The plane left without him
Twenty-plus hours in the air to open a season. Sam Okuayinonu will not be making the trip.
The San Francisco 49ers confirmed Friday that the defensive tackle misses next Thursday’s opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Australia. He is still working back from a foot injury and did not board the flight with the rest of the roster.
Nobody in the building sounded surprised. Asking a player who is not right to cross the planet and then line up in a season opener was never a realistic plan.
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A rotation guy the coaches actually rate
Raheem Morris, running the San Francisco defense, went out of his way to talk him up this week. “He’s a tough, blue-collar guy,” the coordinator said. “He can do whatever you ask. He can play on the line, he brings a lot of power, he can shed blocks and create chaos.”
The production is unspectacular and reliable. Thirty-nine tackles and three sacks across 15 games last season, 12 of them starts.
Over 37 career appearances with Tennessee and San Francisco, the 28-year-old has 85 tackles and 6.5 sacks. Only 15 of those games were starts, which is the clearest picture of where he sits on a depth chart.
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