The 49ers may have found another Day 3 gem, who has quickly become an impact player.<\/p>\n
\n
The\u00a0San Francisco 49ers\u00a0have faced their fair share of injuries this season, with a number of starters missing multiple weeks, which has been a part of their early-season struggles.<\/p>\n
Offensively, San Francisco has missed running back Christian McCaffrey for the entire season, while they recently lost wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk for the year after he suffered a torn ACL and MCL this past weekend.<\/p>\n
Defensively, the 49ers have seen a number of issues crop up as well, as defensive tackle Javon Hargrave will likely miss the rest of the year with a triceps injury, while safety Talanoa Hufanga has been in and out of the lineup with a variety of issues.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately for Hufanga, his latest injury could rule him out for the rest of the year, as he has multiple torn wrist ligaments,\u00a0although he may look to play in a cast, according to his agent.<\/p>\n
With the injury, rookie Malik Mustapha has stepped into the starting role, playing alongside second-year pro Ji\u2019Ayir Brown as the team\u2019s safety tandem.<\/p>\n
Mustapha started the year as a reserve for San Francisco, working behind Brown and veteran George Odum, but the rookie impressed the staff enough to earn the start in Week 4 against the\u00a0New England Patriots\u00a0when Hufanga was dealing with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
Hufanga briefly returned in Week 5 before suffering the hand injury, but since then, it\u2019s mainly been Mustapha with the top defense, as the rookie has looked to impress with his tackling ability.<\/p>\n
Mustapha made multiple highlight-reel plays early in the game against the\u00a0Kansas City Chiefs, ultimately ending the day with a team-high eight tackles in the loss.<\/p>\n
How has Mustapha impressed the staff thus far as he continues to earn more reps?<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re happy with Malik. He gets better every week,\u201d defensive coordinator Nick Sorensen said ahead of Week 8. \u201cHe gets better every game. He gets more command and comfort back there, communicating with guys, and you just see him continue to cut it loose. But also, he is making plays for us, whether it\u2019s in tackling or taking the ball. So, happy with what he\u2019s doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tackling aspect has especially shined, with head coach Kyle Shanahan calling the safety a sprint-tackler, as he doesn’t shorten his stride when embracing hits.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really flashes with it,\u201d Sorensen said about Mustapha\u2019s tackling. \u201cWe try and coach sprint-tackling. That\u2019s how we want to tackle damn near every time. But it\u2019s tough when guys can do it as consistent as he does. You see it with Fred [Warner] and [Dre Greenlaw] Law and guys, but he jumped out on tape doing a lot of that too in college. So that was one of the things that I loved about him in college, too. And now he continues to bring it to the league. So that\u2019s what you\u2019re seeing and it\u2019s awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere you sit in a chair, and you stop, I think everyone thinks that\u2019s how you need to tackle. I think there are different styles of tackling. It\u2019s something that\u2019s come up, I think in here, talking about it a little bit too. But it\u2019s just a different mentality. It\u2019s a different way of tackling. It\u2019s a different style when you want to bring multiple guys running at full speed. You have to trust yourself, you have to trust your teammate. You never want to miss, but we want to bring violence and force to the ball carrier every time. And we feel the same way with our big guys as stack-monsters coming out of the stack to go get that hit as well. So everything, sprint-tackle, speed and violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mustapha will continue to face his fair share of rookie moments, such as the touchdown run from Patrick Mahomes last weekend, but he\u2019s impressed early on and has looked fairly sound with his fundamentals, quickly earning a role on this San Francisco defense.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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