49ers' Warner earns NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors
49ers' Warner earns NFC Defensive Player of the Week honors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Fred Warner’s NFL Defensive Player of the Year campaign began in Week 5 with significant recognition for the 49ers linebacker.
The NFL on Wednesday announced Warner as the NFC Defensive Player of the Week after his do-everything performance in the 49ers’ 42-10 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on "Sunday Night Football."
“He’s the best in the world,” 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa said following the game. “It’s not close.”
Warner contributed eight tackles, a sack, an interception and a forced fumble in a dominating defensive performance that also included incompletions on his coverage down the field against Dallas wide receivers.
Warner became the first 49ers player with a sack, interception and forced fumble since NaVorro Bowman in Week 17 of the 2013 NFL season against the Arizona Cardinals.
It was the third player of the week recognition for Warner in his seven-year NFL career, and his first since Week 16 of 2020, when he had 14 tackles, three passes defensed, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in a 20-12 win over the Cardinals.
Warner becomes the fourth 49ers player to be named defensive player of the week at least three times, joining Merton Hanks (five), Bosa (four) and Hall of Famer Bryant Young (three).
Warner has risen in the conversation for NFL Defensive Player of the Year, an honor that Bosa won last season. The betting odds currently place him behind Dallas’ Micah Parsons, the Cleveland Browns' Myles Garrett, Pittsburgh Steelers' T.J. Watt, Detroit Lions' Aidan Hutchinson, Bosa and Las Vegas Raiders' Maxx Crosby.
“If they put me in the conversation, great,” Warner said. “To me, I know what I have to contribute to this team. I know the caliber of player I am, and I don’t need anyone else’s recognition or people to tell me how great I am.”
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