49ers’ Fred Warner wished a fast rehab from a devastating harm. So he realized methods to swim

SAN JOSE, Calif. — If you’d requested Fred Warner six months in the past whether or not he knew methods to swim, the reply would have been: type of.

The San Francisco 49ers’ center linebacker moved by means of the water like lots of people who’ve by no means had formal classes — head up, legs down, a number of splashing, little or no effectivity.

Said Sage Hopkins: “He was at Level 1 — not drowning, but if he fell off of a boat far from shore, he likely wouldn’t have made it back.”

Hopkins, 53, is in place to guage. He was a junior lifeguard way back to elementary faculty, and he’s lived on the North Shore of Oahu in Hawaii, the place he repeatedly surfed 20-foot waves and sometimes rescued distressed swimmers. For the previous 21 years, he’s been the ladies’s swim and dive coach at San Jose State.

That’s the place he met Warner, who arrived on the faculty’s immaculate outside pool someday in late November searching for a strategy to speed up his rehabilitation from a damaged and dislocated ankle.

Hopkins seen two issues straight away.

One was Warner’s star energy. The stroll from the pool to the college parking storage takes you previous the home windows of the scholar recreation middle. When the 6-foot-4, 236-pound Warner made that trek the primary time, he was seen instantly, and the constructing emptied en masse.

“He stopped, took a picture with every single person that asked and then had a meaningful interaction with each of them,” Hopkins recalled. “It took a good 20 minutes to walk a hundred yards. I think they were so starstruck. I still see people freeze almost into a momentary catatonic state when he walks up. It happens pretty regularly.”

Hopkins additionally rapidly realized Warner wished — badly — to be pushed arduous.

His harm had occurred seven minutes into an Oct. 12 highway loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers when teammate Ji’Ayir Brown inadvertently crashed into his decrease leg. Warner, who had missed only one sport in 7 1/2 seasons, seemed down to search out his proper foot dealing with the fallacious course. He watched teammates and opponents alike look at his foot, then frantically summon medical assist.

“I remember laying down on my side and kind of just waiting for them to get to me,” he stated. “And Dr. (Tim) McAdams came up, and it’s — pop, pop! — he snapped it right back. He didn’t really say much to me. He just kind of held my leg, and he snapped it right back. I felt like a crunch.

“And then I remember being on my back, and I see Kyle (Shanahan) come to me, Robert (Saleh), and then all my teammates. And they’re all kind of saying, ‘Sorry, buddy.’ And I’m like, ‘I know. I’m good. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.’”

Fred Warner, proper, with head group doctor Tim McAdams after he was injured in Tampa, Fla., in October. (Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images)

Warner isn’t the sort to drape a towel over his head and go into woe-is-me mode. In truth, as he was being carted away, tv cameras caught him serenely chatting with McAdams, who was concentrating on stabilizing his decrease leg. Warner famous issues grew to become extra hectic because the cart disappeared into the stadium tunnel.

“I was telling McAdams I didn’t even get a chance to protect myself, I never even saw it coming,” he stated. “And then immediately my mind went to, ‘Oh, no, my mom and my wife just saw that. And everybody in my family.’ So it was, ‘Oh, somebody give me my phone! I’ve got to call my wife! I’ve got to call my mom!’”

Warner had surgical procedure two days later. Early on, he stated there was “zero talk” about enjoying once more that season. Instead, the plan was for a methodical rehabilitation. Like many veterans, Warner often doesn’t participate in spring OTA practices. The subsequent time he’d swimsuit up was coaching camp, which afforded him an unhurried, nine-month comeback. And he was nice with that.

Well, he was nice with that at first.

Warner was confined to a strolling boot, crutches and a scooter for six weeks after surgical procedure to permit the bone to heal and the sutures to totally shut. At one level, he went for an X-ray and casually floated to his orthopedist the notion of coming again throughout the playoffs. The reply stunned him.

“I wasn’t expecting a yes to come out of his mouth,” Warner stated.

Even with that evaluation, the 49ers suggested him to proceed to maintain his sights on the 2026 season. When requested by reporters, Shanahan routinely downplayed the potential of Warner’s returning for the playoffs. Internally, the group was much more skeptical.

“I remember (head athletic trainer) Dustin Little being like, ‘Oh, no, don’t worry about that. (The orthopedist) doesn’t really understand what it takes to go out there and play in a game,’” Warner recalled. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, you’re probably right.’”

Still, two issues have been taking place concurrently as Thanksgiving approached. Warner’s checkups confirmed he was therapeutic forward of schedule. And the 49ers by some means stored profitable video games regardless of their avalanche of accidents. They have been in the midst of what would grow to be a six-game profitable streak when Warner determined to press the accelerator on his restoration, hoping he might return for a deep playoff run.

