The 2024 season left no debate over the importance of Dre Greenlaw to the San Francisco 49ers. But will the veteran linebacker be back with the team in 2025 and beyond?
That's a question that remains unanswered, although the 49ers at least gave a clue on what direction they'd like to move in with Greenlaw on Wednesday.
Greenlaw, 27, played in only two games in 2024, missing the first 13 games of the season while he recovered from a torn Achilles suffered in the Super Bowl and the last two games of the season with a calf injury. But despite spending minimal time on the field during the 2024 season, his performance in a 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 15 (eight tackles before leaving the game early) and the impact he had on the defense when he was in the lineup made it clear how much the oft-struggling 49ers defense missed him throughout the rest of the season.
With Greenlaw's contract about to expire, he heads toward free agency set for a substantial payday from whichever team wants to give it to him. A social media post featuring Greenlaw's fiancee earlier this week that hinted at his possible departure from San Francisco set off a round of speculation regarding his future.
That speculation was among the many topics discussed at 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch's year-end press conference on Wednesday. Lynch's assessment of the situation was different from what was suggested from the social media post, as he said both parties have an interest in coming to an agreement on a new contract.
"I know I sat with Dre and always have great discussions with Dre," Lynch said. "I know about his want to be here, and I know our want to have him here... There's realities and there's tough decisions and so many factors to all those things, but believe me, the desire on both sides is there."
What are the factors Lynch mentioned? Shanahan dove into that when he discussed Greenlaw, saying there's a lot the team needs to determine before attempting to bring the situation to a resolution.
"We don't even know, guys," Shanahan told reporters. "We haven't spent much time together yet. I've had two days (of) exit interviews with players and coaches. But I mean, players don't know either.
"And that's what's hard for players. They're under contracts. They know when their contract's going to run up. That's an emotional time for players, for their families, for wives, girlfriends, whoever it is, kids. Just like it is for coaches when I can't always tell them exactly what their future is going to be the day the season ends. It's tied to a lot of other people."
It's safe to assume the 49ers will try to come to a decision on Greenlaw before free agency opens in March rather than letting him hit the open market. Until then, patience will be important for all involved, according to Shanahan.
"I've been on that side," Shanahan said. "I know wives are texting you all day asking what the deal is, and they don't believe that you really don't have an answer yet. And I know what they look like when you walk home to the door. And they're like, 'What are we doing with our lives?' And you're like, 'I don't really know.'
"There's a lot of things that you want to solve so fast for people that is stressful for people sitting in our chairs. But you can't solve everything at once. A lot of things are tied together. And when you hear things like that -- we're doing everything in the world we can to bring Greenlaw back, and we're not into losing really good players who are unbelievable people. So we're going to do everything we can to never lose really good players who are good people. But that's also a very hard challenge. Very hard. And that's something that you don't just talk about in one meeting. There's too many things that connect to that. Draft, free agency, roster, years, all that stuff. And that takes weeks, months to decide."
While the 49ers may not have answers yet on where things will go with Greenlaw, Shanahan and Lynch did shed light on a vast number of pressing team issues on Wednesday, including the contract status of quarterback Brock Purdy, where things stand with the defensive coordinator search, and whether or not Trent Williams or Deebo Samuel will return next season. 49ers Webzone dove into all those topics earlier today, but there's a lot more than that to discuss, which we'll get into in this edition of 49ers Notebook.
Rookies Pearsall, Puni shine for 49ers in different ways
There wasn't much for the 49ers to feel good about coming out of the 2024 season, but one bright spot was the franchise's rookie class, which showed signs of being a foundational piece of the team's future.
The majority of the team's draft picks were significant contributors in 2024, with undrafted defensive tackle Evan Anderson playing a part as well. Two draft picks in particular who emerged as big pieces to the puzzle were wide receiver and first-round pick Ricky Pearsall and right guard and third-round pick Dominick Puni.
The road to rookie success couldn't have been different for those two players, as Pearsall had to battle through injury and a gunshot wound before stepping onto the NFL gridiron while Puni grabbed a starting spot from the get-go and held onto it throughout the season. Puni finished with an overall grade of 80.5 from Pro Football Focus, while Pearsall caught 31 passes for 400 yards and three touchdowns while only being a major factor in eight games.
Given everything Pearsall went through, which started with offseason and training camp injuries before he got shot during a robbery attempt, Shanahan came away excited with what he saw from the rookie in 2024.
"I thought Ricky had an unbelievable season," Shanahan said. "I know the gunshot wound is the biggest, obviously, but I've never had a rookie player miss all of OTAs and training camp and have much of a successful rookie year. It's tough to do that. For him to do that and then get into Week 1, which I knew he would be way behind because of that situation, and then get a gunshot wound kind of made me think that we were going to get nothing from him and just in terms of how could we and how hard that would be on him.
