3 former 49ers will play pivotal roles for the Broncos on Sunday
· Yahoo Sports
The San Francisco 49ers host their third straight home game this Sunday as they take on the Denver Broncos. Familiar faces will be on the other side, as the Niners will face some of their homegrown talent: DJ Jones, Mike McGlinchey, and Talanoa Hufanga.
DJ Jones
Jones has never been the kind of player that you could quantify statistically. Now, 31, Jones is still trucking along in the same role he had with the Niners from 2017 through 2021.
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Jones plays anywhere between 40 and 58% of snaps for Denver, depending on the game flow. He has a couple of run stops and a few pressures. But we know DJ. The 49ers know DJ. Kyle Shanahan knows DJ. He’s a bowling ball who will cause chaos and do his job, while freeing up the linebackers behind him.
Last week, when Jones was on the field, the Rams had 14 carries for only 3.1 yards per carry. That’s who Jones is.
Mike McGlinchey
There are no secrets with McGlinchey, either, who was always known as a plus run blocker and a shaky pass protector with the 49ers.
This season, McGlinchey is allowing a pressure rate of 8.1%. Per Sports Info Solutions, he’s earned 5 total points, with six blown blocks in pass protection and only one against the run. McGlinchey has allowed a run stuff and a sack, and has been penalized once. Sumer Sports has McGlinchey down for two impact plays this season across 166 snaps.
Let’s compare that to the player who took over for McGlinchey, Colton McKivitiz, who has played 163 snaps. Colton has six impact plays and a pressure rate of 3.4%, has earned six points, per Sports Info Solutions, with two blown blocks in pass protection compared to one against the run. Percentage-wise, the blown block rate favors McKivitz: 1.9% to 4.3%.
We’re not going to pretend each offense asks each tackle to do the same duties, but when you look at average depth of target and time to throw for Bo Nix and Brock Purdy, the 49ers are holding onto the ball longer.
Week 4 is a game where you hope to have Keion White, but you wish Nick Bosa would be out there to give McGlinchey fits. Rookie Romello Height’s speed could play a factor.
Talanoa Hufanga
Hufanga left the 49ers with no choice after he couldn’t stay healthy during the final two seasons of his rookie contract. That’s unfortunate, because he looked like a blossoming star during his first season as a starter.
Sure enough, Talanoa stayed healthy for all of 2025 and was named second-team All-Pro. Hufanga picking up where he left off last year.
Only three players have more impact plays at safety. Hufanga picked off Matthew Stafford for the second time in his career in Week 3. That was his second interception of the season, and he has three pass breakups. Tack on three tackles for loss plus a sack, and you have yourself an All-Pro player.
49ers tight end George Kittle credited Hufanga’s prep as the reason for his success. “He’s watching every single game. He’s watching tendencies. He’s watching guys break down on their routes. How do you not let him do that? Well, hopefully he gets us wrong a couple a times. Those instincutal players, right? He’s gonna make plays, and we gotta make sure he doesn’t make all the plays.”
Kittle hinted at using Hufanga’s aggressiveness against him. It’s easy to envision Huf jumping on Christian McCaffrey’s routes out of the backfield or Kittle down the middle. Kittle caught several underneath passes in Week 3. A double move on Hufanga with Kittle may be in the cards for the 49ers.