{"id":48201,"date":"2025-05-14T01:30:15","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/48201\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T01:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T01:30:15","slug":"49ers-upton-stout-ready-to-back-up-draft-night-promises-at-nickel-nbc-sports-bay-area-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/48201\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers\u2019 Upton Stout ready to back up draft night promises at nickel \u2013 NBC Sports Bay Area & California"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now that he has stepped on the field for the first time as a member of the 49ers, former Western Kentucky cornerback Upton Stout<\/a> can back up his draft night promises.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I got to come in and take care of business and just figure out what I can do every day, and come in with a pro mentality every day and not expect things to be handed to me,\u201d Stout said after arriving in Santa Clara last week for the team\u2019s rookie camp.<\/p>\n

Stout made a memorable first impression<\/a> after general manager John Lynch, coach Kyle Shanahan and CEO Jed York got on the phone with him upon his selection in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Stout repeated, \u201cLet\u2019s do it\u201d more than a dozen times during the brief exchange. He assured Shanahan, \u201cYou got a dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

At 5-foot-8 1\/2, 181 pounds, Stout is confident he has what it takes to make a big impression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a chip on my shoulder from always hearing somebody tell me what I couldn\u2019t do,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no point in me taking that chip off my shoulder right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout played five seasons of college football<\/a>. He appeared in 12 games over two seasons at North Texas before transferring to Western Kentucky.<\/p>\n

After going into the transfer portal following the 2023 season, he opted to return to Western Kentucky for his third season. He turned down a potentially larger NIL offer from Michigan.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy people always told me, ‘If you\u2019re moving for the money, you\u2019re not moving for the right things,\u2019 \u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stout had a career-best 52 tackles, including 7.5 for losses, in his final college season. He was a first-team All-Conference USA selection.<\/p>\n

He found his niche with a move to nickel back, where he could fill an immediate need with the 49ers.<\/p>\n

He topped all defensive backs at the NFL Scouting Combine with his time in the gauntlet, as well as with 21 bench-presses of 225 pounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t always the biggest person,\u201d he said. \u201cSo if I wasn\u2019t going to be the biggest, I was for sure at least going to be one of the strongest. I didn\u2019t want to be small\u00a0and\u00a0small.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the nickel back position, Stout said he was, in essence, another linebacker. His coaches emphasized that he had to get stronger and more physical, so he did most of his weight room workouts with the linemen.<\/p>\n

The 49ers have not added a high-caliber nickel back to replace K\u2019Waun Williams, who left as a free agent following the 2021 season. Stout accepts the challenge of stepping into a role that plays approximately two-thirds of the 49ers\u2019 defensive snaps.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot of work, a lot of film study,\u201d Stout said. \u201cBut I feel that\u2019s the best part about the nickel because you\u2019re the most versatile player on the field. The receiver can go in any direction and you have to go with him, and you\u2019re an extra hat in the run fits.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel like you always got to be on your P\u2019s and Q\u2019s. And always got to be on your A game. I feel that\u2019s the best part about the nickel position.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stout said he felt a connection with the 49ers when he took a pre-draft visit to Santa Clara. He said he urged the 49ers to draft him. Now that it happened, the real work begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot being at one of the power-five places, it always seemed so far out of sight,\u201d Stout said of his dream of playing in the NFL. \u201cBut standing here now, it\u2019s a blessing from God.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it still doesn\u2019t feel real because my mindset is not to be thinking that I did it and it\u2019s time to celebrate. What\u2019s the next step? Now it\u2019s time to get to work and go earn a position. It\u2019s time to show them why you\u2019re in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, it\u2019s time for Stout to prove to the 49ers that he can, in fact, do it.<\/p>\n

Download and follow the 49ers Talk Podcast<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now that he has stepped on the field for the first time as a member of the 49ers,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":48202,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[16581,7,6,15,16582],"class_list":{"0":"post-48201","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-draft","8":"tag-49ers-offseason","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-nfl-draft","12":"tag-upton-stout"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114503602936877995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48201","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=48201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48201\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}