49ers need to make change in starting LB corps

It appears the San Francisco 49ers may be headed toward a shakeup to try and cure some of what ails their struggling defense.

The 49ers entering Monday night were allowing a whopping 6.1 yards per play. That’s the third-worst mark in the league and 1.1 yards per play more than they allowed last season. They’ve also struggled on third downs and haven’t been able to come up with key stops at the end of both of their losses.

While there are a host of issues on that side of the ball, one glaring one is linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, who could be on his way to a lesser role. Second-year LB Dee Winters took over in the second quarter for a short stretch Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams before re-aggravating his ankle injury on LA’s fake punt.

Head coach Kyle Shanahan said Winters’ defensive snaps were something the club planned on leading up to the game.

“Just planned on it before the game,” Shanahan said. “We wanted to do that early going into this year also. But Dee just got hurt there, I think in that last preseason game, so that set that back a little bit. He’s gotten healthy and we planned on doing that early, just like the week before we planned on doing it with (S George Odum) G.O. and Malik (Mustapha). We started that and he got hurt on, he reaggravated his ankle on the fake punt.”

While Shanahan said the move wasn’t because of dissatisfaction with Campbell, he did say Winters had done enough to push for the starting Will LB spot.

“We want to keep working to get the best guys out there and Dee has had a good camp and he showed that he deserves the chance to push him,” Shanahan said. “He did good on the plays that he did when he was in there and hopefully he’ll get healthy so we can keep doing the same stuff.”

It’s not a surprise the 49ers are aiming to try something different at the spot previously occupied by Dre Greenlaw. Greenlaw’s athleticism in the second level allowed San Francisco to control an area of the field so many offenses thrive in, particularly in the passing game.

Campbell has struggled badly in coverage, allowing 14 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown on 16 targets according to Pro Football Focus.

Getting that second LB spot ironed out isn’t the only thing that can help the 49ers turn their defense around after a slow start, but it would certainly help what’s been a clear weakness so far in 2024.