Fangirl Sports Network asked various players in the San Francisco 49ers locker room to describe rookie cornerback Upton Stout. The words may be different, but the themes are the same.
“Scrappy. Fast. Relentless.” Offensive lineman, and Stout’s locker neighbor, Jake Brendel
“Spontaneous. Driven. Wild.” CB Renardo Green
“Full of energy. Works hard. Resilient.” Rookie DL C.J. West
“Aggressive, smart, and I would say relentless.” CB Chase Lucas
“Confident, funny, and ambitious.” Rookie safety Marquis Sigle
“He’s very instinctual,” said cornerback Darrell Luter.
“Stout, there’s one,” said 49ers backup quarterback Mac Jones. “That is such a good one. That is the best one. That’s it. That’s all you need – is stout. Smaller guy, he’s stout.”
Stout is listed at 5’9 and 181 pounds, but he does not play like someone who is 5’9 and 181 pounds. “He packs a punch,” Jones said.
“Anytime a rookie, especially a guy who plays his play style, the violence at which he plays, it’s more just getting reps and starting to feel the game and understanding where he needs to put his body and all the techniques that we’re asking,” said 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh. “I’ve always said, a coach’s job is to give a player a three-foot, a little foundation to stand on, something rock-solid that he can count on play-in and play-out. It’s a player that’s going to expand that, along with reps and coaching, just bringing more awareness to what he’s being asked out of all his different techniques, how can he expand that foundation so he can stretch the limits of what he’s capable of?
“And Upton has done that week after week after week, and I still don’t even think he’s close to done. I think he’s got so much left in the tank. He’s learning so much every single week. And it’s been good for him. I’ll echo what Kyle [Shanahan] said. I do think he had his best game on Saturday night. Every day goes together, but he showed his violence in the flat on a big tight end. He knocked a couple O-Linemen on their backs or shed them at least, threw them to the ground. He’s a good little player, man. He is going to be good in this league for a while.”
The 49ers Week 18 loss to the Seattle Seahawks was far from their best night of football, but Stout continued to show the promise he has throughout the season. He’s a rookie, mistakes have happened, but how he has responded and how he has learned from them are the reasons he’s making big plays game after game.
“I thought he had his best game last week, and I think he’s had a number of real good games,” said 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan. “But we’ve been excited since Stout’s gotten here and I thought he’s had a really good rookie year.”
On their first drive of the game, the Seahawks went for it on 4th-and-4 from the four-yard line – so much symmetry. Stout said no dice with excellent man-to-man coverage on Cooper Kupp. In the 49ers Week 11 win over the Arizona Cardinals, it was Stout who forced a fumble at the one-yard line and prevented a Cardinals touchdown.
“He has no fear,” said cornerback Darrell Luter. “He’s not hesitant or nothing. Like I said, he’s urgent with everything. Like he said, also too instinctive. His instincts going to get the ball is amazing. He could be one spot with his eyes, and his instincts take him somewhere else, and boom, he’s just going to play ball. That’s him. He’s all over the field.”
On two third-and-long situations in Week 18, Stout contained receivers for one-yard gains and finished the night with a 90.4 coverage grade, courtesy of PFF.
“I just think he loves the game of football, and he just wants to be great at it, and I appreciate being on the field with guys like that,” said 49ers tight end George Kittle. “I can definitely feel the energy coming from him every time you see him play, like when he gets up, he celebrates. Everything he does is fast and physical. There are certain guys that you can feel that love of the game just come off of them, and he’s one of those guys for sure.”
The 49ers have battled a well-documented number of injuries this season. They’ve talked about the change in the team’s mindset this past offseason – be the best team they can be each week, control what they can control and let the rest – literally – play out. It’s a mindset Stout has adopted as an individual.
“I feel like my mentality, just taking things as they come and not really getting too high or too low,” Stout told FGSN. “And I feel like as a player, I feel like it kind of ties into the same thing as mentality, as just next play mentality. I feel like that’s what it is as a player for me 24/7, not realize, not thinking about the play that’s fixing to happen or think about the play that already happened, just being in the moment and just giving my all whenever I step out there.”
Stout spent most of his life playing outside corner, but he started playing nickel his last year of college and it’s been his role in San Francisco. Both positions have their advantages.
“What I like about playing corner is that matchup,” Stout said. “…I feel like it has its great values. And then it’s a process of elimination when you play…When you at corner, so you ain’t got to really do too much. Nickel, really just tenacity and the aggressiveness that you could play. I feel like it allows me to show up my whole capability. I feel like at corner you kind of get kept in that box. But, at nickel you could really show you could blaze, you can cover, you can tackle and things like that.”
Stout has been showing things like that, and he’s been showing them since he arrived in Santa Clara.
“He came in pretty humble, and he still is, but he came in with just the attitude of, I’m going to go and learn and do what the team needs and when I step out in the field and it’s time to compete, I’m going to go all out,” 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy told FGSN. “And we saw that from day one. He made a splash in camp.
“All the older guys were like, man, this young nickel can go out and guard just about anybody, even if it’s a big tight end. He was great in coverage, aggressive…And then obviously in season when things are tough, or he’s dealing with certain injuries or whatnot, he’s been the guy that’s been able to step up and finish and had a bunch of huge breakups at the end of games this year…He’s definitely relentless.”
Upton Stout is also very much himself. The confidence, the work ethic and the person manifest itself on the field.
“I mean, he is who he is and that’s a good thing,” Brendel said. “He’s not going to change for anyone. But at the same time, he’s a very coachable person. So, it’s like him and his demeanor and him as a character stay the same. His project on the field has just gone up, which is what you want to see.”
Stout will take the field on Sunday for his first playoff game, on the road, in a hostile environment, against the defending Super Bowl-Champion Philadelphia Eagles. NBD.
“It’s the first playoff game, but I kind of look at every game like a playoff game, because it is almost every time we go out there and play. So, it’s like just keeping the same mentality, going out there to have fun and win…I’m ready. We thrive in hostile environments and things like that.”