Meet the new 49ers’ linebackers who can build the bridge to Fred Warner

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Fred Warner sightings in the 49ers locker room during the open media period have been rare since early October, when the superstar linebacker dislocated and fractured his ankle.

Warner has essentially lived for the speedy reconstruction of his ankle since then, spending about six hours daily in rehabilitation and entire nights sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber. Warner has been dead set on returning this season; he hasn’t exactly had downtime to dawdle when reporters are present.

That made Wednesday’s appearance notable.

Warner strode into the locker room while reporters scrummed around 49ers linebacker Eric Kendricks, who’ll be starting at Warner’s position in the middle of the defense during Sunday’s playoff showdown against the Philadelphia Eagles.

Warner inserted himself into the back of the gaggle, reaching his left hand — which was holding an invisible microphone — over reporters in Kendricks’ direction. Before many could notice his antics, Warner laughed and skipped away toward his locker.

Consider it a brief visual appetizer of what might be at stake when the 49ers travel back East this weekend. Their defense is depleted — Kendricks will become the 49ers’ fourth starting middle linebacker this season — but another scrappy victory could complete the bridge back to Warner’s return and the explosion of hope that would follow.

The 49ers have publicly said that an NFC Championship Game return for Warner is on the table, but rumblings from the locker room suggest it might be possible even sooner — next week. Either way, it’s up to Kendricks and his cohorts to keep the dream alive as 4.5-point underdogs entering Philadelphia this weekend.

“We need to eat our vegetables on first and second down — thats’s going to be super important,” Kendricks said of the challenge in facing quarterback Jalen Hurts and an Eagles team that’s deadly on third-and-short. “This is the league. There’s always going to be pressure on you as a player. You’ve always got to rise to the occasion. I trust my preparation as a player.”

The 49ers are turning to 33-year-old Kendricks, who was an All-Pro for the Minnesota Vikings in 2019, to fill in after Tatum Bethune suffered a season-ending groin tear in last week’s loss to the Seattle Seahawks. They also signed 29-year-old veteran linebacker Kyzir White this week. He has a chance to start at the weak-side linebacker position, because Dee Winters, who suffered an ankle injury against Seattle, didn’t practice Wednesday and may not play in Philadelphia.

“I feel like I can play,” said White, who’s been working out at home since mutually parting ways with the Tennessee Titans — hoping for an opportunity with a contending team — early last month. “Hopefully, I can help the team in any capacity.”

The 49ers are more desperate for defensive help ahead of the playoffs than they’ve been at any point since the 1998 season, when they entered a wild-card playoff game against the Green Bay Packers decimated along the defensive line. The 49ers signed eventual Hall of Fame defensive lineman Charles Haley, who’d been out of football for nearly two years at that point, days ahead of that game — which they ended up winning (thanks in part to a Haley pressure that coaxed a Brett Favre interception) in dramatic fashion when Terrell Owens made one of the most famous catches in franchise history.

More than a quarter century later, every single 49ers’ linebacker who made the team’s initial 53-man roster is hurt. GM John Lynch, seeing the alarming trend, signed Kendricks to the practice squad in late November. He has spent the six weeks since conditioning, learning the 49ers’ playbook, and preparing to contribute at all three linebacker spots.

Kendricks is now locked in where he’s most familiar: the middle linebacker position that is assigned the defense’s one helmet with a play-calling radio in it.

“This is where I’m very comfortable at,” Kendricks said. “Other positions were a little more challenging for me. I can be more verbal now that I understand the defense.”

And he believes that White, because he’s auditioning for the more free-wheeling weak-side linebacker spot, can learn the ropes extra quickly.

“We’re well-coached,” Kendricks said. “They got me up to speed, so I have no doubt they’re going to get him up to speed.”

Though the 49ers won’t say the quiet part out loud, it’s clear they’re hoping for addition-by-subtraction by plugging these veteran linebackers into their defense. Bethune, Winters, and reserve Garret Wallow — signed last month to be a special teams contributor — all struggled mightily against Seattle. The trio combined for seven missed tackles. The Seahawks exposed linebackers firing the incorrect gap multiple times, including Bethune on the game’s lone touchdown, a long Zach Charbonnet scoring run. Wallow also couldn’t shed a block on a demoralizing third-and-17 that Seahawks running back Kenneth Walker III turned into a 20-yard first down.

Above all else, the 49ers need to stabilize their run defense — especially with Hurts’ legs and Philadelphia superstar back Saquon Barkley threatening them next. The 49ers’ run defense has ranked No. 26 in expected points added (EPA) per play since Week 10, when defensive lineman Mykel Williams — a premium edge-setter — tore his ACL. That loss necessitated better linebacker play that the 49ers have simply not been able to muster, especially since Warner’s all-world talent has been on the shelf since Week 6.

Enter Kendricks and White, who posted 138 and 137 tackles for the Dallas Cowboys and Arizona Cardinals, respectively, last season.

The 49ers were certainly frustrated with Kendricks before that 2024 campaign, when he verbally committed to signing with them but instead inked with Dallas to join his former coach, Mike Zimmer — who was then the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator. (The 49ers’ backup plan to Kendricks was linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who signed but then quit on the team during an early December game.)

They’ve also had their frustrations with White, who sealed an early-season 2024 win against the 49ers for Arizona with an interception of quarterback Brock Purdy. Three years prior that, in August 2021, White — then with the Los Angeles Chargers — and 49ers’ coach Kyle Shanahan engaged in a yelling match at a training camp joint practice in Orange County.

Shanahan took exception to White tackling then-49ers running back Raheem Mostert to the ground, a practice no-no.

“I do remember that,” Shanahan said Wednesday, laughing. “I’ll finish that beef with him today.”

A few minutes later, a reporter asked White about that same incident. The linebacker also chortled in response.

“Why do you keep bringing that up?” White said, smiling. “I’m trying to play this week.”

Not long after that, Warner strode into the room — offering the reminder of what exactly is on the line as the 49ers’ depleted defense desperately claws to extend its season.

Neither left tackle Trent Williams (hamstring) nor wide receiver Ricky Pearsall (knee) practiced Wednesday. There is, however, optimism that Williams can return this week — and Pearsall, who did practice last week even though Shanahan said he’d aggravated his PCL injury against the Chicago Bears, worked on the side Wednesday.

It stands to reason that the 49ers may need both of these players against the Eagles, the reigning Super Bowl champions who are playing at a very high level defensively. The 49ers couldn’t consistently protect Purdy and separate downfield in their 13-3 loss to Seattle, and Philadelphia has delivered a 40.2% pressure rate this season.

The good news for the 49ers: Whenever their quarterbacks — Purdy and Mac Jones — have had a modicum of support this season, they’ve succeeded.