LOS ANGELES — After the last time the Rams and San Francisco 49ers met – a soggy, 12-6 Rams victory – two BYU alums met at midfield. Rams receiver Puka Nacua and 49ers linebacker Fred Warner exchanged jerseys and chatted about the game had just transpired.
Or, more accurately, Nacua marveled that Warner caught up to him on a dagger route – a high crosser, with another receiver running a shallower route to try to drag a linebacker away from the primary read – early in the game.
“I said, ‘Ain’t no way he covered that much space in the middle of the field,’” Nacua told Warner.
“You know what it is,” Warner replied with a smile.
As the Rams (3-1) and 49ers (3-1) prepare to face off for the first time this season, San Francisco’s defense looks nothing like it has for the past several seasons. Charvarius Ward, Dre Greenlaw, Leonard Floyd and Talanoa Hufanga are on new teams. Defensive end Nick Bosa is on injured reserve.
But still roaming the middle is Warner, the All-World linebacker still playing at the highest of levels.
Warner will be the 49ers’ primary tool against the Rams’ rushing attack, which currently has the NFL’s second-highest success rate at 51.0%. But he also is one of the best coverage linebackers in the league.
“He’s the best in the business for a reason, all phases,” said Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, whose time as an assistant in San Francisco crossed over with the start of Warner’s career. “You always have a challenge when you’re playing Fred. The dude just never leaves the paint. He’s always in there. He’s always around the ball. One of the best, if not the best, at getting the ball out.”
It’s not like Warner, 28, has supernatural speed to cover the ground that he does. He ran a respectable-but-ordinary 4.64-second 40-yard dash at the combine in 2018, and that time likely has only gone down as he’s aged.
But Warner, in his eighth season, plays faster in game settings as his instincts and understanding of the 49ers’ defense and the opposing offense allow him to react instead of think.
“You just see from the silent tape to being out there on the field the presence that you can feel and spatial awareness,” Nacua said Tuesday. “You’re running routes, you’re in there and you can feel the wingspan and the dread movement of No. 54. He does a good job of covering space for sure.”
Robert Saleh returned to the 49ers this offseason for a second tenure as defensive coordinator. Though he is reimplementing his scheme in San Francisco after four seasons as head coach of the New York Jets, the Rams aren’t seeing vanilla, base defenses on tape from the 49ers.
“They know what is being asked for them and their assignments and they’re able to go out and play at the maximum speed to be as good of a defense as they can,” LaFleur said. “His track record speaks for itself in terms of Saleh. I know the players respect the heck out of him and rightfully so.”
And then there’s the physicality with which the 49ers’ defense plays.
It used to be that Rams receiver Davante Adams credited that physicality to former defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans. But he has since left to be the head coach of the Houston Texans, and yet the 49ers still play the same brand of punishing football, which will make the challenge of a short week and Thursday night game all the greater for the Rams.
“Historically, I’ve had solid games against them, but even in those games you come out beat up pretty good. Those dudes fly to the ball,” Adams said. “You have Fred and the way that he leads that defense. Everybody else just falls in place and they follow what he’s doing. DeMeco clearly established something there and maybe it was even before that. Then just continuing from there, they obviously take the onus to go ahead and make sure that they are getting a lot of hats to the ball.”
Originally Published: October 1, 2025 at 12:54 PM PDT
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