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49ers SS Malik Mustapha is a Defensive Rookie of the Year Candidate

The 49ers' rookie class is outstanding, and fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha has been one of the top rookies in the league this season according to NFL.com.

Grant Cohn

Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) gestures after defending a pass against the Arizona Cardinals during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
Oct 6, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Malik Mustapha (6) gestures after defending a pass against the Arizona Cardinals during the second quarter at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images
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SANTA CLARA -- The 49ers' season might be slipping away, but the future could be bright.

Their rookie class is outstanding, and fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha has been one of the top rookies in the league this season according to NFL.com.

"If we're talking long shots at this point anyway, why not go with one who packs a punch?" writes NFL.com analyst Kevin Patra. "Mustapha has added physicality to the Niners' secondary, bringing the wood like an old-school defender at least once per game. He might not grade out perfectly in coverage by some metrics, but he has generated -5.8 receiving yards allowed over expected as the nearest defender, per Next Gen Stats, while allowing a passer rating of 33.2. Mustapha's -44.6 completion percentage over expected allowed is tops among all rookie DBs, per NGS. As nice as those numbers look, he rounds this list out mostly because he plays with an energy and ferocity that, frankly, is just fun to watch."

I love this pick. Mustapha probably won't win the award because it generally goes to a play with lots of sacks or interceptions. But when you take a close look at the rest of the numbers, Mustapha's are as good as any rookie's. Teams have been extremely hesitant to test his coverage since he entered the starting lineup, which is remarkable for a rookie. He already has earned the rest of his peers.

Expect Mustapha to be the 49ers' strong safety for years to come.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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