Eric Bakhtiari looks to stick with 49ers 49ERS Linebacker Bakhtiari has been cut 8 times

Recommended Video:

Eric Bakhtiari is forever faithful to football, a sport he calls his "wife, girlfriend and mistress."

Unfortunately, the object of Bakhtiari's affection keeps ripping out his heart and stomping it to smithereens.

Since leaving the non-scholarship University of San Diego in 2008, the 49ers' outside linebacker has been on a five-state, seven-team odyssey in which he's had seven practice-squad stints and been released eight times.

Through it all, the guy with a tenuous roster spot - he wore the uniform of five teams during a 101-day span in 2010 - has held tight to his sense of humor.

Asked if he has a family, the 27-year-old Burlingame native smiled.

"Stability," he explained, "isn't my forte." His claim to fame? Thanks to his parents, stops at NFL-funded extended-stay hotels and the extra bedrooms of more established players, he's the king of cost-effectiveness.

"Free living, I've mastered it," he said. "I haven't paid rent since 2010. I've got to keep this going as long as I can."

Bakhtiari can even grin when asked about the most painful moments of his career - those eight times he's been fired.

Eric Bakhtiari walks off the field after practice as San Francisco 49ers finish with training camp for the day in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, August 8, 2012. Eric Bakhtiari walks off the field after practice as San Francisco 49ers finish with training camp for the day in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, August 8, 2012. Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Photo: Carlos Avila Gonzalez, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 4 Caption Close Eric Bakhtiari looks to stick with 49ers 1 / 4 Back to Gallery

"The funniest thing is the line, 'Grab your playbook, Coach wants to see you,' " he said. "It's the worst code known to man. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want me to come over so he can watch film with me."

Entering Saturday night's preseason game in Houston, however, Bakhtiari appears poised to return to NFL relevance after spending three games on the Titans' active roster in 2009.

Last week, he had team highs with four tackles and two sacks in a preseason-opening win against the Vikings. Bolstering his chances of making the 53-man roster is his special-teams ability - he earned a game ball for his three tackles on return units in his 2009 NFL debut - and the fact that much of his anticipated competition isn't on the field.

After playing last year with just three outside linebackers - Aldon Smith, Ahmad Brooks and Parys Haralson - the 49ers addressed their lack of depth in the draft. Fifth-round pick Darius Fleming, however, is sidelined with a torn ACL, and seventh-rounder Cam Johnson missed the preseason opener after undergoing knee surgery in early June.

The door is open. And it's easy for others to root for Bakhtiari to run through it.

"He's a guy that comes out every day and does everything you ask him to do," linebacker Patrick Willis said. "You have to love guys like this."

Willis isn't the only All-Pro linebacker taken with the intangibles of a player admittedly short on athleticism, but with no shortage of intelligence, instincts and resilience.

Green Bay's Clay Matthews was Bakhtiari's training partner for four months during the offseason, and the pair bonded through their love of football and the work associated with it. Matthews invited Bakhtiari to live in his five-bedroom house overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu.

Matthews has remained in contact during the summer and was thrilled by his former housemate's success in the preseason opener.

"You've got to respect Eric's drive and work ethic," Matthews said. "He's been told no so many times, and yet he just continued to work. It's clearly evident by his first preseason game where he had two sacks. He's just got to keep working. He's going to find his niche with some team, and hopefully that's this year."

Connected by a mutual friend, Bakhtiari and Matthews trained side by side during a six-day-a-week, two-workout-a-day program that included Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Clady, Jets cornerback Antonio Cromartie and Ravens linebacker Jameel McClain.

The program, run through Proactive Sports Performance in the Los Angeles suburb of Westlake Village, included weight lifting, sand-dune running, yoga, Pilates, boxing and a "tire course" in the mountains where Bakhtiari ran sprints with a tire harnessed to his back.

Proactive director Ryan Capretta said Bakhtiari, physically, became "a different guy." For his part, Bakhtiari believes his biggest boost came from what he learned mentally from Matthews.

A light-bulb moment came when Bakhtiari asked Matthews about the best offensive tackles he had faced. Matthews half dismissed the question, explaining that every player can be beaten. It was a belief that Bakhtiari, who led the Football Championship Subdivision with 20 sacks as a senior, had lost.

"You can beat that person, whether it's Clay Matthews or even me," Bakhtiari said. "Just to have that in your mind - what I do isn't going to fail. It could work. It will work. My first two preseasons, I couldn't get a sack. I got close, but I just couldn't get one. I was like, my moves, coming from a I-AA, non-scholarship school, aren't going to work."

Bakhtiari's belief in his skills might have wavered, but he's remained confident that, somehow, he'll keep his football dream alive. After four years, five states, seven teams and eight releases, his relationship with the game he loves is one marked mostly by rejection.

Still, he keeps working for his happily ever after.

"Initially, it was so incredible that I was ever in the NFL based on where I came from, so that was really cool," he said. "But I always wanted more out of the game than I've done in the game. And that's what drives me."

Now that's a journey, man A look at the career of well-traveled 49ers LB Eric Bakhtiari: 9/11/08: Signed by Chargers 9/23/08: Released by Chargers 10/7/08: Signed by 49ers (practice squad) 1/28/09: Signed by Chargers 9/5/09: Released by Chargers 10/14/09: Signed by Buccaneers (practice squad) 10/27/09: Released by Buccaneers 11/11/09: Signed by Titans (practice squad) 12/12/09: Signed to Titans active roster 9/4/10: Released by Titans 10/5/10: Signed by 49ers (practice squad) 11/8/10: Released by 49ers 11/10/10: Signed by Dolphins (practice squad) 11/16/10: Released by Dolphins 11/18/10: Signed by Chiefs (practice squad) 12/3/10: Released by Chiefs 12/14/10: Signed by Browns (practice squad) 1/13/11: Signed by Chiefs 8/29/11: Released by Chiefs 5/14/12: Signed by 49ers