San Francisco 49ers: Which players did Madden overrate and underrate?

Underrated: LB Fred Warner

Fred Warner was one of the best surprises on a 49ers team that had more than its fair share of disappointments last season. But Warner’s emergence as a three-down linebacker was perhaps the most significant defensive development for the team.

The 2018 third-round pick led the team by a wide margin with 124 tackles in his rookie season trailing only Defensive Rookie of the Year Darius Leonard in tackles among all first-year players. On top of that, his coverage is what truly made him stand out.

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Warner actually finished first on the team in pass deflections with six and earned the fifth-best coverage rating by PFF among qualified linebackers. The BYU product flashed his downhill run-stopping ability as well finishing with 35 run stops — tied for first among rookie linebackers.

Despite this, Madden decided that Warner was nothing more than a below-average quality linebacker and gave him a disrespectful 74 rating. That rating places him as the No. 55 off-ball linebacker in the entire NFL which is quite a low ranking given his play last season.

The attributes that seemed to get docked the most were his tackling which came in at a lowly 79 overall and his intangibles — mainly awareness and play recognition.

Those seem like fair criticisms, but the ultimate ‘point dockings’ were too harsh. It seems more reasonable to have Warner up near where newcomer Kwon Alexander is ranked as a 78 overall than down near the backup-tier at 74 overall.

Another strong showing in 2019 should eliminate any questions about Warner being the true lead linebacker of the future for this team — even with Alexander under a long-term contract.