On the long list of San Francisco 49ers departures this offseason, and the one that's in line to hurt the worst, is linebacker Dre Greenlaw. He signed a three-year deal with the Denver Broncos as it was clear the Niners weren't going to go to that extent to keep him as part of a broader cost-cutting plan.
There has been reporting out there about Greenlaw wanting to escape the shadow of star linebacker Fred Warner and be the No. 1 linebacker somewhere. He can be that in Denver, and he's now further removed from the torn Achilles he suffered in Super Bowl LVIII.
Spotrac revealed the finer details of Greenlaw's contract with the Broncos, which confirms his departure from San Francisco was about more than money:
Even in their mode to reduce their cash outlay, the 49ers could have made what amounts to one-year, $11.5 million deal for Greenlaw work.
Maybe their offer came in lower than that and it further sealed his departure, while closing the door on any idea they could circle back with a better offer.
49ers tried to keep Dre Greenlaw all the way to the bitter end
On Monday, ESPN's Adam Schefter appeared on Denver's Altitude Sports Radio (92.5 FM) to talk about Broncos free agency. The addition of Greenlaw was an obvious topic:
"The Niners were trying to get back Dre Greenlaw, even after Denver had an agreement done with him," Schefter said. "They were pushing to get that done, and they were trying to flip his decision in this world that we live in, where people commit, and there are agreements."
"The Niners tried to flip Dre Greenlaw back to San Francisco, and I think they were pretty persuasive, but not persuasive enough", Schefter continued. "And I think Dre Greenlaw stood his ground and kind of stayed with Denver."
It's rare when an initially reported free-agent deal doesn't make it to the "officially official" finish line, but it does happen during the span from the "legal tampering" period to when the new league year starts and teams can announce signings. Players change their minds, as would be their prerogative, and that's a small risk teams take during that time.
When a player has a free-agent deal reportedly in place, surface level protocol would seem to be for other teams to cease their pursuit unless they know something that keeps the door open.
How that worked here is unclear, but the Niners clearly didn't take Greenlaw agreeing to a deal with the Broncos as a sign they should stop their effort to keep him.
Right to the bitter, bitter end, they tried to keep a fan- and locker-room favorite to save a little bit of offseason face.
