Fred Warner, NFL's top Linebacker, on what he means by being so good they can’t ignore you, Super Bowl heartbreak to battling Injury, 49ers facing the Rams, traveling to Australia, chasing the Lombardi, season preview and his growing family.

Channing Crowder (0:13)

Obey your thirst, Sprite.

Ryan Clark (0:15)

Fred Warner isn't just a middle linebacker, he is the middle linebacker. But you let him tell it, he wasn't even supposed to be here.

So how does a kid from BYU who played out of position and ran 4-6-4 at the Combine become the best middle linebacker in the NFL? You just outwork everybody. So Fred invited the Pivot fam to keep pivoting with us, so he came over prepared for his biggest pivot yet. This conversation goes way beyond football. He takes us back to the injury the night before. Sitting on that field and the gratitude he felt, also the tough recovery. We go back even further to his days of recruiting, his college years, and the woman who means everything to him. Yes, his mother. And then we get into the personal stuff. Sliding into his wife's DMs, whether he would have missed the birth of his child for a game. Oh, and what sort of teammate is Dejan Love? No, I'm just checking to make sure that y'all are listening. This is the time to talk football though. The 20-26 season opening against the Rams and the best quarterback that Fred Warner has ever played. He also mentions that that guy could actually be on his team. And when it comes to linebacker, it's Fred Warner and nobody else. So it's only right that our very first show on Netflix starts with the best. So Pivot fam, once again, thank you for pivoting with us.

Fred Warner (2:02)

Yeah, no, man, I'm a fan, man. I be tuned in to the show. You know what I'm saying, boys, Pivot, Pivot fam, thanks for pivoting with us.

Ryan Clark (2:10)

There you go. You ready to go?

Fred Warner (2:11)

There you go.

Fred Taylor (2:12)

I'm telling you, hey, I was, bro, I was, man.

Ryan Clark (2:14)

Speaking of, this is a major pivot. This is our first show on Netflix. So, the Pivot fam, that's always been pivoting with us. We're now pivoting to a new platform with all Pro Bowler, team captain, Iron Man award winner, everything here at San Francisco. Fred Warner, this is Channing Crowder, Fred Taylor, I'm Ryan Clark, Pivot fam again. Thank you for pivoting with us.

Ironically, my birthday is October 12th, right? Which is a day that is now an infamy in your career, October 12th, 2025, a day like any other, five tackles away from breaking the San Francisco 49ers tackle record. Early on in that game, you get injured. It's like seeing a superhero be hurt, right? You really haven't felt anything like that since freshman year at BYU.

Take me back to that moment and what you're thinking when you know that your 2025 season is over.

Fred Warner (3:10)

If I'm answering the question, like, what did I feel in that moment?

It was obviously the shock of what was going down.

But there was also like a sense of peace and calmness about it because I remember the night before I'm in my hotel room, I journeyed before the game. I'm talking to God and I'm like, just talking about how grateful I was just for the moment that I was in. It just came off a huge win on the road, Thursday night football against the Rams. Nobody thought we were going to win that game. I'm having a great season. And I was just so thankful for that moment. I'm like, man, I can't wait to go out to mall, get my first interception of the season, Baker Mayfield. That's the type of time I was on. I'm thinking it was going to be the best game of the season for sure. I was feeling great. And then when that happened, it was like, whoa, it was kind of crazy. But at the same time I'm like, God, he's so perfect. His plan is perfect to where I was like, man, I'm exactly where I need to be. Right? That's why I didn't shed a tear. You know what I'm saying? People were like, man, how are you smiling on the cart going back? You just snapped your leg and have your seasons over. But for me, it was like, man, I don't ever blink. It would be wrong of me to, you know, in the moments that things are great, saying, God, you know, has a plan, everything happens for a reason. And then in the times of when it's chaos all around, people are shrieking, you know, the crowd's shrieking because they're showing the replay. And it's like, ooh, boy, it's like, I felt like unfortunately this had to happen for a reason, right? And for me, it was like just to come back even better than ever and show everybody what it looks like to really come back out on top.