{"id":257020,"date":"2025-08-02T22:32:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-02T22:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/257020\/"},"modified":"2025-08-02T22:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-02T22:32:15","slug":"49ers-upton-stout-nick-martin-playing-bigger-than-their-size-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/257020\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers\u2019 Upton Stout, Nick Martin playing bigger than their size \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

SANTA CLARA \u2014 Upton Stout<\/a> and Nick Martin<\/a> might not be the biggest players of the 49ers’ rookie class, but the two young defenders pack a punch.<\/p>\n

Through eight training camp practices, defensive coordinator Robert Saleh has noted how the two third-round picks, who are both under six feet tall, are progressing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll start with Nick,\u201d Saleh said Friday. \u201cOne thing we\u2019re not worried about with him is his violence, getting off a block, and understanding how to get to the football. He just has to continue mastering the scheme to give himself the opportunity to play fast.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpton, he is a straining, scrappy young man, don\u2019t fall asleep on his size. I mean, the guy plays way bigger than he is and way bigger than he looks. He\u2019s got a violence to him; he\u2019s got a violence to his demeanor. So, he\u2019s coming along really well, too, in that regard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both rookies have shown their ability to make plays on defense, Martin forcing a fumble during a recent practice and Stout running with the first team at the nickel position. <\/p>\n

Still, both players have a long way to go before being locked in as NFL starters.<\/p>\n

Martin has been seen at the weakside linebacker role during team drills, mostly with the second-team defense. Communication is a key factor to success at the position, which can be overwhelming for a rookie, but Martin has shown flashes of his skill set.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat part, from a rookie standpoint, he\u2019s got to catch up,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cBut at the same time, when he\u2019s in a position where he\u2019s comfortable to play call, he\u2019s comfortable with what he sees pre-snap, you see everything that we drafted and that stuff is pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Martin is competing at linebacker,<\/a> Stout is playing for a chance to start at the nickel role<\/a> and has had several reps with the first-team defense. Both Kyle Shanahan and Saleh have been reserved but yet complementary of what they\u2019ve seen from the young defensive back thus far.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been good, competitive,\u201d Saleh said of the defensive back competition as a whole. If you\u2019ve noticed, we\u2019ve been rotating a bunch of guys, giving different guys opportunities to go in with the ones, and we\u2019ll continue that all the way throughout training camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

While both players have shown signs of why the 49ers selected them in the 2025 NFL Draft, the real test will come when the Denver Broncos arrive in Santa Clara for a joint practice next Thursday.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SANTA CLARA \u2014 Upton Stout and Nick Martin might not be the biggest players of the 49ers’ rookie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2080],"tags":[220,32774,7,6,10154,906,1161,252,2624,2623,16582],"class_list":{"0":"post-257020","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-nfl-training-camp","13":"tag-nick-martin","14":"tag-san-francisco","15":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","16":"tag-sanfrancisco","17":"tag-sanfrancisco49ers","18":"tag-upton-stout"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114961550404637672","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257020","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=257020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}