SEATTLE (AP) — San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was ejected after head-butting Seattle's Ernest Jones IV after he delivered a late hit on the Seahawks sideline.
The infraction came in the second quarter on Sunday, when Sam Darnold scrambled and was hit late by Greenlaw after going out of bounds, leading to a personal foul in a game San Francisco went on to win 32-29.
“You’re going to get baited big time when, especially when you’re on their
bench,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. “They told me that he had butted a guy without a helmet. So if that’s exactly what happened, then yeah, we got to be a lot smarter than that. Can’t do that.”
Several Seahawks defenders immediately confronted Greenlaw after the hit and Greenlaw responded by head-butting Jones, who wasn't wearing a helmet. Jones was bleeding after the hit and Greenlaw was ejected.
“In the moment, I’m mad that I’m not closer to try to help him out,” teammate Fred Warner said. “I tried to get there as fast as I could. I was too far away. He’s helpless in that situation. He’s all by himself on their sideline. Of course, they’re trying to gang up on him and good on them for baiting them into doing something. But we know we got to be smart in all those situations. I thought Dre tried for the most part, but it’s just an unfortunate situation.”
The call for an ejection was made from the officiating center in New York, with league vice president of instant replay Mark Butterworth saying in a pool report that executive Troy Vincent made the ultimate call. A rule change this year allows for the replay center to eject a player even when a flag wasn't thrown on the play but that didn't come into play on this call because of the late hit.
Greenlaw has been ejected at least two other times in his career. He had a sideline altercation with Philadelphia's head of security Dom DiSandro in 2023 and was also disqualified for a helmet-to-helmet hit on the Chargers' Justin Herbert in 2022.
Greenlaw was also suspended for one game last season when he played in Denver for berating an official after a win over the New York Giants.
Greenlaw was fined $11,941 for taunting the Broncos' sideline in a win last week.
Greenlaw returned to San Francisco this season after playing for the Broncos in 2025. He has 37 tackles in five games.
___
See AP’s full NFL coverage here
