{"id":837067,"date":"2026-09-05T06:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/837067\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T06:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T06:50:12","slug":"49ers-poach-khalid-kareem-from-the-falcons-practice-squad-sam-okuayinonu-lands-on-the-ir","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/837067\/","title":{"rendered":"49ers poach Khalid Kareem from the Falcons\u2019 practice squad; Sam Okuayinonu lands on the IR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The San Francisco 49ers are signing edge rusher Khalid Kareem from the Atlanta Falcons\u2019 practice squad, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/gregauman\/status\/2095986747700023544?s=46\" rel=\"nofollow\">Greg Auman of Fox Sports<\/a>. Kareem spent the previous two seasons with 49ers defensive coordinator Raheem Morris in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">According to Auman, Kareem is en route to Melbourne, suggesting he\u2019ll play in Week 1. This move is a necessity, as Sam Okuayinonu was recently <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ninersnation.com\/san-francisco-49ers-news\/24480975\/49ers-depth-key-spot-takes-hit-likely-starter-ruled-out-week-1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ruled out with a foot injury<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">It\u2019s as close to a 1-for-1 swap as it gets. Kareem is 6\u20194\u201d, 268 pounds. Okuayinonu is 6\u20191\u201d, 269 pounds. Kareem came into the NFL with his arm length in the 83rd percentile and his hands in the 95th percentile. Morris will likely rely on Kareem to be disruptive against the run, much like Okuayinonu is when he\u2019s on the field.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Kareem doesn\u2019t have a ton of experience, despite being drafted in the 5th round of the 2020 NFL Draft. Since 2022, he\u2019s played fewer than 200 snaps. Kareem appeared in four games last season, but never surpassed 26 snaps in a game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Kareem had four stops in 31 snaps on the edge last season, along with five quarterback pressures. One of those stops and pressures came against the Rams in Week 17. So there\u2019s no real guesswork as to how Kareem can hold up against Sean McVay\u2019s offense. That\u2019s a benefit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Depending on Romello Height\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ninersnation.com\/san-francisco-49ers-injuries\/161686\/49ers-injury-updates-week-1-takes-precedence-over-the-preseason\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">ankle injury<\/a>, this may not be the final move the 49ers make ahead of Week 1. What these injuries are doing is putting more on Nick Bosa and Keion White\u2019s plates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Remember, the 49ers added Kevin Givens to the practice squad. He could be a game-day activation and play on the edge to give the defense a bigger body against the Rams\u2019 heavy personnel sets. Robert Saleh did that with Givens occasionally last season when the team was shorthanded on the edge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">The team has not announced a corresponding move yet. If Okuayinonu\u2019s injury is serious, we could see the 49ers place him on the Injured Reserve.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1upudxki _174s0un1 _174s0un0 _1mt21p01\">Kyle\u2019s update, 6:46 p.m. PT: The team officially placed Sam Okuayinonu on the Injured Reserve List.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers are signing edge rusher Khalid Kareem from the Atlanta Falcons\u2019 practice squad, according to&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":837068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63],"tags":[349,47545,2745,99],"class_list":["post-837067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-nfl","tag-san-francisco-49ers-roster","tag-san-francisco-49ers-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=837067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/837067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=837067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=837067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=837067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}