Dre Greenlaw was not the only 49ers defensive standout unavailable for the conclusion of Super Bowl LVIII; the team played the stretch run without All-Pro safety Talanoa Hufanga. The two-year starter’s late-season ACL tear leaves his status for 2024 in question.

Hufanga suffered the injury during the 49ers’ Thanksgiving win over the Seahawks. It is not certain Hufanga joins Greenlaw as starters sidelined to open the season, but the contract-year DB is still a ways away from being ready to return.

“The goal is to ready by Week 1,” Hufanga said, via 49ersWebZone.com’s David Bonilla. “The goal is to be in training camp, not at the very beginning, but to ramp me up correctly, just so it’s not, ‘Throw you out there to the wolves and good luck.'”

A former fifth-round pick, Hufanga showed himself to be a difference-maker at safety during the 2022 season. He became the second 49ers safety this century, joining Dashon Goldson (2012), to earn first-team All-Pro acclaim. Hufanga, 25, profiles as an extension candidate for a 49ers team flush with those. In the secondary alone, Hufanga joins Charvarius Ward and Deommodore Lenoir as contract-year cogs. Ward is targeting a 49ers extension; Hufanga stands to be in this conversation upon return from his knee injury.

After a four-interception 2022, Hufanga picked off three passes before his injury last season. The 49ers moved third-round rookie Ji’Ayir Brown into the lineup alongside Tashaun Gipson. Although Gipson has come up as a player the 49ers would consider re-signing, the San Jose Mercury News’ Cam Inman notes Brown looks to be locked into a starting role. This would shift the conversation of a San Francisco safety addition to that player merely being a placeholder until Hufanga returns.

The 49ers signed De’Vondre Campbell for a gig like this, as the three-year Packers starter is expected to begin the season as a three-down linebacker alongside Fred Warner until Greenlaw returns. Brown moving to a level in which the 49ers feel comfortable using him as a full-timer would change the conversation at safety, and it would give the defending NFC champions a low-cost piece on a team featuring several contract situations. Brown’s rookie contract runs through 2026.

The Penn State product started five games in place of Hufanga during the regular season and was in San Francisco’s lineup for its three playoff outings. He intercepted a Patrick Mahomes pass in the Super Bowl. While Gipson started the past two seasons with the 49ers, the well-traveled veteran has played 12 seasons and is not a lock to pursue a 13th.

San Francisco drafted Malik Mustapha in the fourth round and used All-Pro special-teamer George Odum as the first-stringer alongside Brown during the offseason program. If Gipson does not want to play an age-34 season, the 49ers would have some options as veteran insurance while Hufanga rehabs. A few free agent safeties, however, probably view themselves as overqualified for a placeholder/insurance gig. While the market includes Justin Simmons, Quandre Diggs and Jamal Adams, they will likely hold out for a better opportunity. Marcus Maye and Eddie Jackson join this trio as unattached, and opportunities might be scarce come training camp. This should put the 49ers in good position to add if they choose to.

NOVEMBER 20: Shanahan confirmed on Monday that Hufanga did indeed tear his ACL. His third season with the team – one in which he appeared to be on his way to a second straight Pro Bowl nod – is over as a result. San Francisco’s secondary will be significantly shorthanded for the rest of the campaign.

NOVEMBER 19: It’s safe to say the 49ers have rebounded strongly from their three-game losing streak with two straight wins as they’ve continued to get healthy. That march towards perfect health will take a step back, though, as it looks like San Francisco will be without starting safety Talanoa Hufanga for the remainder of season, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. Head coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters that Hufanga “most likely” suffered an ACL injury, per Jake Hutchinson of KNBR.

Hufanga has quietly become one of the league’s top safeties. After a quiet start to his rookie year as a fifth-round pick, Hufanga found playing time filling in for an injured Jaquiski Tartt in the middle of the season. After that, the 49ers staff got creative in trying to fit Hufanga into more packages for the rest of the year. When Tartt’s contract expired at the end of the season, San Francisco decided to invest a bit more in the youthful option out of USC.

Hufanga became a starter in his sophomore season and exploded onto the scene. During a season in which he demonstrated his physicality with nearly 100 tackles, two sacks, five tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, and two forced fumbles, Hufanga showed his true range as a safety with nine passes defensed and four interceptions, one of which he returned for a touchdown, as well. He was rewarded for his efforts with a Pro Bowl and First-Team All-Pro selection.

So far this year, Hufanga has continued his stellar play. Before falling to injury today, he was well on track to match or exceed his tackle-total from last year and could’ve surpassed last year’s four-interception performance with three already and seven games to go. Pro Football Focus (subscription required) even noted an improvement in Hufanga’s game this season, rating him as the league’s 13th best safety after ranking him at 23 last year.

With Hufanga out today, the 49ers relied on a two-man front to replace him in Ji’Ayir Brown and George Odum. Odum had gotten more run than Brown so far this season, but Brown put up such a stellar performance in the team’s win over the Buccaneers today that a bigger role could be in the works for the third-round rookie out of Penn State. Given his most playing time of the year, Brown was all over the field with four tackles, three passes defensed, and his first career interception. If Brown continues to play like that, the 49ers should feel pretty good lining him up next to Tashaun Gipson as a starter. If not, a rotation with Odum, a veteran with some starting experience, could ensue.

This isn’t Hufanga’s first time suffering a season-ending injury as a broken collarbone ended his freshman year with the Trojans. An ACL tear is a different monster, though. Hopefully, the young All-Pro will prove his resilience with a relatively quick recovery from what seems to be a season-ending injury.