San Francisco opened the linebacker’s practice window earlier than expected as he pushes to return from a fractured ankle.
San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner could return for the Niners’ matchup against the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday.
Warner dislocated and fractured his ankle in Week 6. He was not expected to come back until later in the postseason, but the Niners opened his practice window, and he said Wednesday that he is laser-focused on potentially returning to the field this weekend.
“I feel amazing,” Warner said in the 49ers’ locker room. “Let me just say I’m just so grateful, blessed to be back. Obviously, when all this happened, I didn’t really think about the possibility of returning in season, but the way things progressed, being able to have this opportunity to be back with my teammates and have a chance at helping them win this week, that’s my only goal going forward.”
Warner suffered a dislocated and fractured ankle when one of his teammates fell on him during the Niners’ Week 6 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Oct. 12, 2025. It was the first time in his eight-year career that he missed time due to an injury.
Warner was not expected to be back until the NFC Championship game, if the 49ers even made it that far. But the team opened his 21-day practice window on Tuesday. He was listed as limited on the team’s practice report, but social media videos from the practice field showed him participating in individual drills. One video showed him hitting a sled, then doing a one-legged hop as he jogged to the back of the line. “[Expletive] we look good,” he said while running past the camera.
“It felt like another day at the office,” Warner said of his return. “It’s just been like I’ve been away for a little bit, but being back having the practice jersey on again, being back out there today with the helmet on and running around with the guys, I’m sure will be great, but I’ll have time to reminisce on all that after it’s all over. My only goal right now is to have the best day ever today to have a chance to be in Seattle.”
Warner has been on the field even before his practice window opened. Other videos posted to social media showed him in a hoodie working on pass coverage drills.
“We’re taking it day by day,” Warner said about his timeline. “I think they said last week they weren’t going to open my window, and then my window’s now open. So yeah, we’re just taking it day by day.”
Warner credited the 49ers’ athletic training staff for putting his recovery plan together, and his wife for taking care of him in the first several weeks when he was not allowed to put weight on his foot. He said his recovery plan was very deliberate and done in consultation with his doctors and the training staff.
The 49ers have been decimated by injuries, particularly at the linebacker position. Besides Warner, Tatum Bethune, and rookie Nick Martin are both on injured reserve. Dee Winters was injured for their 23-19 win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday. In their stead, veterans Eric Kendricks and Garrett Wallow filled in admirably: Wallow, a late-season waiver claim from the Denver Broncos, led the team with 11 tackles and a pass defense Sunday; Kendricks added another 10.
“It speaks to who we are here at the 49ers, the culture and the standard that’s been built by everybody, top down,” Warner said of the depth chart’s performance. “The depth that we’ve been able to create at every position, we’ve lost guys at almost every position throughout the season, and guys have stepped up in a huge way to get us to this position. And of course, it’s going to take another one this week against a great test in Seattle again for the third time this season.”
Warner said he was not going to take an unnecessary risk by coming back before he is ready, but that he is not worried about the transition.
“To be honest, once I put that helmet on and put those shoulder pads on, I know what it is,” he said. “I know how to play this game. I know what I’m capable of. I think the mental hurdle was kind of just having to re-watch the play in the beginning of it all, to really just soak it in and see what I did to myself, right? And once I was able to own that and just be able to attack the rehab process, everything was a go from there. So that part’s behind me, and now football’s football.”
