Having both played safety, rookie Malik Mustapha and San Francisco 49ers general manager John Lynch can relate to each other. Mustapha acknowledges the impact that Lynch and others like 49ers legend Ronnie Lott had on the game. However, admittedly, he hasn't seen a lot of their play.
This shouldn't come as a surprise. After all, Mustapha is just 21 years old. He wasn't even one year old when Lynch won his Super Bowl with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (OK, I feel really old now, too).
Mustapha didn't hesitate to poke fun at his new boss when asked if he has ever seen Lynch play. With a smile, he stated, "I'm gonna have to dig deep for that film, but I definitely heard good things about him. I'm hip with the John Lynches, the Ronnie Lotts of the world, things like that."
Mustapha admits that he and Lynch hit it off at the NFL Scouting Combine, exchanging notes on playing safety. The rookie says Lynch enjoyed breaking down his Wake Forest film. Mustapha quickly proved that he knew what he was talking about when it came to understanding the nuances of football.
San Francisco went on to make Mustapha a fourth-round draft pick.
Regarding Lynch's NFL film, Mustapha continued, "So definitely gotta maybe pull up some VHS tapes or something or whatever, dust that off. But, yeah, just awesome to just be part of an organization [with a] general manager that just has been a part of the game. He actually understands his players, understands the game and is someone that can relate to us."