Niners Nation
San Francisco has been without one of its top linebackers all season long.
The San Francisco 49ers are entering their bye week, currently standing at 4-4 after a win over the Dallas Cowboys over the weekend as they look to regroup and go on a second-half run.
Injuries have been a big story for San Francisco, as the team has already dealt with a few season-ending issues to key stars, while others have dealt with problems that have kept them out for extended time.
One of those players is linebacker Dre Greenlaw, who tore his Achilles last year in the Super Bowl and has yet to play this season while remaining on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
Greenlaw, a key piece to San Francisco’s front seven, was expected to make a midseason recovery, so his timeline could be accelerating sooner than later, and the 49ers could benefit greatly from that.
The 49ers have rotated players at that No. 2 linebacker spot, primarily looking at veteran De’Vondre Campbell and second-year-pro Dee Winters, and they've yet to generate consistency at the position without Greenlaw.
Is the linebacker close to making his return? Or are the 49ers still going to have to wait as he continues his rehab?
“We talk about a lot of stuff and he is working through it, but I hate to give a rough timeline for you guys because we’re not exactly sure of it,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Greenlaw’s availability. “I think once we get back from this Bye week, I think he’s going to be about week-to-week deciding whether we should get him back into the practice deal or not. But, we’ll see how this next week goes. We’ll see when we get back from the Bye week. I think once it gets past the Bye week then we’ll be looking each week on whether we should bring him back or not because it is getting closer.”
Currently, it still seems that Greenlaw is some bit away from not only returning to a game setting, but also getting back to the practice field, which means that it’ll continue to be Winters and Campbell for the foreseeable future.
But, it’s a positive sign that the 49ers believe he could get his practice window opened after the bye week, as that would insinuate that Greenlaw would be ready to return within the first few weeks of the second half.
San Francisco will need a player of Greenlaw’s caliber if they want to reach their goals in 2024, especially with some of the pieces that they're currently missing. However, it’s still very unclear when the linebacker will make his long-awaited return in 2024.
