San Francisco 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw was thrown out of Sunday's win over the Seattle Seahawks at the direction of the NFL's league office, not the officials on the field, according to Yahoo Sports. The league now has to decide whether the head-butt that got him tossed warrants a suspension, with a review set for Monday.
What happened on the sideline
CBS Sports reported that the incident came in the second quarter of the Week 5 game. Greenlaw was flagged for a late hit on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold near the Seattle sideline. Several Seahawks players, linebacker Ernest Jones among them, confronted him afterward. During that scrum, Greenlaw head-butted Jones, who was not wearing a helmet, and he was ejected.
How the call was made
In a pool report, NFL V.P. of instant replay Mark Butterworth explained the process to ESPN's Brady Henderson. He said the clubs approved a rule this year that lets the league's Gameday Central operation eject a player even when no flag has been thrown. This case was different, he noted, because a flag was already down for the original play.
Butterworth said NFL executive V.P. of football operations Troy Vincent told the replay staff that Greenlaw was out. Butterworth then relayed the decision to the field, informing the crew that number 57 was disqualified for a non-football act.
A pattern of heated moments
The ejection adds to a run of emotional episodes for Greenlaw. CBS Sports noted that during the 49ers' Week 4 win over the Denver Broncos, he confronted his former head coach, Sean Payton, and was later fined $11,941 by the league for taunting the Broncos' bench. Teammate George Kittle said after that game, "He was fired up all week," according to CBS Sports.
CBS also pointed out that officials have ejected Greenlaw twice before, including a game in 2022 after a helmet-to-helmet hit on Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert. Entering Sunday, he ranked second on the 49ers with 34 tackles.
What comes next
The league will look at the incident on Monday and then decide on any further discipline. The outcome matters for a defense that leans on Greenlaw, and it will show how the league treats an ejection that its own office initiated under the new rule.
Reporting sources: CBS Sports Headlines, “49ers' Dre Greenlaw ejected after head-butting Seahawks' Ernest Jones during confrontation” · sports.yahoo.com, “League office directed the ejection of Dre Greenlaw”.