SAF Malik Mustapha
Height: 5’11
Weight: 207 lbs.
Class: Junior (4th year)
School: Wake Forest
College Stats
Mustapha was an accomplished high school football player out of Weddington High School in Matthews, North Carolina, where he helped lead his team to a North Carolina 3AA State Championship. Mustapha played one season for the Richmond Spiders before transferring to Wake Forest. Mustapha played 162 snaps in his one year at Richmond and recorded 14 tackles with one pass breakup.
Mustapha started every game for the Demon Deacons in 2023. He will be attending the 2023 Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Strengths
Weaknesses
Summary
Malik Mustapha is a physical safety who displayed range and competence in a single-high role, but his game was maximized closer to the line of scrimmage, where his aggressiveness in run support is more effective due to sub-optimal angles from deeper depths. He does a good job staying square to contact, using good timing to attack in the box, and displayed traits similar to a linebacker when he was closer to the LOS.
Mustapha will start as a solid sub-package rotational player who thrives on special teams. His temperament against the run and overall movement skills may lead to him seeing the defense in his rookie season. His athletic ability allows him to play man coverage effectively, especially on horizontal routes, but he made some bad mistakes on vertical concepts with double moves. Mustapha wasn’t asked to blitz often (51 times in his career), but there’s potential in that area with his low nature, active hands, and explosiveness.
I don’t know the fate of current Giants’ defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, but Mustapha strikes me as a good fit for Martindale’s defense. Testing has not yet occurred, nor have his official measurements been released. He should test well, but I think he’s smaller than his listed height (5’11), and his arms seem small on tape, which does seem to affect his play.
GRADE: 6.18
More must-reads: