Greenlaw's Suspension Leaves San Francisco Short at Linebacker Before Monday's Game

Dre Greenlaw will sit out Monday's matchup against Washington after drawing a one-game suspension for unsportsmanlike conduct. The timing is not ideal. It rarely is.

The linebacker depth chart behind Greenlaw lists Tatum Bethune, Jaden Dugger, and Eugene Asante — none of whom have logged meaningful snaps this season. Garret Wallow is listed out. Marques Sigle, who led the team's linebackers with 66 tackles across 15 games, is doubtful. That is a lot of uncertainty at one position for one game, and Washington will know it.

Fred Warner remains the anchor, though he has been limited to six games this season, so the margin for error around him was already thin before Greenlaw's suspension added to the problem. The 49ers have been managing this kind of cascading availability issue all year — something goes wrong, and the next name on the list turns out to be unavailable too.

One game. Bethune and the others will get their shot. But against Washington, with this much already unsettled on the defensive side, San Francisco would have preferred to have everyone available who was supposed to be available.