The San Francisco 49ers announced they released Ogbo Okoronkwo. He appeared in all four games and has the second-most snaps of any edge rusher this season. Okoronkwo hasn’t lit up the stat sheet, but he managed 10 pressures with an 11.8% pass-rush win rate. But he’s only played 33 run snaps this year. This move is the 49ers telling us they need a run defender.
Hello, Mykel Williams.
The 49ers just created a roster spot to activate Williams from the PUP list. That move will likely be announced on Saturday.
Raheem Morris has done a fantastic job using his personnel to hide the lack of edge options. We’ve seen plenty of 5-man fronts that include three defensive tackles and Jaden Dugger.
The other edge rusher on the roster that Morris seems to trust as a run defender is Khalid Kareem. He’s played 100 snaps, 43 of them against the run.
That may not change much, as Keion White and Romello Height have primarily been pass-rush first layers. The same was true last week for Matt Judon. It might also signal that Williams could play more than 20-30 snaps.
We’ll see if the 49ers bring back Okoronkwo to the practice squad. If Nick Bosa is close to returning, there won’t be a need to bring back Okoronkwo.
