49ers’ Fred Warner Discusses Studying to Swim As A part of Rehab From Ugly Leg Damage

San Francisco 49ers linebacker Fred Warner defined this week how swimming helped speed up his restoration from a damaged and dislocated proper ankle final season.

Warner suffered what was believed to be a season-ending harm in Week 6 final season, however when the potential for returning for the playoffs got here into focus, he determined to take up swimming in an effort to enhance his stamina and the mobility of his ankle.

According to Matt Barrows of The Athletic, Warner labored carefully with San Jose State University ladies’s swim and dive coach Sage Hopkins, and he rapidly felt the advantages of the distinctive rehab.

“I was constantly dealing with swelling,” Warner mentioned. “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.”

Hopkins marveled at Warner’s willpower, in addition to his means to be taught and put it into motion given his restricted swimming abilities earlier than they began working collectively.

Even although Warner has solely been swimming severely since November, Hopkins mentioned he informed Warner that he “swims better than a lot of Division I water polo players.”

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

Although the four-time Pro Bowler and First Team All-Pro didn’t make it again to play in a postseason recreation, he practiced earlier than the Niners’ NFC Divisional Round loss to the Seattle Seahawks and believes he may have performed had San Francisco superior to the NFC Championship Game.

Now, Warner is cleared for soccer actions, and he’s making ready to regain his standing as one of many premier linebackers within the NFL in the course of the 2026 marketing campaign.

Prior to final season, Warner had recorded 100 or extra tackles in every of his seven seasons, and he was a Pro Bowler and First Team All-Pro in three consecutive seasons from 2022 to 2024.

Following coaching camp and the preseason, Warner’s street again to the highest will start when the 49ers face the Los Angeles Rams within the first-ever NFL recreation in Australia in Week 1 of the 2026 common season.