How less became more during the best month of 49ers LB Fred Warner’s career
NFL players can never prepare enough.
There’s never too much information to gather on an opponent or too many trends to study in a scouting report. But sometimes gathering all that intelligence and disseminating it on game day can slow you down.
That’s what happened recently with 49ers middle linebacker Fred Warner, who was named the NFC defensive player of the month for his stellar performance in November. It marked the second straight award for San Francisco as rookie defensive end Nick Bosa received the same honors for October.
But what’s led to Warner’s ascension has gone against traditional thinking when it comes to preparing for opponents.
‘He’s so smart’ 49ers coaches say
Taking things off Warner’s plate, like being responsible for a slew of presnap adjustments from his teammates has led to Warner playing faster and making more splashy plays, like his tone-setting forced fumble against Aaron Rodgers on the first series, or a pair of sacks against Russell Wilson in the hard-fought Monday night loss Nov. 11.
“He’s so smart you want to give him more (responsibilities),” coordinator Robert Saleh said of Warner. “But like any player, the more you give, the slower they go.
“We always try to balance off to try to eliminate as much as we can from him so he can just go line up and play because one of his greatest strengths is he can identify formations, tendencies and down-distance situations. He can pick up indicators quicker than most people can, so to take away some of that stuff from him is really more the challenge of giving him more.”
Warner said Saleh has taken things off his plate at roughly the midpoint of the season, which is about when his play started to take off. The 2018 third-round draft pick is leading the team with 92 tackles, but he’s added six pass breakups – including two last week in Baltimore – three sacks and three forced fumbles.
“I think being in my second year, things are going a lot smoother, I’m seeing things a lot quicker, which I think probably helps with that too,” Warner said this week.
The checklist of Warner’s responsibilities before the snap can be up to six items, cornerback Richard Sherman said, while providing an example from the Nov. 17 game against the Arizona Cardinals.
“If this guy moves here, he has to re-adjust the line, and he has to tell DBs this, he has to tell this guy, and sometimes that just doesn’t allow him to play fast,” Sherman said. “He’s getting everybody else lined up, allowing everyone else to play really fast, but he can’t play fast because he has to make all these calls, these adjustments. And once you take that off him, maybe you put a little more strain on the rest of the guys, you spread out the strain, it allows him to play faster, and it allows us to be a better defense.”
Saleh has said Warner was the smartest college prospect he ever interviewed before the draft. Warner has become well known throughout team headquarters for his study habits and being locked into his iPad studying film as much as any player on the team. He realized the importance of it during his college career at BYU where Kyle Van Noy, now a highly respected veteran for the New England Patriots, served as a mentor.
“I think when I got to college I started to learn more about preparing, off the field, some of the older guys kind of taught me the ways,” Warner said. “It just gets more and more important as you get to the higher level you get to. I think that’s what separates the players from the goods from the greats.”
49ers loaded on defensive line
The 49ers have a slew of talent on the defensive end, including an defensive line featuring five former first-round draft picks, but Warner is the one responsible for getting everyone in the right spots.
Which is important because Warner is still relatively new to his position. In college, he played a hybrid linebacker and safety position, often covering pass catchers out of the slot, which has played a role in his immense coverage skills in the NFL.
The difference with the 49ers is Warner is relaying the play calls from Saleh as the player with the green dot on his helmet. That wasn’t the case in college. He’s often referred to as the quarterback of the defense, a distinction he earned during his first offseason program as a rookie.
“I think he’s shown a tremendous amount of growth,” Sherman said. “I think he’s a Pro Bowl player this year and I think he’s shone it. Obviously in player of the month at the ‘Mike’ linebacker spot, with the schedule and teams we’ve played, he’s played outstanding football.”
Warner faces another difficult challenge Sunday against the New Orleans Saints and quarterback Drew Brees, who is leading the NFL in completion percentage (73.8) for the third straight season. Though Brees is coming off his least productive game of the season on Thanksgiving against the Atlanta Falcons when he threw for just 184 yards on 18 of 30 completions. He tossed six touchdown passes over his previous two games combined against NFC South foes Tampa Bay and Carolina.
The game is as important as an early December game can be for San Francisco. The team currently sits in the No. 5 seed in the NFC despite being tied for the best record at 10-2. The Saints boast the same record as they’re still battling for playoff seeding after clinching their division title last week.
“This one is obviously going to hold some weight,” Warner said.
His player of the month award, not so much.
“It’s December now, November’s gone,” he said. “Over with.”
