49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga sustained an ACL injury during the team’s victory over the Buccaneers on Sunday. The initial word on the injury wasn’t encouraging, and it didn’t improve on Monday. 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Hufanga tore his ACL during the game and that he had avoided any other damage to the knee. Despite this setback, there is hope that Hufanga will be ready to go for the start of the 2024 season.
Hufanga was an All-Pro last season and was playing well again this season. He started all 10 games the 49ers have played so far and had 52 tackles and three interceptions in those contests. On Monday, Ji’Ayir Brown took over for Hufanga and had an interception in the end zone to kill a Bucs scoring chance. With Brown’s performance, it seems like the 49ers defense is still in good hands even without their star safety.