Fred Warner says he would’ve played in NFC Championship Game if 49ers made it

The San Francisco 49ers got to see star linebacker Fred Warner back on the practice field before the season was over, as his practice window was opened ahead of their divisional round matchup against the Seattle Seahawks.

Warner was ultimately ruled out for that game, but was hoping to get to the NFC Championship Game to make a remarkable recovery from a dislocated ankle that he suffered back in Week 6. Earlier this week, Warner confirmed on the St. Brown Podcast that he would’ve played had the 49ers advanced another round in the playoffs.

“I would have been out there, NFC Championship, putting belt to the Rams,” Warner said on the podcast. “But that’s all for next year. We’ll never know what that would have looked like.”

While it would’ve been up to doctors and Warner only logged one practice during the divisional week before being ruled out, that would’ve been a sight to see. But perhaps it’s for the best that the linebacker can now fully recover from his injury before being ready for next season.

It was a tough year for the 49ers overall, as the injury bug hit everywhere. Nick Bosa tore his ACL early in the year. Then came the Warner injury that proved to be season-ending. Rookie defensive lineman Mykel Williams tore his ACL midway through the year. Brandon Aiyuk never ended up playing for the team. Ricky Pearsall was limited to half the season and didn’t look like himself. The list goes on and on.

This season was the first in Warner’s career that he didn’t play at least 16 games, and he was on a tear to start the year before getting hurt in Week 6. Last week, head coach Kyle Shanahan viewed the Warner injury as a big turning point in the season, as the team just had to find away after being that depleted.

“Yeah, definitely, [the Warner injury was a turning point],” Shanahan said. “I thought it could right after losing Bosa, then we had a huge win with the Rams at the Rams. I want to say maybe the next week we lost a tough game to Tampa that I felt like we should have won, but we didn’t get it done, and then we lost Fred in it, which was like the second impact that was like, ‘Alright, can we overcome this?’ But the way we showed up the next week and beat Atlanta was a hell of a deal. I forgot who it was after Atlanta. I think it might have been Houston, but we lost the next game. I always felt that every time we lost a game, that this could be it. If you lose two in a row, this could be tough. And then our team never did lose two in a row. And I thought that was one of the cooler things that I would tell to our guys a lot that I noticed with them.

“Whenever we did lose games, it’s not like we didn’t try our hardest in those games, but when you lose a game, guys always were like, ‘Alright, what can we do to not make that happen again?’ It wasn’t more like, ‘Alright that was their fault this week,’ or ‘I did my job, but that guy didn’t, so that’s why we lost.’ You could just feel every time we lost a game, this team was a little different. And the fact that we never lost two in a row, I think, is what allowed us to do all that stuff. And what really allowed us to have a chance for the one seed and to get in the playoffs, and then stringing together some wins in a row, overcoming some of the turnovers we had versus Carolina in the first half, and finding a way to still win that game. To go on the road and then beat Cleveland, which we knew was a good defense, and if we were sloppy that they would be able to get us. To go to Monday up to Indy on Monday Night and play that way and then to find a way to beat the Bears and that shootout and then all of a sudden, not only have we not lost two in a row, but we’ve strung together six in a row, and we started the year out winning three in a row. Alright, that’s why we’re here.”

It was quite the season for the 49ers, and one that they navigated without two of their best players. Now, with both expected back in 2026, we’ll see what they do this offseason.