Kwon Alexander vs Dre Greenlaw

When Kwon got injured, it was viewed as a huge loss for the 2019 defense. Unexpectedly, Dre stepped in to admirably fill Kwon's shoes to close the regular season, and even had his own epic highlight moment to help the 49ers clinch the #1 seed.

Since the 3rd LB is considered a role player nowadays with defense in nickel so often, one of these players will be on the sideline 67% of the time. I think there's a valid discussion to be had regarding which player should be playing alongside Warner in 2020.

This is my rough breakdown of which player excels in which area when compared to one another:
Coverage: Kwon
Run defense: Dre
Tackling: Dre
Blitzing: Kwon
Ball skills: Tie
Leadership: Kwon

The categories should be weighted differently so it's not as simple as saying, "Kwon is better at three things, Dre is better at two, so Kwon is better".

Who do you think will be the starting weakside backer in 2020?
Who do you think should be the starting weakside backer in 2020?

They should be co-starters. Keep them fresh. I'd go with the traits-based matchups, personally. Heavy run team? Start Dre. Heavy pass? Use Kwon.

Then again, ultimately, it'll shift to being performance based. If Kwon struggles while Dre shines, Kwon will get less time at WILL.

Nice to have them both

I think Kwon is slightly better at coverage, but Dre is MUCH better at tackling. I'd take Dre, but I'm glad we have both (for now).

Didn't notice much drop in performance. Only difference is saying Legendary in response to every question.

This is a great problem to have.

The way I see it is Dre needs to prove he can maintain last year's level of play, so you start Kwon at Will and Dre goes back to SAM. If Dre can repeat his level of play, Kwon, unfortunately, has gotta go or take a big pay cut. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Saleh plays more base in nickel situations against certain teams(ie Seattle) with those 3 since Kwon and Fred are so good in coverage.

Originally posted by thl408:

When Kwon got injured, it was viewed as a huge loss for the 2019 defense. Unexpectedly, Dre stepped in to admirably fill Kwon's shoes to close the regular season, and even had his own epic highlight moment to help the 49ers clinch the #1 seed.

Since the 3rd LB is considered a role player nowadays with defense in nickel so often, one of these players will be on the sideline 67% of the time. I think there's a valid discussion to be had regarding which player should be playing alongside Warner in 2020.

This is my rough breakdown of which player excels in which area when compared to one another:
Coverage: Kwon
Run defense: Dre
Tackling: Dre
Blitzing: Kwon
Ball skills: Tie
Leadership: Kwon

The categories should be weighted differently so it's not as simple as saying, "Kwon is better at three things, Dre is better at two, so Kwon is better".

Who do you think will be the starting weakside backer in 2020?
Who do you think should be the starting weakside backer in 2020?

I think dre could also improve his coverage skills next season remember the nearly game clinching epic interception against wilson on the first game we played them ? He basically is the anti seahawk right now

Kwon

$$$$$$$$$ >>>>$$

Kwon is better but injury prone and expensive. In a perfect world, we could trade Kwon for cap space and draft picks and go with Greenlaw.

Just like we rotate guys along the d-line, expect the same for our LB unit. We need to keep em fresh, so a rotation of Warner, Alexander, Greenlaw, and even Walker (impressed in 2019) will certainly help maintain our strong front 7.

Kwon for the leadership and energy.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:

They should be co-starters. Keep them fresh. I'd go with the traits-based matchups, personally. Heavy run team? Start Dre. Heavy pass? Use Kwon.

Then again, ultimately, it'll shift to being performance based. If Kwon struggles while Dre shines, Kwon will get less time at WILL.

Agree. Dre stepped up big time after Kwon's injury and played well

Dre was a rookie last year. Aren't players supposed to have their biggest jump from year one to year two? I can only imagine the game will slow down for him and some leadership skills will rise. I like both players, but I think Greenlaw will surprise some people.

Originally posted by oregonniner:
Dre was a rookie last year. Aren't players supposed to have their biggest jump from year one to year two?

Good players, yes.

The bad players sink. That's why it's important for Dre Greenlaw to prove his rookie season wasn't a fluke.

Originally posted by OnTheClock:
They should be co-starters. Keep them fresh. I'd go with the traits-based matchups, personally. Heavy run team? Start Dre. Heavy pass? Use Kwon.

Then again, ultimately, it'll shift to being performance based. If Kwon struggles while Dre shines, Kwon will get less time at WILL.

That sounds logical but teams don't usually rotate LBs specific to gameplan. At least not that I can recall. And then within a game, I don't notice teams rotating LBs from drive to drive. I know the team is cap committed to Kwon, but in a perfect world that shouldn't matter. I'd love for it to be open competition at WILL and just let the better player win. If a player making $11+ gets beat out by a 5th rounder on his rookie deal, so be it.