San Francisco 49ers Hope for Continued Growth from 3rd-Year Linebacker Dee Winters originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The San Francisco 49ers hope for a resurgent 2025 campaign after a 6-11 mark and missing the playoffs last year.
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Off to a good start already after the arrival of Robert Saleh as the team’s new/old defensive coordinator, the defense will get some help from new additions through free agency and the NFL draft.
But Saleh will also be looking internally for improvement, and he could find it in linebacker Dee Winters.
Last offseason, star linebacker Fred Warner touted Winters as the best player at OTAs. But that didn’t translate to the regular season, where Winters struggled to get playing time.
Per Grant Cohn, Winters didn’t exactly have a stellar season.
“Winters played just 398 defensive snaps last season — he wasn’t a full-time player. And when he was on the field, he made some plays, but he also often ran around like a chicken with its head cut off,” Cohn wrote. “He didn’t always have great instincts for the football, which is one reason the 49ers gave up the fourth-most points in the league last year.”
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But Winters is once again thriving in OTAs, and Saleh has been impressed.
“He’s been impressive,” Saleh said. “Again, it’s easy when it’s OTAs and you’re not having to deal with run-pass reads and everything’s a little bit slower, but he’s got something to him. I don’t want to jinx him or anything, but if he stays on his trajectory and he attacks these next 40 days and he does things the right way, I think he’s due for a heck of a season.”
Saleh is here to turn things around defensively. And if he can do that with some guys left over from the old regime on defense, then even better.
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This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 12, 2025, where it first appeared.
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