{"id":252089,"date":"2025-08-01T01:38:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/252089\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T01:38:12","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T01:38:12","slug":"49ers-rookie-upton-stouts-offseason-work-paying-off-in-camp-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/252089\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers rookie Upton Stout\u2019s offseason work paying off in camp \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2014 Upton Stout<\/a> isn’t the biggest player on the 49ers’ defense, but the rookie already is showing how large he can play.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Western Kentucky cornerback<\/a>, quickly in training camp, has been worked in as the nickel<\/a> with the first-team defense, a position held down in 2024 by Deommodore Lenoir<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Stout spoke to NBC Sports Bay Area on the latest “49ers Talk” about his adjustment to the NFL.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been good,\u201d Stout said. \u201cJust relying on my training, relying on everyone around me and trying to pick everybody\u2019s brain. Going into the meeting room, trying to get coached up the best I can so every time I go out onto the field, I can go out there and execute the play called.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout\u2019s full participation in OTAs, minicamp and now training camp has allowed him to get a lot of reps<\/a>. He has been receiving advice from both Lenoir and linebacker Fred Warner to help improve his skillset.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously DeMo because he played the position at a high level,\u201d Stout said of who has been a resource. \u201cBut honestly, the whole back end has been feeding into me, and Fred being able to talk to me throughout the play and telling me where I should be when things come. Really, everybody being able to pour into me and bringing out the best in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has been impressed enough with Stout to give him opportunities with the first team. The rookie has flashed in coverage, run stops and even an occasional blitz.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s done a great job with it,\u201d Saleh said after the first block of practices. \u201cHe\u2019s a cool little player and I\u2019m excited for him to get pads on. Again, with all these rookies and all these new guys, I\u2019m trying to reserve true judgment until we get pads on, it\u2019s easy to go in there when you know you\u2019re not going to get blown up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been pretty impressive with what he\u2019s been able to handle through OTAs and the first couple days here.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 5-foot-9 and 182 pounds, Stout is one of the smaller players on the defense, but he still packs a punch, already \u201cthudding up\u201d running backs at practice. Still, the \u201clittle\u201d description from Saleh does not go unheard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t take it too personally,\u201d Stout said. \u201cI just keep it in the back of my head, it\u2019s always another chip on my shoulder, just adding more chips on my shoulder so I can go out there and play with more fire. But it gets me sometimes, but sometimes it doesn\u2019t, but it is what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Putting Stout under too much pressure could be detrimental to a player’s development, of which Saleh is well aware. While the young defensive back is capable of taking on the responsibility of the nickel position<\/a>, the coordinator doesn\u2019t want to overload the rookie either.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a sharp kid, it\u2019s definitely not too big for him,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be careful as a coaching staff, you know, you\u2019ve still got to slow play it. Regardless of how smart you feel like they are, there are still a lot of things that they\u2019re still learning, so you just want to, we\u2019ll push the envelope, but never too far to where he can\u2019t execute his job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout\u2019s early success is partly because of his diligence during the offseason. The 2025 third-round draft pick<\/a>, who has been playing football since he was five years old, not only watched his own film from OTAs to fix the mistakes he made, but also quite a bit of his predecessor’s.<\/p>\n

“I watched a lot of [Lenoir’s] film,\u201d Stout said. \u201cI’m trying to be my own player but also trying to see what the standard was, and pass that standard. I watch a lot film. I watched every game he played in last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lenoir already is a fan of Stout and the two frequently talk technique during practice. The two met up during the offseason and worked on the playbook together.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hit me up, came to my house and we got on the board and were going over the defenses,” Lenoir said. “After that, the game slowed down for him. I\u2019ve seen the plays he\u2019s making, the stuff he\u2019s reacting to and it\u2019s slowly coming together.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s still early in the process, even coach Kyle Shanahan has been impressed with Stout\u2019s ability to pick up the defense quickly, learning the calls, and communicating while on the field.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were hoping he would be capable of that when we took him,\u201d Shanahan said on Thursday. \u201cWe knew that was a position that was open for us. He looked really good in OTAs and he has looked the same here in these first two weeks. Not crowning him yet, but so far he has been doing a hell of a job and hopefully he can keep getting better at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2014 Upton Stout isn’t the biggest player on the 49ers’ defense, but the rookie already is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,32774,7,6,1161,252,2624,2623,16582],"class_list":{"0":"post-252089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-francisco-49ers","8":"tag-49ers","9":"tag-49ers-training-camp","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-san-francisco","13":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","14":"tag-sanfrancisco","15":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","16":"tag-upton-stout"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114950956967943403","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}