The San Francisco 49ers have an issue at a position that has long since been a strength following Super Bowl 58.

When Dre Greenlaw went down with a torn Achilles while running on to the field following a punt, it not only robbed the 49ers of one of their emotional leaders in the biggest game of the season, it left them with a hole for the start of the 2024 campaign.

Greenlaw faces a long recovery and could well miss the start of the season. As such, the 49ers may need to find a player to fill the void next to Fred Warner for at least the opening weeks of the campaign.

Dee Winters, the 49ers' sixth-round pick in the 2023 draft, didn't play enough as a rookie to really merit consideration to start at Greenlaw's WILL linebacker spot in his second season.

However, as the Niners face the prospect of potentially reorganizing their linebacker depth chart in the wake of Greenlaw's injury, Winters has the talent to have an impact in a rotational capacity in 2024.

The 49ers, in going against Leo Chenal in the Super Bowl, saw the impact a fast linebacker deployed in a hyper-specific role in which they have the freedom to attack downhill and rush the passer can have for a defense.

Chenal only played 27 defensive snaps in the Super Bowl, but he had two pressures, including a quarterback hit. He had six tackles, a tackle for loss, forced a fumble from Christian McCaffrey to end the 49ers' extremely promising opening drive and critically blocked a Jake Moody extra point after San Francisco went ahead on a fourth-quarter touchdown.

And all this from the Chiefs' backup SAM linebacker. 

Winters is in a position in which he could be the starting SAM linebacker for San Francisco next season, and his performance in college indicates he could have a markedly similar impact.

In his final season with TCU, Winters had 14.5 tackles for loss and 7.5 sacks. Blessed with 4.49 speed that allows him to play sideline to sideline and close downhill in a hurry, he is the ideal physical talent to be unleashed in a specialist role that allows him to affect the quarterback and make impactful plays near the line of scrimmage on base downs.

Whether the 49ers have enough belief in Winters to make him the starting SAM linebacker — Oren Burks and Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles are both set to become free agents — remains to be seen.

However, a top-heavy 49ers roster needs to start getting more out of its younger players. With Chenal's pivotal performance in the Super Bowl, the Chiefs provided a blueprint for how the Niners might harness Winters' athletic gifts in year two.

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