Sam Okuayinonu was set to travel with the 49ers to Australia for the opening game of the season until a foot injury suffered in practice changed his and the team’s plans. The fifth-year defensive end now finds himself on injured reserve.
Okuayinonu will miss at least the first four weeks of the 2026 season as a result. San Francisco’s pass rush depth chart will be tested in his absence with other key contributors – including Mykel Williams – also sidelined until at least Week 5. it is unclear if Okuayinonu will be able to play at all during the regular season, however.
“He had a plate in his foot a while ago, and on our bonus practice the day we came, just stepped on it and it broke,” head coach Kyle Shanahan said (via Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith) when speaking about the injury. “He’s going to have to get surgery. It’s a bad injury. Hopefully we can get him back later in the year.”
Attention in Okuayinonu’s case will now turn to his pending operation. As Shanahan noted, a lengthy recovery period is in store, and it will be interesting to see if a return late in the campaign winds up being possible. The 49ers re-signed Okuayinonu, 28, this offseason after he made 12 starts in 2025. The former undrafted free agent logged a 59% snap share and managed three sacks along with a career-high 10 QB pressures along the way.
Part of that production was of course due to San Francisco’s other injury issues along the defensive front last season. Still, the team is far from fully healthy in that department as 2026 kicks off. The 49ers moved quickly in adding Khalid Kareem to take Okuayinonu’s roster spot, but a return from Williams in short order and a full season from Nick Bosa would be welcomed as well. Okuayinonu’s progress in recovering will be something to watch over the course of the season.
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