{"id":8312,"date":"2026-09-03T12:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8312"},"modified":"2026-09-03T12:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T12:12:08","slug":"49ers-fly-out-without-injured-defensive-end-sam-okuayinonu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8312","title":{"rendered":"49ers fly out without injured defensive end Sam Okuayinonu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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SAN FRANCISCO \u2013 Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu, a potential starter on an already thin unit, did not accompany the 49ers as they flew out late Wednesday night to Australia.<\/p>\n

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Okuayinonu has a foot injury and is questionable for next Thursday\u2019s regular-season opener against the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, the team announced at about 11 p.m.<\/p>\n

The 49ers\u2019 defensive line is littered with injuries a week ahead from facing the NFL\u2019s reigning MVP, Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford.<\/p>\n

Nick Bosa participated Wednesday in his first full-team practice since last September\u2019s right-knee injury, having only taken part in a few training camp warmups before pain with his patellar tendon sidelined him from drills the past month.<\/p>\n

Working back from an ankle injury is rookie defensive end Romello Height, who took a lot of first-team reps opposite Okuayinonu throughout training camp. Also maligned is defensive tackle Grayson Halton (ankle).<\/p>\n

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Okuayinonu took part in Wednesday\u2019s practice before the 49ers took a chartered jumbo jet 12 hours later from San Francisco International Airport to Melbourne. He started 12 games last season and three in 2024, totaling three sacks each year.<\/p>\n

In an interview Tuesday with the Bay Area News Group, Okuayinonu spoke about traveling to Australia each of the past two offseasons. \u201cSeeing how much they love football, I\u2019m excited to see how they\u2019re going to be cheering,\u201d Okuayinonu said. \u201cAnd with the (100,000) capacity of that stadium, it\u2019s going to be full with energy will be in there. It\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keion White, the only other defensive end on their 53-man roster, has spent the six-plus months recovering from ankle and foot injuries after getting shot at a Super Bowl afterparty.<\/p>\n

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Unless the 49ers fly in a veteran free agent, Ogbo Okoronkwo appears a strong candidate to get elevated off the practice squad, where they also added Vincent Anthony Jr. this week. Okornkwo was one of eight defensive ends signed during camp, as three others went on Injured Reserve (Mikail Kamara, Andrew Farmer and Victor Dimukeje).<\/p>\n

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Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu has a foot injury and is questionable for the season opener after the 49ers flew to Australia without him Wednesday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n49ers fly out without injured defensive end Sam Okuayinonu - Next City Digest<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"49ers fly out without injured defensive end Sam Okuayinonu - Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Defensive end Sam Okuayinonu has a foot injury and is questionable for the season opener after the 49ers flew to Australia without him Wednesday night.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=8312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Next City Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-03T12:12:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/13065d40d633843429ac57d4e5c06f9b\"},\"headline\":\"49ers fly out without injured defensive end Sam Okuayinonu\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-03T12:12:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312\"},\"wordCount\":384,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/09\\\/6430340f4d69f1810644556ce47faa0b-scaled.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/nextcitydigest.com\\\/?p=8312\",\"name\":\"49ers fly out without injured defensive end Sam Okuayinonu - 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