NFL

In a battle of two of the best teams in the NFL, Dre Greenlaw may have changed the game with an early exit.

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In the first half of the game between the Seattle Seahawks vs. the San Francisco 49ers, Greenlaw made a few decisions that led to an ejection. First, he committed a penalty on Sam Darnold, then he got into a confrontation with Ernest Jones that crossed the line.

Greenlaw is an NFL veteran who knows how important these divisional games are, making this mistake even more crucial. The 49ers will now have to try to win the road game without one of their starting linebackers on the field.

This is why Greenlaw got an early ejection on Sunday afternoon.

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Why Dre Greenlaw was ejected from Seahawks-49ers

On a play in the second quarter, Greenlaw was initially penalized for a late hit on Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold, handing Seattle an extra 15 yards. However, it was Greenlaw’s actions after the fact that that got him ejected from the game.

As the Seahawks bench approached Greenlaw to defend their quarterback, Greenlaw headbutted Seattle linebacker Ernest Jones, who was without a helmet on the sidelines. The officials decided that the headbutt was worthy of an ejection.

I have no problem with what Dre Greenlaw did to Sam Darnold. It’s a bang bang play and Dre has to force him out of bounds My issue is the extra bs after the play by Dre And he’s kicked out of the game because of it https://t.co/cRP3Ne1LrE

— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) October 11, 2026

Dre Greenlaw ejected after headbutting Jones on the sideline https://t.co/hCXUxZm4sg

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— Zirksee🍽️ (@Zirksee) October 11, 2026

The NFL instituted a new rule this year that allows referees to eject players on plays that don’t draw penalty flags. In this case, the league apparently told the refs to eject Greenlaw.

49ers LB Dre Greenlaw was ejected for headbutting Seahawks LB Ernest Jones IV under a new rule that allows the league office to eject players for non-football acts even if they’re not flagged. The NFL saw the replay and told officials to disqualify him. https://t.co/QpxUhe9kl2

— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) October 11, 2026

The officials gave a more detailed explanation of the ejection in the postgame pool report.

«The clubs passed a rule this year that the [Art McNally Gameday Central] can actually eject a player even when there is not a flag down on the field for the action,» Vice President of Instant Replay Mark Butterworth said. «We have a very specific process we go through. Troy Vincent let us know that the player was ejected, so then I communicated with the field to inform them that number 57 was ejected from the game for a non-football act.

Greenlaw has been part of many heated 49ers-Seahawks games, so it’s not a surprise that he was playing with an edge in this game. Still, the linebacker wasn’t making the smart decision when he interacted with Jones on the sidelines.

After the game, Kyle Shanahan said he didn’t see what happened but acknowledged that Greenlaw has to be better to stay in the game.

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«We gotta be a lot smarter than that, can’t do that,» he said.