Malik Mustapha Injury: May miss start of season

Mustapha may miss the beginning of the 2025 season due to a knee injury he suffered in Week 17 last year, Nick Wagoner of ESPN.com reports.

Mustapha underwent surgery to repair a torn graft in his knee after he was cleated in the final regular-season game of his rookie campaign. The Wake Forest product tore his ACL back in 2022, and these two injuries were related. Mustapha started 12 games as a rookie and posted 72 tackles (32 solo), five pass breakups and an interception. The 49ers are hoping for a midseason return, at which point he'll look to reclaim the starting role. In the meantime, Richie Grant and Jason Pinnock are candidates to start at strong safety.