Dre Greenlaw is back with the 49ers, and it sounds like he’s ready to have a dominant season after a down year.

Dre Greenlaw was drafted and developed by the San Francisco 49ers, and he became an integral part of the team’s defense from 2019 to 2024. However, the veteran linebacker left the 49ers in 2025, signing a three-year deal worth $35 million with the Denver Broncos.

Now, after one year away, Greenlaw is back home in San Francisco, rejoining the 49ers in free agency this year.

The passionate linebacker had one of his worst years as a pro, with injuries limiting him to just eight games. Denver figured Greenlaw was no longer a great fit for its defense, so the Broncos decided to release him.

Turns out, the veteran linebacker seemingly agreed with the move, because he recently expressed that he was unhappy during the 2025 season.

In an appearance on “The Set” podcast, hosted by former NFL lineman Terron Armstead, Greenlaw flat out said, “I just wasn’t happy,” and it all started with his injuries. Not only was his body not responding how he wanted it to, he didn’t enjoy the process of having to take reps from Denver’s other linebackers, who were playing well, and the linebacker also wasn’t fond of splitting snaps:

“For me, it was like, the fact that I’m not healthy, I don’t feel that twitch or that gear that I felt like I need to have, but obviously I’m out here trying to do everything I can to be on the field… Now I’ve got to slowly come in and take reps from somebody else, which the linebackers were playing really, really good at the time, so now I’m just taking reps from this guy. And now it’s like, OK, we’re splitting reps, how are we going to do it? One week it’s this, one week it’s that, and it’s like, I’ve never been in that position before. Yeah, I just wasn’t happy. That’s really what it boiled down to at the end of the day.”
Dre Greenlaw (The Set podcast)

Greenlaw also understood the frustration from Denver, since one of its big free-agent additions only played half the season.

However, the linebacker doesn’t regret any of it, nor does he have any ill will towards he Broncos — he is happy to be back in San Francisco, though.

Dre Greenlaw is happy to be back with 49ers

The linebacker explained the importance of familiarity he has in San Francisco, from top to bottom in the organization, but especially with Fred Warner. Greenlaw explained that the two have always just had a weird connection to where it’s clear they’re supposed to be next to each other on the field.

That will once again be the case in 2026.

Last season, he posted just 43 tackles, two tackles for a loss, and one interception, in eight regular season games in 2025. In 2022 and 2023, the linebacker’s last two full seasons, he recorded 127 and 120 tackles, respectively.

Now back at his NFL home, Dre Greenlaw has his joy back, and is ready to return to his dominant form.