A pair of San Francisco 49ers rookies made their debuts on the defensive side of the ball in Week 2.
Cornerback Renardo Green and safety Malik Mustapha both saw action on defense against the Minnesota Vikings after only playing on special teams in the season opener vs. the New York Jets.
Green played four snaps as a fourth cornerback. Mustapha rotated in at strong safety with veteran George Odum and played 31 snaps.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Wednesday that both players could see similar roles against the Rams depending on how their game plan shakes out.
“Possibly. They have to be ready, always, in case of an injury,” Shanahan said. “I could say they don’t have any plans to play or to go in and then one play happens and they’re in the rest of the game. It was nice to mix Malik in last week. I thought he did well with his reps. Renardo came in on a couple of dime packages and he did well with his reps too. So possibly with the scheme, whatever that is this week, we can keep building off that. But if not, they’re always one play away from playing the rest of the game.”
Green is still behind Isaac Yiadom on the 49ers’ depth chart, and it doesn’t sound like he’s going to pass him despite a tough game from Yiadom in Minnesota. If the rookie second-round pick does play it’ll likely be in the dime package like the one he played in against the Vikings.
Mustapha is a more interesting case because starting strong safety Talanoa Hufanga is expected to return in Week 3. However, Hufanga’s workload is still a question mark. If he ends up not playing a full complement of snaps, we could see Mustapha rotate in as the backup.
Regardless of their roles in 2024, both Green and Mustapha figure to play big parts in the 49ers’ defense in 2025 and beyond.
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