Which is how he ended up with Hopkins on the San Jose State pool in late November. Warner and his advisers thought swimming could be a great way to keep up stamina and assist the pliability of the ankle, which was decidedly stiff when the boot lastly got here off.

Though they have been cautious at first, Warner might inform straight away the pool work had an impact.

“I was constantly dealing with swelling,” he stated. “So when I would put it in the water and just kick, it was a natural flushing of the ankle. Every time I got out of the water, my ankle looked so much better than it did going in.”

Fred Warner (proper), proven right here with a San Jose State athlete, swam twice per week whereas rehabbing his ankle harm. (Courtesy of Sage Hopkins / SJSU)

Hopkins, in the meantime, seen his pupil was studying at an exponential price, and that having him toddle round on a foam noodle wasn’t going to chop it.

Teaching adults methods to swim is tough. They’re often uncomfortable getting water of their mouth. The respiratory method doesn’t come naturally. Parts of their physique float, others sink and the whole course of is disorienting.

Warner, nonetheless, bought higher straight away.

“One of the definitions of talent that I like best is how quickly you can learn something,” Hopkins stated. “And with Fred, I could give him one cue, tell him one thing and it was immediately understood and retained.”

Hopkins devised a routine that may enchantment to a soccer participant. At first, he had Warner swim the width of the pool — 25 yards — and timed him on each lap. Warner discovered that as his method improved, his instances went down.

“He was immediately asking me: ‘What would Michael Phelps do for a time on this? What would your fastest sprinter do?’” Hopkins stated. “And that made me realize it was going to be a motivating factor for him.”

He additionally hooked Warner as much as numerous resistance gadgets, mimicking what rehabilitating soccer gamers do on a discipline. One was a “power tower,” which connects a swimmer by way of a harness to a bucket-and-pully system on the facet of the pool. The extra water that goes into the 15-gallon bucket, the tougher it’s to swim.

“He was going with almost a full bucket of water, which is a lot,” Hopkins stated. “We’ve got sprinters on our team that couldn’t pull as much as him. So I figured this was stuff that would really resonate with him, that was in his wheelhouse.”

Steadily, Warner’s head got here down, his legs got here up and his again straightened. He went from swimming the width of the pool — and having to take breaks in between — to going the total size with few rests. Hopkins stated the linebacker was within the pool two days per week for 45 minutes to an hour, together with one sequence by which he swam on New Year’s Eve and was again for an additional session on New Year’s Day.

His type isn’t good but. Football gamers have huge quads, which are inclined to sink. Hopkins mused that “trap bulk” is perhaps the explanation Warner’s left arm doesn’t come over as easily as his proper. And his sheer measurement makes popping out of the wall — the place it’s a must to be as compact and streamlined as doable — troublesome. They haven’t actually labored on that but, and the one stroke Warner has mastered is freestyle.

But Hopkins stated Warner might now beat a few of his swimmers in a brief dash, and that in six months, he grew to become a greater swimmer than individuals who’ve spent their complete lives within the water.

“Our curve was just exponential,” he stated. “I wish I would have videoed our starting point. As I told him (recently), he swims better than a lot of Division I water polo players.”

As for the ankle and Warner’s endurance, each benefited tremendously from the pool work.

As the common season drew to an in depth, the 49ers altered the plan and determined Warner would possibly have the ability to play within the NFC Championship if the group made it that far. Still, they wished him to attend so long as doable — simply earlier than the championship sport — earlier than getting again on the apply discipline to provide the ankle and leg the utmost time doable to get better.

Warner beat even that. He didn’t need to pack all the things into championship week and as a substitute practiced forward of San Francisco’s divisional showdown towards the Seattle Seahawks. The 49ers misplaced that sport 41-6, however Warner’s apply went … properly, swimmingly. And he stated he positively would have been on the sphere had the 49ers pulled off the upset in Seattle.

Um, what damaged ankle? Fred Warner, Dee Winters, Ricky Pearsall, Trent Williams amongst these available for 49ers’ vigorous Wednesday apply… pic.twitter.com/lqy9YdqUaE

— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) January 14, 2026

“My endurance was great,” he stated. “That was the least of my worries. That was something I wondered about — kind of being thrown into the fire of a Wednesday practice format. And I just got thrown into all the individual drills with no restriction. I felt great. I thought it was a best-case scenario of how it went that day.”

Although he may not participate within the OTA practices that start Wednesday, Warner is now absolutely cleared for soccer. And he nonetheless swims at San Jose State someday of the week.

“It’s funny,” he stated. “I always dread going over there. Because I know it’s going to whup my ass. But at the end of day when I get done, I’m so glad I did it. Because it’s a great workout.”

The man who might barely keep afloat six months in the past now jokes about collaborating within the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Hopkins doesn’t assume it’s all that far-fetched.

“I think Fred could be in the Olympics in a whole variety of sports,” he stated. “He’s got a gifted ability to understand movement and to learn movement very quickly.”