The San Francisco 49ers announced they brought defensive lineman Viliami Fehoko Jr. back onto the practice squad on Tuesday, closing a short loop that began only a couple of weeks earlier.
Fehoko, 26, is a Mountain View native listed at 6-foot-4 and 267 pounds. Dallas drafted him in the fourth round, 129th overall, in 2023 out of San Jose State.
His path since then has been a tour of practice squads and short stays rather than a settled role. He spent 2023 and 2024 with the Cowboys, was with Washington in 2025, then landed with the Colts late that year after an offseason in the Commanders’ organization.
Indianapolis waived him this offseason after he had signed a futures deal, and San Francisco picked him up near the end of camp.
He did not make the initial 53-man roster. The 49ers added him to the practice squad on September 23, the same day they signed defensive tackle Naquan Jones and placed C.J. West on injured reserve.
Three days later, they promoted Fehoko to the active roster. He appeared in one game, then was waived on October 3. Tuesday’s move puts him back in the building without a spot on the active roster.
The college production that made him a mid-round pick is still the clearest part of his résumé.
Over five seasons at San Jose State, from 2018 through 2022, he played in 48 games and finished with 191 tackles, 46 tackles for loss, and 23 sacks, along with 14 passes defensed, five forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.
That production never fully translated in the NFL. He was in the second year of a four-year rookie contract worth about $3.84 million when the Cowboys waived him with an injury designation coming out of the preseason, and he has not locked down a regular role since.
For San Francisco, the signing is depth rather than a statement. The defensive line has already absorbed an injury to West, and the club has been cycling edge and interior bodies through the practice squad and onto the active roster for short elevations.
Fehoko knows the building, having been through camp, the final cuts, a one-game promotion, and a waiver in the span of a few weeks.
Practice-squad contracts of this kind are flexible: a player can be elevated for a game, released, and re-signed if the need and the roster math line up again.
Whether this stay lasts longer than the last one depends on injuries and how the 49ers choose to use their elevations.
For now, Fehoko is back where he started the regular season, available if the defensive line needs another body.