"But how quick he came back from that, and then when he did, just to watch him go through rookie things in a live NFL game and stuff, and then having to watch him come back from that stuff throughout the year and still hit a rookie wall without a foundation of an offseason and stuff like that, I thought it was a huge success for him this year."
The rookie wall Shanahan spoke of was a three-game stretch in which Pearsall caught no passes on only three targets. Pearsall made his debut on October 20 against the Kansas City Chiefs, then had what looked like a breakout game on November 10 when he caught six passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But then he was a non-factor for three games before catching a combined six passes for 48 yards over the following three games in December. Pearsall came out of that slump, however, with what proved to be his true breakout game -- an eight-catch/141-yard/one touchdown showing against the Detroit Lions on December 30. Pearsall finished up with six catches for 69 yards and a touchdown in the season finale against the Arizona Cardinals on January 5.
While most 49ers fans and probably many of the team's players were happy for the season to come to an end, Pearsall didn't want to stop. That's understandable considering it seemed like he was finding his stride after a topsy-turvy season.
"You have these exit interviews and you always take away impressions... some of these rookies are typically, they're just done," Lynch said. "You think about it, long college year, right To combine training. You get drafted, you go OTAs, all that. Ricky, one thing he said to me, 'Mr. Lynch, I just want to keep playing because I feel like I'm just getting my feet underneath me.' So that's really cool that he has that excitement, and he's going to use that."
Pearsall ended the season with the momentum he should be able to build upon in the months ahead. Lynch thinks Pearsall will do exactly that and come back ready to take the next step.
"I said, 'Now the key is you use that to motivate you through this offseason,'" Lynch said. "'The best players, they don't ever take a rest. They shutter down the intensity and things like that, but they never rest.'
"And so his mindset, I can tell, is right. He's a really good football player. Proud of the way he handled a lot of adversity, things that nobody could anticipate and work through it. And I think we're going to have a really good football player."
As for Puni, the 49ers can simply take a bit of a victory lap on that one. They came out of the 2024 NFL Draft thinking they made a good choice in Round 3 only to find out they made a potentially great one.
"I think it shows that our process worked there, but I would say he really exceeded our expectations," Lynch said. "We thought we got a good player. I think he showed us a little more than that.
"We were just talking about it upstairs. Everyone saw the real strong play, the consistent play. I think there's more in the tank, you know, of where he can grow. I think the toughness -- he had an AC joint one week and we were really questioning whether he could play on Sunday, and he practiced on Wednesday. I've had that same injury. I always prided myself on having a high pain tolerance. That stuff hurts, and he didn't miss a practice. So I think he's got the right mindset too. And yeah, we got to continue to find guys like Dom because he's going to be a good player for us."
Dealing with tough times and tragedy
Pearsall being a victim of a shooting was one of an inordinate amount of terrible things that happened to the 49ers and their players in 2024. Offensive line coach Chris Foerster lost his wife to cancer early in the year, while cornerback Charvarius Ward lost his one-year-old daughter Amani to heart issues in October before the wife of left tackle Trent Williams revealed in November that the couple's son, Trenton Jr., was stillborn after losing his twin earlier in her pregnancy.
Shanahan spoke on Tuesday about the challenges the team faced when going through those tragedies.
"That stuff is hard," Shanahan said. "And you watch guys go through it, and you don't like to watch anyone go through something tragic, but you really watch how impressive people can be going through that stuff. When you watch people really grieve and things like that, you realize that's the hardest thing all humans have to deal with.
"But then to watch people who are grieving so badly and still have to come into a room and then go perform at a high level, which is a whole different type of pressure, and to watch them handle it and get through it, you realize how much stronger some of this stuff makes those guys and then inspires guys around them. And it does make you closer at times.
"I think our stuff was pretty documented this year, but there's stuff like that every year. Maybe not as big, quite as big or as many of them, but a lot of teams deal with that stuff. And we've been through a number over these years. And just going through it with Chris Foerster and his wife last year, just her passing away a week before the Super Bowl and things like that. And going through it with Johnny (linebackers coach Johnny Holland) over the years when him battling his cancer and things like that. Everyone has those tough moments in life, but when you have to do it through this, it is unique. But when you go through it, I think it does make people a little bit closer and a little bit stronger for going through some of those moments."
Like Shanahan, Lynch saluted the team for sticking together through tragedy, saying they came out of it as a stronger unit.
"This is a production-based business and we're paid to win games, compete for championships. The one thing I will say, acknowledging that we fell short of that standard, I am proud of this team, the way we hung together. Like Kyle said, there's always things and there's things behind the scenes that no one hears about.
"Frankly, one of the craziest things about this job as a player, I prided myself with really knowing my teammates. There's so much stuff I never knew that I'm disappointed that I didn't because now as I sit in this seat, so much comes to you of the challenges people are going through. But I will say that this season I've never had anything like it in terms of the amount, the severity, the unique circumstances. And I was proud of the way our team stuck together, had each other's backs and stayed together. And I do believe we'll be stronger for that."
