San Francisco 49ers middle linebacker Fred Warner celebrates after the 49ers defeated the Los Angeles Rams in overtime of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025, in Inglewood, Calif.

For a little over a week now, the rumor has been that if the San Francisco 49ers were to win their wild-card playoff game, then star linebacker Fred Warner would ride in from the horizon like Gandalf at the Battle of Helm’s Deep for a later round. However, with the divisional round now just five days away, the question becomes just how realistic that triumphant return actually is.

When Warner suffered a dislocated and fractured ankle on Oct. 12, any reasonable person would have expected his season to be over then and there, given the typical recovery time for even just one of those injuries. But it seems as though Warner took whatever recovery timeline he received as a challenge to beat, rather than sound medical advice.

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In an interview that published in early December,

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