Dre Greenlaw had this game circled. In his first matchup with the Broncos since they cut him in March, the 49ers linebacker spent Sunday afternoon letting Sean Payton hear it, and after the 24-14 win at Levi’s Stadium it took teammate Fred Warner stepping in to keep the moment from going any further.
It started early. After making a tackle near the Denver sideline in the first quarter, Greenlaw got up and pointed straight at Payton. Fan clips of the exchange caught Greenlaw telling his former coach he messed up releasing him. Payton answered with a simple “I know.”
Greenlaw was not done. When the game ended, he walked toward Payton at midfield, pointing and talking, until Warner grabbed him by the arm and steered him away. Asked afterward what he said, Greenlaw did not hide it. “I told him to get the f**k off the field.”
The bad blood is about how it ended in Denver. Greenlaw signed a three-year, $35 million deal with the Broncos, played only eight games through injury and a suspension, then got released in March. He said Payton never called him about it. “The disrespect,” Greenlaw said. “He couldn’t be man to man and call my phone and say, ‘We’re going to cut you.’” Payton said after the game that he thinks “the world of” Greenlaw. The feeling is clearly not mutual.
Greenlaw backed up the talk with a team-high 12 tackles as the 49ers moved to 4-0. And he drew a line between the coach and the locker room: “I love all the players… it’s all love and respect.”
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