Locals in the Pro Bowl: Fred Warner excited to welcome Jets head coach back to Bay

AROUND THE SHIELD — Fred Warner revealed possibly his biggest news of the NFL season in early January, when the San Francisco linebacker told the media following a disappointing season that the fractured ankle he suffered in a Week 4 win over the New England Patriots would not require surgery.

But for the former BYU star, a significant piece of news dropped while he was celebrating the Pro Bowl Games in Orlando: his reunion with former 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh.

"We FaceTimed a little bit," Warner told NBC Sports Bay Area's Jennifer Lee Chan before the game at Camping World Stadium in Orlando. "It was good to see him.

"He showed his excitement when we were talking on the phone," he added. "We have an opportunity to do something special this year."

Warner was in Orlando celebrating his fourth Pro Bowl nomination and fourth first-team All-Pro nod with the Niners, where he's risen to become one of the most respected middle linebackers in the NFL since he was drafted in the third round out of BYU in 2018.

Sunday was just the second Pro Bowl he's personally attended, though — "luckily," he added, referring to San Francisco being in two previous Super Bowls that kept him out of the end-of-season exhibition that has morphed into a postseason celebration and skills challenge culminating in a seven-on-seven flag football game.

But for Warner, who had three tackles and a pass defended during the flag-football portion, his mind was already on next season and the impact of the former New York Jets head coach in his return to the Bay Area where he directed the defense from 2017-20.

"It means a lot," Warner said of Saleh. "Obviously, coach Saleh has been amazing for us and for myself as a young player. It's going to be interesting being the old guy now, myself, being with him again. It's going to be fun, though."

As far as Sunday's "game" was concerned, Eli Manning's NFC squad beat older brother Peyton's AFC team for a third consecutive year. ESPN, which broadcasts a wildly popular Manning-led Monday Night Football broadcast called the Manning-cast, made sure he knew about it, too.

"I'm 0-3 as a head coach," Peyton Manning cheekily quipped with the Worldwide Leader in Sports during the second half of the broadcast. "I just have to own it."

NFC 76, AFC 63

NFC Pro Bowlers

• Fred Warner, LB, BYU (San Francisco 49ers): The four-time Pro Bowler played in his second Pro Bowl Games, starting at linebacker and notching three tackles and a pass defended for the winning NFC squad coached by Eli Manning.
• Bobby Wagner, LB, Utah State (Washington Commanders): Wagner was named to the roster for the Pro Bowl Games for the 10th time in his 13-year career, and an All-Pro for the 11th consecutive season. The NFL's 34-year-old active leader in career tackles played sparingly in the flag football game in Orlando.
• Jaylon Johnson, CB, Utah (Chicago Bears): The former second-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft was named to the Pro Bowl roster for the second consecutive season after starting all 16 games with 48 tackles, two interceptions, seven pass breakups and seven tackles for loss with the Bears. Johnson started at cornerback and finished with six tackles, including five solo stops.
• Penei Sewell, OT, Desert Hills/Oregon (Detroit Lions): The 6-foot-5, 335-pound tackle was named to his third Pro Bowl roster, one of just three tackles with three nods in Lions history. Sewell opted out of the Pro Bowl due to injury, and was replaced by Detroit teammate Taylor Decker.

AFC Pro Bowlers

• Kyle Van Noy, LB, BYU (Baltimore Ravens): Van Noy replaced injured Pittsburgh Steelers pass rusher T.J. Watt, earning his first Pro Bowl selection after 11 seasons in the league. Van Noy, who played sparingly for the AFC, made the roster as an alternate after totaling a career-high 12.5 sacks in 2024, bringing his two-year total in Baltimore to 21.5 sacks.
• Miles Killebrew, S, Southern Utah (Pittsburgh Steelers): Killebrew was signed as a replacement special-teams pick for New England's Brenden Schooler. It's the second-straight Pro Bowl nomination for Killebrew, who is in his ninth NFL season.

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