49ers news: Malik Mustapha suffered an ACL injury and will miss the start of the regular season

Update: Adam Schefter is saying a torn ACL, which is more than just “re-injuring”.

You can like or hate the San Francisco 49ers draft, but some news can be unanimously not liked: ESPN’s Nick Wagoner reports that safety Malik Mustapha will miss the start of the 2025 season.

This is due to Mustapha’s injury in the season finale against the Arizona Cardinals, where he re-injured an ACL he tore in 2022. Wagoner speculates that the play below might be where he suffered the injury:

Given that the 2024 finale seems like months ago, I did a quick check to see if he showed up on any injury lists following the game and came up empty-handed. So this is the first we’ve heard about it.

For now, Ji’Ayir Brown, Richie Grant, Jason Pinnock, and George Odum are the healthy safeties on the roster. Malik is in his own tier, meaning we could see a veteran added in free agency if the 49ers aren’t content with the current crop of safeties.

The 49ers drafted Kansas State’s Marques Sigle in the fifth round. Upton Stout, whom the 49ers drafted at the end of Day 2, also played safety. With Mustapha’s status up in the air; that may have been what helped the 49ers decide to use a coveted fifth-round choice on a safety.

There is no timeline on Mustapha’s return, but Wagoner expects “midseason”. Cross your fingers.