A special teams guy after all
Shanahan has admitted in the past he isn't much of an expert when it comes to special teams, but he seemed to be caught off-guard a bit on Wednesday when a reporter asked the coach if he would take renewed interest in that area after not showing much in the past. Before Shanahan got the chance to answer that question, Lynch jumped in to say that Shanahan does emphasize special teams despite any comments he's made that suggested the contrary.
"I would tell you Kyle spends an inordinate amount of time with all phases of our team," Lynch said. "Special teams is extremely important in the way we construct our rosters. The time is there. Now in kicking, neither of us are kicking specialists, so we don't sit here and profess to know everything about kicking and things of that nature.
"But the time issue, I'm sorry to interrupt Kyle, but he spends plenty of time there."
Shanahan then responded to the question by saying he's honest about not having much of a special teams background but has gone out of his way in recent years to improve the unit, which struggled in 2024 before its coach, Brian Schneider, was fired at season's end.
"I just don't BS you guys with that stuff," Shanahan said. "We spent some heavy draft picks on special teams players, which I think is an investment. We spent some salary cap on guys. Bringing guys like George Odum, having (Demetrius) Flannigan-Fowles here these last couple years, those are special teams decisions. Spending a third-round pick on a kicker, making special teams changes is why special teams is important to me because we do work at it. But it wasn't good enough this year. I don't put that just on Brian by any means. I mean, losing your kicker, losing your punter, when injuries do affect the roster, especially offense and defensively, what it did affect the most was special teams. And I think that was unfair to Brian and a tough situation to put him in.
"But I do think it's an avenue we can get better in and you can't change the whole thing out. And so Brian ends up being the fall guy for that. And I really appreciate him. He did have a real good three years here and we worked his tail off and was very loyal to us and is a very good coach and he'll bounce back on his feet, and we'll be going against him soon, I'm sure. But no, special teams is part of football and everything -- part of football that's extremely important to us."
How deep will the changes on defense go?
The 49ers already made a major change on defense with the decision to move Nick Sorensen out of the defensive coordinator role. Might the team consider making some scheme changes as well?
Much of that will come down to who is named as the new defensive coordinator, but Shanahan seemed to suggest that injuries played a bigger role than scheme in the defense's problems in 2024 when asked about the issue on Wednesday.
"This year is most disappointing to me because regardless of injuries, I feel we should have been a playoff team, and then you never know what happens in there," Shanahan said. "But when I go back to the hardest thing for me this year was the three games I've talked to you guys about -- the first one versus L.A., first one versus Arizona, second one versus Seattle. I thought we should have won those games and we lost them at the end (because) of our own mistakes, which means we would have been 8-2 going into Week 11. And that was the hardest thing.
"And then we hit some real bad injuries, which were going to be tough. That's, to me, what made it steamroll to where we didn't have a chance to make the playoffs. So when I look at that stuff, that's the stuff that I feel we got to fix the most. And is that scheme, is that personnel? I mean, that's football. You've got to adjust. Your scheme changes when people are getting hurt, when you can't do exactly what you want to do. It happens on offense all the time. You guys are going to see. I hear from you guys, but I mean, the offense looks different when a different quarterback gets in there. It looks different when Christian McCaffrey gets in there. It looks different all the time. And that's how defenses can be, too.
Naming a new defensive coordinator will be one of the top priorities for the 49ers in the coming days and weeks. From there, whoever gets the job will be expected to put the team in a better position to deal with injuries than they were in 2024.
"You gotta have that foundation of how you implement it and where you think the season can go," Shanahan said. "And that's what you really, truly try to build in the offseason and then into training camp. And that's something I think we'll be better at building this offseason -- having a little bit more time to do it, being a little more prepared for it, because we saw where it went last year.
"And that starts with getting a coordinator in here who can help us map that out. And once we do map that out, it goes right to free agency and how to make sure we can get the best possible situation that we have out of the situation that we're in. And then it goes to the draft, and when that's over, all the guys are here, then you get to work."
Will Shanahan's role change at all?
Shanahan made the unexpected announcement on Wednesday that passing game coordinator Klay Kubiak would now be carrying the title of offensive coordinator. But does that signal any sort of shift in what Shanahan will be doing offensively?
Probably not. Shanahan told reporters that Kubiak, who called plays in the season finale against the Cardinals, was more or less in an offensive coordinator role already, and that the head coach's role in offensive playcalling will stay the same.
"Yeah, I'll continue to call plays, but Klay and I have done everything here the last two years together, kind of hand-in-hand," Shanahan said. "We put the game plan in together. Yeah, I call it, but only one person can speak to the quarterback. Him, Foerster, [tight ends coach Brian] Fleury. Those are the guys I rely on through playcalling throughout the game.
"It's not like I'm just in silence. They're calling every play. I'm discussing it with the guys we prepared for within the week, discussing it with the guys who are talking with their players and what they see. And it's the same thing we all did for Klay versus Arizona."