figures to be a special teamer. The same is true for rookie Jaden Dugger. History says the rookie will have a chance to crack the lineup at SAM. That’s what happened with Greenlaw and Azeez Al-Shaair. Shanahan doesn’t believe it’s too much of a stretch that Dugger could win the job:
“Yeah, I don’t think it’s too much. We’ve had rookies come in here and play at linebacker. If you look at Greenlaw and you look at Fred. I’m not trying to compare anyone to those two guys, but it’s always a possibility. I mean, the spot is open. We have two established guys and we can have an on-the-ball linebacker as our third, we can have an off-the-ball linebacker. We’ve got a number of different skill sets in that room this year and I think it’ll be one of the more fun positions to watch how it plays out.”
If the 49ers are going to zig from what they had at the position last season, an uber-athlete like Dugger would be the way to go. We’ll see how many reps Martin gets on the strong side. If that player shows the ability to rush the passer, as Martin and Dugger did in college, they’ll give themselves the best chance to stay on the field on passing downs.
Raheem Morris will have the flexibility to maybe take Greenlaw off the field and let the other linebacker stay on the line of scrimmage while Warner mans the middle. There are options, but it depends on how versatile that third linebacker can be.
