Sam Okuayinonu has seen his snap count increase after a pair of impressive outings in back-to-back weeks.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u00a0pass rush came alive against the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0in 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.<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Los Angeles Rams\u00a0in Week 3, \u201cSam O\u201d played six snaps. He had one run stop, a sack, and two quarterback pressures.<\/p>\n
According to 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, Okuayinonu has been giving the Niners fits in practice:<\/p>\n
\u201cSam O, who got his opportunity, he got it, I think, for the first time two weeks ago, but he\u2019s been a beast in practice. And to watch him carry it over to the games is kind of what I\u2019d like to say we expected because he\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Okuayinonu\u2019s snap count tripled in Week 4 while maintaining his production. That\u2019s what you want to see from a relative unknown.<\/p>\n
Sam O totaled two run stops, but that doesn\u2019t come anywhere close to telling the whole story. He had a forced fumble, which gave the 49ers offense a short field.<\/p>\n
The New England Patriots elected to \u201ccrack\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Speaking of winning, pressures sell Sam O short of how often he\u2019s 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\u2019re being mentioned in the same breath as one of the best players in the NFL, you deserve to be recognized.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s outperforming Yetur Gross-Matos. Sam O had more pressures on 18 fewer rushes than Gross-Matos in Week 4. So, it\u2019s safe to assume that Okuayinonu will continue to see a spike in his snaps.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s an inevitable drop-off after Bosa, but teams need to pay for double-teaming him.<\/p>\n
All it takes is for one of these players to be \u201con\u201d for one week. That was Sam O in Week 4. His win rate as a pass rusher was 44.4 percent \u2014 a number only one player surpassed. He doesn\u2019t have to be \u201cthe guy\u201d every week, but it has to be refreshing for the coaching staff to know there\u2019s another option on the bench who can be productive.<\/p>\n