49ers roster 2024: Sam Okuayinonu is a long shot, nothing more

The 49ers onboarded Sam Okuayinonu early in 2024, but he faces the longest of odds to make the 53-man roster this season.

Offseason and training camp rosters are fun to look at because every team across the league is bound to have a handful of players that prompt even the most die-hard of fans to ask, "who?"

Such is the case with defensive lineman Sam Okuayinonu, whom the San Francisco 49ers signed to their practice squad in January of 2024 and subsequently inked a reserve/future contract for the upcoming season.

Typically, players of this ilk are brought in to bolster depth charts for training camp and the preseason, rarely having much of the case to actually make the 53-man roster once the regular season rolls around.

Okuayinonu is no different.

Going undrafted in 2022 out of Maryland, Okuayinonu signed on with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted free agent and even appeared in six games his rookie year, tallying 11 tackles and half a sack. But he failed to make Tennessee's roster the following season and spent the bulk of 2023 looking for a new employer.

He might have to do so again by the time Week 1 of the 2024 season rolls around.

Does Sam Okuayinonu stand any chance of making the 49ers' 53-man roster?

As far as the Niners' roster bubble goes, Okuayinonu is about the longest of long shots possible.

Forget the presumed starting foursome of Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Maliek Collins and Leonard Floyd. Okuayinonu is actively going to compete against the likes of reserve options like Kalia Davis, Jordan Elliott, Kevin Givens, Alex Barrett, Robert Beal Jr., Yetur Gross-Matos, Drake Jackson and others, nearly all of whom have a bigger team pedigree than Okuayinonu.

Putting it bluntly, Okuayinonu will have to almost literally be the defensive star of training camp and the preseason to stand much of a chance. And he'll have to be a major standout to even earn a place on the practice squad, too.

Either scenario is possible, of course. But the stronger course will probably be watching the 6-foot-2, 280-pound defender get onto the field late in preseason games but little more before being a part of the inevitable roster-cut wave before Week 1.

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