On Sunday, the 49ers’ victory over the Buccaneers was marred by an injury to safety Talanoa Hufanga. The initial reports on the injury weren’t promising, and it didn’t improve on Monday. On a Monday conference call, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan confirmed that Hufanga had torn his ACL during the game. Despite this setback, Shanahan stated that Hufanga had avoided any other damage to his knee, so there is hope that he 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. The team will miss his presence on defense, but they can take comfort in knowing that Ji’Ayir Brown stepped up and filled in for him admirably. During Sunday’s game, Brown had an interception in the end zone that killed a Bucs scoring chance.