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Who will 49ers Start at Safety While Malik Mustapha is Out?

For all we know, 49ers safety Malik Mustapha could start the season on the PUP list.
Grant Cohn|
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) before the game against the Arizona Cardinals at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images | Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

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San Francisco 49ers

For all we know, 49ers safety Malik Mustapha could start the season on the PUP list.

Mustapha tore his ACL in the final game of the regular season. He also tore this ACL in 2022 and made a full recovery. Which means the 49ers might want to be cautious with Mustapha this time around because a third ACL tear could end his career.

Don't be surprised if the 49ers go slow with Mustapha -- there's no reason to rush him back onto the field. So while he's out, who will take his place?

The 49ers lost starting strong safety Talanoa Hufanga this offseason -- he signed with the Denver Broncos. Third-year safety Ji'Ayir Brown most likely will take his place in the 49ers defense. But who will play next to him?

They drafted Marques Sigle in Round 5. He has the traits to become a starting safety at some point, but I doubt he'll start Week 1.

The 49ers also signed two veteran safeties -- Richie Grant and Jason Pinnock. Grant has started 33 games in his career, although last season he got benched and mostly played special teams.

Pinnock started all 32 games he played in the past two seasons for the Giants, so he would appear to be the favorite to start early in the season for the 49ers. He's a former fifth-round pick who was drafted by Robert Saleh and the Jets in 2021.

Pinnock struggled at times in 2024, but in 2023 he played well. And now he'll be on a good defense with an excellent coordinator in Robert Saleh.

When Mustapha returns, don't be surprised if Pinnock stays in the starting lineup and Ji'Ayir Brown goes to the bench.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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