Fred Warner played just six games during the 2025 NFL season, but voters still ranked him the best linebacker in football.<\/p>\n
League executives, coaches and scouts voted Warner the top off-ball linebacker for the fourth consecutive year in ESPN’s annual positional rankings<\/a>, released Tuesday by NFL insider Jeremy Fowler — a remarkable outcome for a player who missed the majority of last season<\/a> after a broken and dislocated ankle suffered in Week 6.<\/p>\n “Rarely does a player miss most of a season due to injury and maintain his standing in our top 10,” Fowler wrote. “Warner, however, earned around 70 [percent] of the first-place votes.”<\/p>\n The number is a slight dip from a year ago, when Warner earned an even more dominant share of first-place votes<\/a> — but his position atop the hierarchy still was not seriously threatened. In his six games before the injury, Warner still produced 51 tackles, three pass deflections and two forced fumbles, numbers that would project to a full All-Pro caliber season had he stayed healthy.<\/p>\n “He diagnoses faster than anyone,” an NFL coordinator told Fowler. “That’s really his secret sauce. Processes the game at an incredibly fast level.”<\/p>\n The numbers around San Francisco’s defense with and without Warner on the field tell the larger story. The 49ers’ allowed explosive play rate nearly doubled when Warner was sidelined, jumping from 10.2 percent with him on the field to 19.3 percent without him. One voter ranked Warner as low as fifth overall — the only outlier on an otherwise unanimous ballot alongside the Philadelphia Eagles’ Zack Baun<\/a>, the two players named by every single respondent.<\/p>\n Baltimore Ravens star Roquan Smith<\/a> finished second, with evaluators praising his instincts and physicality while noting he still is not viewed as elite in coverage.<\/p>\n For Warner, the ranking comes with good news attached — he is expected to be fully healthy and cleared for training camp<\/a>, returning as the emotional anchor of a 49ers defense looking to bounce back after the injury-plagued season snapped his streak of three consecutive All-Pro selections.<\/p>\n At 29 and entering his ninth NFL season, Warner already has four first-team All-Pro nods to his name — trailing only Patrick Willis<\/a>‘ five among 49ers linebackers in franchise history. A few more seasons like the one voters just rewarded him for, and that gap will not be a gap much longer.<\/p>\n