Perhaps Warner and Greenlaw can continue their promising career climbs and stay together long enough with the team to someday spearhead a group that can find its way onto this list of the greatest linebacker units in 49ers history.
1 Patrick Willis, NaVorro Bowman, AldonSmith, Ahmad Brooks: This fearsome foursome in San Francisco’s 3-4 scheme was featured in the top-flight defense that carried the 49ers into three consecutive NFC Championship games, reaching its zenith during San Francisco’s Super Bowl season of 2012. In one of the greatest performances by a linebacker unit in NFL history, all four players were named Pro Bowlers that year while Willis, Bowman and Smith earned All-Pro first-team honors and Brooks was named to the All-Pro second team. Willis and Bowman were on the fast track toward the Hall of Fame before injuries prematurely derailed their careers before age 30. Willis, a Hall semifinalist last season in his first year of eligibility, likely will still get there.
This story is from the December 2020 edition of Niner Report.
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This story is from the December 2020 edition of Niner Report.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
EIGHT IS ENOUGH
Set 49ers lineup still has several new starters
Calling all cornerbacks
Loss of Verrett exposes 49ers’ thin depth at CB
Always finding their way to run
49ers system accomplished at developing homegrown talent
ANOTHER COMEBACK?
Resilient veteran Verrett to miss rest of season
TOP 10 Rookie running backs
THE BACK LIST
STOCK UP STOCK DOWN
DEOMMODORE LENOIR | AMBRY THOMAS
Will Mostert run for 49ers again?
Raheem Mostert was primed this year to be the centerpiece of one of the NFL’s most dynamic offenses, featured as the lead performer in San Francisco’s grinding rushing attack while making his climb among the league’s top running backs.
THE WONDER OF WARNER
49ers make All-Pro star highest-paid LB in NFL
Making the right choice at QB
In the weeks that follow after you read this — and perhaps sometime even sooner than that — Kyle Shanahan and the rest of the 49ers organization will make a titanic decision that will have present, future and perhaps even everlasting implications for the franchise. It will chart the course for the team’s pivotal 2021 season while determining whether San Francisco really does have the juice to return to powerhouse status and again be considered a legitimate contender to get back to the Super Bowl.
TOP 10 Linebacker seasons
Fred Warner vaulted to stardom with a spectacular 2020 season — and the 49ers rewarded him this summer with a $95.225 million deal that makes him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history. By today’s standards, Warner’s performance last year was worth the money as he posted an Approximate Value of 19 — matching the highest score ever recorded by a San Francisco defender according to a Pro Football Reference formula that puts a single number on each player-season across all positions since 1960. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman (twice) also had seasons with an AV of 19 as they dominate this list of the greatest individual seasons by a linebacker in 49ers history.
