DeMeco Ryans Wasn't Surprised by Impressive Preseason Outing From Samuel Womack III
Samuel Womack III stole the show in the 49ers' first preseason game versus the Packers. The rookie slot corner out of Toledo balled out with two standout plays that led to him reeling in an interception on them each.
But no play stood out more than the great coverage he had in the second-quarter of the game where he completely snatched the ball out of the receiver's hands. That type of ballhawking is exactly what the 49ers have been missing out of their secondary. It is clear that Womack is using his playmaking ability on the ball from college and translating it well into the NFL so far.
The performance out of Womack was nothing short of impressive, which is something that DeMeco Ryans wasn't surprised at all with.
"For Womack, those are plays you saw him make in college," said Ryans at his Sunday press conference. "He was always sticky in coverage, contesting the throws, a lot of PBUs, a lot of interceptions in college so I've seen him make those plays seen him make those in the game as well, seen him make those plays in practice so it wasn't a surprise that he was sticky in coverage, he was exactly where he needs to be. A smart player making really big time plays for us."
Darqueze Dennard looks like the starter at nickel for the 49ers, but a performance like that out of Womack easily gives him a chance at taking it. Beating out Dennard shouldn't be too difficult for him if what he showed in the preseason game is something he can build off of.
"With Womack, he has to continue. He's another guy that just has to continue to improve off of what he's done," said Ryans. "He made two good plays, but he has to continue to improve his technique. Everything we ask him to do he has to continue to get better and excel at all of those things."
Womack has momentum created from the first preseason game, so now he needs to keep it rolling. It all starts with the joint-practices against the Vikings. That is where Kyle Shanahan values reps more than even a preseason game. If he can play well throughout those practices and going into the actual game against the Vikings, then Womack will be putting pressure on Shanahan to kick Dennard off as the starter in favor of him.
“We felt him out there with those picks," said Shanahan. "and I thought he did a real good job in his coverage too. His pick over the middle, I thought was the best, just the coverage that he had on it. The second one just for him to keep fighting and be able to come down with that or I think that was the first one, but he had a good first outing. Still has to clean some stuff up and continue improving in the run game and some pass game stuff, but he had a good first day.”
The stock is rising on Womack. Buy early while you can.
