The San Francisco 49ers got some tough news with regard to their safety Talanoa Hufanga. It appears that his wrist injury may be serious enough that he will miss the rest of the 2024 season.
Hufanga's 2023 season also ended with injury when he tore his ACL.
This is unfortunate news because we know that when Hufanga is at 100 percent, he can be one of the best safeties in all of football. He burst onto the scene with his great 2022 All-Pro campaign, but sadly, injuries have derailed him since then. With him set to be a free agent this upcoming offseason, this injury could mean that he has already played his last game as a Niner.
If it is, it does seem like the 49ers already have their safety of the future on the roster.
Rookie Malik Mustapha has done a good job of filling in while Hufanga has been out, and it appears the first-year pro will most likely be a starting safety alongside Ji'Ayir Brown for the foreseeable future.
Mustapha was hyped up as a hard-hitting safety when the 49ers drafted him in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Thus far, he has largely lived up to the hype.
In seven games this season, Mustapha has made 25 combined tackles and has one interception on the year which came against the Seattle Seahawks in Week 6. He has had some rookie moments where he has missed tackles, dropped an easy interception, and bounced off of quarterback Patrick Mahomes. However, he has also made some big hits and key tackles like this one against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 7.
In fact, Mustapha led the team with 12 tackles against the Chiefs which made him one of the few bright spots on the team. Head coach Kyle Shanahan has heaped praise on the rookie as well which shows that the coaching staff is growing more impressed with him each passing week.
We will see how Mustapha progresses further the rest of this season. But with the injury to Hufanga, San Francisco is going to need the rookie out of Wake Forest to step up. Not only will the Niners need him to step up the rest of this season, but there is a good chance that they will need him to step up in the years to follow as Hufanga seems likely to depart in free agency.