Sam Okuayinonu has seen his snap count increase after a pair of impressive outings in back-to-back weeks.
The San Francisco 49ers pass rush came alive against the New England Patriots in Week 4. Nick Bosa and Maliek Collins led the way. Leonard Floyd and Yetur Gross-Matos were the complimentary rushers the Niners had hoped to get when they signed them this offseason.
But there has been another rusher that burst onto the scene for the Niners to start the season. Sam Okuayinonu has been a pleasant surprise during these past two weeks. Against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 3, “Sam O” played six snaps. He had one run stop, a sack, and two quarterback pressures.
According to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, Okuayinonu has been giving the Niners fits in practice:
“Sam O, who got his opportunity, he got it, I think, for the first time two weeks ago, but he’s been a beast in practice. And to watch him carry it over to the games is kind of what I’d like to say we expected because he’s been such a pain in practice and in a good way just for our offense to deal with. And it was cool to see him do it to somebody else here on Sunday.”
Okuayinonu’s snap count tripled in Week 4 while maintaining his production. That’s what you want to see from a relative unknown.
Sam O totaled two run stops, but that doesn’t come anywhere close to telling the whole story. He had a forced fumble, which gave the 49ers offense a short field.
The New England Patriots elected to “crack” block him with a wide receiver, which turned out to be a disaster. Okuayinonu made a tackle for a loss of seven, which eventually led to a Patriots punt.
Sam O won in about two blinks on the 21-yard back-shoulder fade Deommodore Lenoir allowed. The three pressures on nine rushes is hardly sustainable, but that was the thought when Okuayinonu won two of his five matchups against the Rams the week prior.
Speaking of winning, pressures sell Sam O short of how often he’s gotten past his man. Per Pro Football Focus, Okuayinonu has a win percentage of 17 percent on the season. Nick Bosa sits at 16.9 percent in the same stat. Now, Bosa has played 100 more snaps. But when you’re being mentioned in the same breath as one of the best players in the NFL, you deserve to be recognized.
He’s outperforming Yetur Gross-Matos. Sam O had more pressures on 18 fewer rushes than Gross-Matos in Week 4. So, it’s safe to assume that Okuayinonu will continue to see a spike in his snaps.
When you think about the peak of the 49ers delta along the defensive line, there were three or four reliable edge rushers Kris Kocurek could throw at you. There’s an inevitable drop-off after Bosa, but teams need to pay for double-teaming him.
All it takes is for one of these players to be “on” for one week. That was Sam O in Week 4. His win rate as a pass rusher was 44.4 percent — a number only one player surpassed. He doesn’t have to be “the guy” every week, but it has to be refreshing for the coaching staff to know there’s another option on the bench who can be productive.
