The San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks proved on Sunday why they’re one of the best rivalries in the league. However, things turned heated for some moments during the game, which saw 49ers’ Dre Greenlaw getting ejected from the game.
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Nearing halftime and the Niners leading the game 14-10, Greenlaw delivered a late hit on Seattle QB Sam Darnold out of bounds. He then head-butted Seahawks linebacker Ernest Jones IV (who was without a helmet), while being surrounded by many other players.
Now, a former 49ers player is questioning why only one of them was sent off.
“Ernest Jones should’ve been ejected as well!” Ian Williams posted on X. “He stepped into Dre Greenlaw face taunting! Don’t step into someone’s face without a helmet!’
In the footage, Jones is seen advancing towards Greenlaw. But it was the latter who made the first move. Jones was also seen retaliating against the hit before the fight was broken up. The Seahawks linebacker could be seen raising his hands, as if to imply he was not in the wrong here.
Jones was bleeding, and Greenlaw was sent to the locker room.
There’s some added context behind that call. The league brought in a new rule this season that lets referees eject a player even when no flag was thrown on the play.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan didn’t rush to protect his player.
“I didn’t totally see it. I was told,” Shanahan said. “That’s how it is. You’re going to get baited big time, especially when you’re on their bench.”
“They told me he headbutted a guy without a helmet. If that’s exactly what happened, then we’ve got to be smarter than that. You can’t do that.”
Rookie Jaden Dugger moved into Greenlaw’s weakside spot, and Luke Gifford filled in where Dugger had been on the strong side.
For Greenlaw, this fits a pattern of living on the edge. The Darnold hit was his eighth unnecessary roughness penalty in the NFL (per Bleacher Report), and he has had other run-ins too.
This was at least his third ejection. In 2022, he was removed for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Justin Herbert, and in 2023 he got into a sideline altercation with Philadelphia security chief Dom DiSandro, who was also taken out of the game.
His time in Denver last year brought more trouble. The league suspended him for a game after he went after referee Brad Allen and “verbally threatened him.”
This season, the NFL fined Greenlaw $11,941 for taunting the Broncos’ sideline during San Francisco’s 24–14 Week 4 win over Denver. That day, he told Broncos coach Sean Payton to “get the f–k off the field.”
The outburst appeared to come from how Greenlaw felt Payton had treated him during his lone season in Denver in 2025.
“He definitely was, for sure,” Greenlaw told the San Francisco Chronicle after the 49ers win. “He would walk by – I would walk by – and he wouldn’t even look at me because of my injury. So I just knew what it was [with him] there.
He particularly took offense at the Broncos not taking the pains of informing him personally that he was getting cut from the team.
“The disrespect,” Greenlaw said. “He couldn’t be man-to-man and call my phone and say, ‘We’re going to cut you.’”
Greenlaw came back to the 49ers this year. Injuries have been a factor, but he has started every game and has 37 tackles through five games.
Right after the game, the league had not announced a suspension or any other discipline. Reports indicated it would look at the incident to decide on a possible fine or suspension