{"id":215522,"date":"2025-02-08T16:34:50","date_gmt":"2025-02-08T21:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=215522"},"modified":"2025-02-08T16:34:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-08T21:34:50","slug":"colts-listed-as-landing-spot-for-free-agent-dre-greenlaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/08\/colts-listed-as-landing-spot-for-free-agent-dre-greenlaw\/","title":{"rendered":"Colts Listed as Landing Spot for 49ers Defender"},"content":{"rendered":"

After hiring coordinator Lou Anarumo<\/a>, the Indianapolis Colts will look to upgrade their defense this offseason. With that said, does signing linebacker Dre Greenlaw make sense? PFF named Indianapolis a top landing spot<\/a> for the San Francisco 49ers free agent:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Colts sported a top-10 graded defense in 2024, due in large part to the play of Zaire Franklin in the middle. However, coverage at the linebacker position left something to be desired in this defense with both Franklin and his running mate, E.J. Speed (UFA this offseason), earning coverage grades under 48.0. Inserting Greenlaw into the lineup would be a sizable upgrade, as he produced 82.6 and 79.5 coverage grades in his last two full seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Colts need more consistent and elevated play from the linebacker position in 2025. Is free agent Dre Greenlaw the answer?<\/p>\n

The Indianapolis Colts Were Listed as a Landing Spot for Free Agent Dre Greenlaw<\/h2>\n

His Career Thus Far<\/h3>\n

Dre Greenlaw played four years of college football at Arkansas. During his time with the Razorbacks, he recorded 320 tackles (15 for loss), four sacks, three interceptions, and four forced fumbles.<\/p>\n

The San Francisco 49ers<\/a> drafted Greenlaw in the fifth round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Greenlaw finished his rookie season with 92 tackles, two pass deflections, a sack, and an interception. For his efforts, he was named to the PFWA NFL All-Rookie Team. <\/sup>The 49ers reached the Super Bowl that season but lost 31-20<\/a> to the Kansas City Chiefs<\/a>. Greenlaw recorded four tackles in the game.<\/p>\n

Greenlaw started 15 games during the 2023 season. He finished with 120 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and four passes defended. San Francisco made the Super Bowl, facing the Chiefs once again. Unfortunately, Greenlaw suffered a torn Achilles<\/a> during the game as the 49ers lost 25-22 to Patrick Mahomes<\/a> and Co.<\/p>\n

Recovering from a torn Achilles, Dre Greenlaw only played two games this past season. He recorded nine tackles (three solo) for the injury-plagued 49ers.<\/p>\n

Should the Colts Sign Him?<\/h3>\n

The Colts\u2019 Zaire Franklin<\/a> has emerged as one of the NFL\u2019s best linebackers. 2024 was the most decorated season of his seven-year career. He earned his first Pro Bowl and was named a Second-Team All-Pro. He also led the league in tackles with 173.<\/p>\n

Franklin\u2019s linebacker mate E.J. Speed<\/a> is set to be a free agent this offseason. If the Colts don\u2019t re-sign the former fifth-round pick, Dre Greenlaw could be a great replacement. But he\u2019d only be a great replacement if he can avoid the injury bug.<\/p>\n

Grant Cohn of SI.com<\/a> wrote about the 49ers possibly re-signing Dre Greenlaw to a one-year deal:<\/p>\n

\u201cRe-signing Greenlaw to an affordable one-year deal sounds like a no-brainer. Because when he’s healthy, he’s one of the best linebackers in the NFL. But he couldn’t stay healthy for a full game this season and he’ll turn 28 in May. He may miss a lot more time with injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seeing that there\u2019s talk of only signing a one-year deal tells you everything you need to know. The Colts shouldn\u2019t sign Dre Greenlaw. It\u2019s too risky due to his injury history even though he is one of the league\u2019s best linebackers when healthy.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Kelley L. Cox – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PFF listed the Indianapolis Colts as a possible landing spot for San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4890,"featured_media":215716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[33032,7800,32778],"class_list":["post-215522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colts","tag-dre-greenlaw","tag-indianapolis-colts-news","tag-zaire-franklin"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=215522"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":215717,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215522\/revisions\/215717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/215716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=215522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=215522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=215522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}