The San Francisco 49ers have ended their brief relationship with former Cincinnati Bengals fourth-round pick Cameron Sample .
San Francisco announced on August 5 that it waived Sample while making room for two new veteran additions. The move came less than four months after the 49ers signed the defensive lineman to a one-year contract on April 13.
Sampleâs departure follows a knee issue that recently kept him out of training-camp practice. The 49ers described the transaction simply as a waiver, rather than a waiver with an injury designation, so the team did not formally attribute his release to the injury.
Still, the timing illustrates how quickly a veteranâs roster opportunity can disappear during August.
Sample arrived in San Francisco with a legitimate chance to compete for a rotational role.
The Bengals selected him with the No. 111 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL draft. At 6-foot-3 and 272 pounds, he offered experience playing along multiple spots on the defensive front rather than fitting strictly as a speed rusher.
Sample spent his first five NFL seasons in Cincinnati. He appeared in 61 regular-season games, collecting 85 tackles, seven sacks and one forced fumble.
His career was interrupted by a torn Achilles suffered during training camp in August 2024. The injury caused him to miss the entire season, but Cincinnati brought him back in 2025.
Sample then appeared in 14 games, including two starts, and registered 17 tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. He also played 234 defensive snaps, accounting for slightly more than 21% of Cincinnatiâs defensive workload.
That return made him a reasonable low-risk addition for San Francisco. Rather than asking Sample to become a featured pass rusher, the 49ers could evaluate whether he could provide experienced depth and play a limited number of dependable snaps.
He did not get enough time to establish that role.
Sample was among the defensive linemen who missed practice because of an injury as the 49ersâ availability problems mounted during camp.
A knee issue kept him off the field alongside several other unavailable edge defenders. San Francisco was already operating without a full complement of pass rushers, forcing the organization to search for healthy reinforcements.
That context makes Sampleâs release somewhat counterintuitive. Teams usually want to preserve experienced depth when a position group is dealing with injuries.
Availability, however, is especially important during training camp. The 49ers need enough healthy defensive linemen to conduct practices, evaluate the rest of the roster and distribute preseason snaps without placing excessive workloads on the players who remain available.
Sampleâs résumé could not help San Francisco accomplish those goals while he was sidelined.
The move does not necessarily represent a sweeping conclusion about his ability. It may instead reflect the immediate realities of roster management. A veteran on a one-year agreement has limited protection when injuries prevent him from competing and the club needs another player who can practice immediately.
Sample now returns to the waiver process with regular-season experience and recent production on his résumé.
His two sacks in 2025 showed that he could still contribute after recovering from the Achilles injury. At 26, he is also younger than many veterans who become available during training camp.
The unanswered question is the condition of his knee.
San Francisco did not provide a timetable for Sampleâs return in its transaction announcement. Because the team listed him as waived rather than waived/injured, the official move offers little information about how much time he could miss.
A healthy Sample could still interest another team seeking an experienced defensive lineman before the preseason concludes. He has played inside and outside, participated on special teams and handled rotational snaps throughout his career.
For the 49ers, however, the experiment ended before Sample played a game.
San Francisco signed the former fourth-round selection hoping he could compete for a place in its defensive-line rotation. Less than four months later, an injury-disrupted training camp and the need for available bodies left him without a roster spot.
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