The doom and gloom that surrounded the San Francisco 49ers following the season-ending injury to star linebacker Fred Warner has begun to dissipate, and that's in large part due to the team's faith in his replacement.
Following Warner's injury, speculation went into overdrive about how the Niners might account for his loss. Some tasked defensive coordinator Robert Saleh with coming up with some sort of exotic scheme to cover the loss of his sideline-to-sideline defender (and in some cases, such as blitzing, that's exactly what he did), while others thought the team might enter the trade market for a solid replacement, such as former 49er and current Houston Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair.