The San Francisco 49ers are loaded with star players. Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Nick Bosa, and Fred Warner are all easily among the best at their positions.
The old saying is defense wins championships, and if that’s true, the 49ers should be in good shape. As long as the unit stays healthy, it should be much better than it was in 2025. New defensive coordinator Raheem Morris should help out as well.
But, if there’s one position group that will most determine how good the defense is in 2026, it’s the linebackers. The 49ers have Fred Warner, who is widely considered to be the best linebacker in the league, and they brought Dre Greenlaw back this offseason as well.
The Warner and Greenlaw combination is enviable, and according to some, the best linebacker duo in the league.
Pro Football Focus Says 49ers Have Best LB Room in NFL
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Ahead of every season, the team at PFF goes through and ranks the best position groups in the league. When it comes to linebackers, the 49ers clearly belonged at the top.
PFF has the 49ers as the No. 1 linebacker room in the league. Warner alone would make the room highly rated, so the addition of Greenlaw is just icing on the cake.
“In Fred Warner, the 49ers have the best linebacker in football, with the former BYU standout ranking inside the top-two linebackers in the league in terms of PFF grade in each of the past four seasons,” PFF’s Gordon McGuinness explained. “They also return Dre Greenlaw next to him, and he looked to be close to his old self when he got back onto the field in 2025.”
As McGuinness mentioned, the 49ers have the best linebacker in the league, and Greenlaw has been very solid in the past. Greenlaw signed with the Denver Broncos for the 2025 season after spending the first six years of his career with the 49ers.
Greenlaw has only played in 10 combined games over the last two seasons due to injuries, but as McGuinness mentioned, the Arkansas product began to look like his old self late in 2025.
Warner is also coming back from an injury. The star was limited to six games in 2025, and it was the first season of his career in which he played fewer than 16 games. Warner hasn’t looked any different this summer, though, so he should play at an elite level again in 2026.
