In the month of October, few members of the San Francisco 49ers were as impactful on the defensive side of the ball as Sam Okuayinonu.
Beginning the season on the practice squad after signing a futures deal with the team back in February, Okuayinonu has amassed seven tackles, four QB hits, and two sacks as a rotational reserve behind Leonard Floyd and Nick Bosa, including a massive takedown of Dak Prescott that helped to secure the win versus Dallas.
Did the 49ers really expect Okuayinonu to become a regular contributor for the 49ers in 2024 when they signed him to a futures deal, waived him coming out of training camp, signed him to the practice squad, or even signed him to the main roster at the end of September? Well Kyle Shanahan was asked that very question by reporters during his Friday media session and let it be known that, as time went on, Okuayinonu looked more and more like a player for the 49ers.
“Yeah, we did in training camp. Started kind of in OTAs. I didn’t really know much about him at the end of last year, him getting here so late and stuff. But I knew everyone liked him and then watching him in OTAs in phase one, phase two OTAs, just us watching how he moved and stuff in individual, we were excited about him,” Shanahan told reporters. “And then he had an unbelievable training camp. In training camp he was one of the best players out on the practice field and we were real excited about him. And then he pulled his hamstring, I think it was his hamstring, so he missed a number of weeks and didn’t really get to do it as much in the games and kind of went a little under the radar there. But his first 10 days or whatever, he was a problem in camp.”
Interesting stuff, right? Well, wait, it gets better, as Shanahan has even more to say about Okuayinonu, including discussing his time on the practice squad.
San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Sam Okuayinonu (91) celebrates after a play against the New England Patriots during the fourth quarter at Levi's Stadium. Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Kyle Shanahan details Okuayinonu’s time on the 49ers practice squad
Turning his attention to Okuayinonu’s recent comments about being on the practice squad, which included the pride of Maryland letting it be known that he really didn’t get to showcase what he could do helping the offense get ready weekly, Shanahan broke down the challenge of being in that position, before celebrating his defensive linemen for making sure the coaches noticed what he could do.
“Definitely, but both ways. There’s a fine line with scout team. I want guys to compete, I want them to get better. I also want them to get our guys ready to play. And the way you do that is by competing. You don’t sit there and brother-in-law with people and just say, ‘Hey, let’s just kind of do this to make coach happy.’ That doesn’t get someone to compete or it doesn’t get someone ready for Sunday. But also, you can’t just go wreak havoc every single play and do stuff that they’re not going to see in the game just to get noticed. So there’s a fine line with that,” Shanahan told reporters.
“And he is such a violent guy, and you can’t cut and stuff in practice so when you have guys just teeing off on people and there’s no threat to cut, that’s one of the most unfair things in football because you’ve just got to stand up and take it. That’s why I always believe in cutting, not because you do it, because if people know that you can cut someone, then they can’t just go reckless kamikaze right at you and just run you over. He knows we can’t do that in practice, he did that a couple too many times to our backs and stuff, and that’s when I got bothered by him. But I also got pumped up because half the time people were complaining about him I got on the guys complaining about him because if they wanted to do something, block him. So there’s a fine line in both. But he was a stud on practice squad, he just kind of had to learn how to totally do it.”
Fortunately for the 49ers, they did notice what Okuayinonu could do, and he’s now putting up big numbers as an inside-out runner for San Francisco. In the end, it’s better late than never, especially after players like Javon Hargrave went down for the year.
