Fred Warner claims the top spot in AP's NFL linebacker rankings
The job of an off-ball linebacker has perhaps never been harder in the NFL. Players need to be adept at stopping the run for defenses that are focusing most of their resources on defending the pass and not be liabilities when they are caught in coverage. No linebacker pulls off that trick better than Fred Warner, whose versatility helped anchor San Francisco’s top-ranked defense a year ago and made him the unanimous choice by The Associated Press for the top spot among off-ball linebackers. A panel of nine AP Pro Football Writers ranked the top five players at off-ball linebacker,
August 29, 2023