SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Linebacker Dre Greenlaw returned to the San Francisco 49ers on a one-year, $7.5 million deal on March 13, one day after the Denver Broncos released him, the team announced. Greenlaw had signed a three-year, $35 million contract with Denver in the spring of 2025 and said the season there was “real tough.”
Greenlaw acknowledged he had questioned leaving the only NFL team he’d known before joining the Broncos, and that coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch flew to Texas in an effort to keep him. “I didn’t think about [going] nowhere else, honestly,” Greenlaw said after agreeing to return to San Francisco.
The 2025 season with Denver was limited by injury. Greenlaw appeared in eight games because of quadriceps and hamstring issues and also took time to return from the torn left Achilles he suffered as a 49er in Super Bowl LVIII. With the Broncos he finished with 43 tackles, one sack, an interception and a forced fumble while averaging 38.6 snaps per game.
Greenlaw arrived in San Francisco as a fifth-round pick in the 2019 draft and was long viewed inside the organization as a team heartbeat and the kind of player Shanahan and Lynch want representing the franchise. “I think there’s a boost for everybody,” Shanahan said of Greenlaw’s return. “Everyone loves Dre being around, just the way he carries himself and how into football he is.”
Greenlaw said the year away gave him perspective on relationships with coaches, teammates and staff. He does not regret the decision to leave, but said he often thought about how things might have been had he not. “It’s just part of ball… I wouldn’t say that I’d do it again, but I’d let it play out the same,” Greenlaw said.
History underlines Greenlaw’s impact when he has been healthy. In his first six seasons with San Francisco, the 49ers were 52-24 including the postseason, allowed 20 points per game, recorded 1.6 takeaways per game and added two defensive expected points per game when Greenlaw played.
