San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga was a full participant in practice for the first time since tearing a ligament in his knee last November and could be set to return to game action this week.
Hufanga tore his ACL in a win over Tampa Bay on Nov. 19 last season and missed the rest of the season. Hufanga missed training camp on the physically unable to perform list before being activated when the Niners cut the roster to 53 players on Aug. 27.
He was limited in practice the past two weeks and missed the first two games of the season. Now he's set to make his season debut on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams barring any setbacks this week, providing a needed boost for the Niners.
“You always miss Huf out there,” coach Kyle Shanahan said Wednesday. "The big-play capability, how well he communicates, flying sideline to sideline. We’re going to be pumped. He should get back this week if everything goes right. We’ve missed him.”
Hufanga was drafted in the fifth round by San Francisco in 2021 and played mostly on special teams at the start before working his way into the defense late in his rookie season.
Hufanga then became an All-Pro his second season and was playing at a high level again last year before getting hurt after amassing three interceptions and 52 tackles.
The defense regressed a bit after his injury, allowing 4.4 more points per game and 0.24 more yards per play after Hufanga went down.
“We missed him a lot,” All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner said. “Even though he’s a young player, the leadership ability in that room is big time. The voice that he has in the back end calling out the checks and alerting guys, alerting even myself is huge for me. It takes a lot off my plate. So happy to have him back out there.”
While the Niners will likely be getting a key defensive player back, the offense is missing two big pieces. All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey was placed on injured reserve on Saturday with Achilles' tendinitis and star receiver Deebo Samuel will miss a couple of weeks after straining his calf.
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Defensive end Nick Bosa said it's up to everybody to make up for those absences.
“I think we have to do a much better job of playing complementary football — offense, defense and special teams,” Bosa said. “We’re without Deebo and Christian, but we have plenty of good players.”
This will be the first time the 49ers will play without both McCaffrey and Samuel on the field since a Week 13 loss at Seattle in 2021. At least one of the two dynamic playmakers had been available in 50 straight regular season or playoff games.
McCaffrey and Samuel are the team's most versatile offensive players with McCaffrey excelling as a receiver out of the backfield and Samuel as a traditional running back.
Their absences could limit some options.
“You eliminate some special things that you would only do for those guys, but the number (of plays) doesn’t change,” Shanahan said. "There’s things those guys do very well. Nothing other guys can’t do. But there’s kind of different percentages on how much you call them and things like that.”
