Talanoa Hufanga

Talanoa Hufanga (/ˌtæləˈnoʊə huˈfɑːŋɡə/ TA-lə-NOH-ə hoo-FAHN-gə; born February 1, 2000) is an American professional football safety for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans and was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the fifth round of the 2021 NFL draft.

Hufanga attended Crescent Valley High School in Corvallis, Oregon. He played safety, wide receiver, and quarterback. As a senior in 2017, he was the Polynesian High School National Player of the Year. He played in the 2018 U.S. Army All-American Game. Hufanga committed to the University of Southern California (USC) to play college football.

As a true freshman at USC in 2018, Hufanga played in eight games with five starts before suffering a season-ending broken collarbone. He finished the season with 51 tackles. As a sophomore in 2019, he started all 10 games he played in and recorded 90 tackles and 3.5 sacks. Hufanga returned to USC as a starter his junior year in 2020. He and BYU quarterback Zach Wilson were selected as co-recipients of the 2020 Polynesian College Football Player of the Year Award. For the 2020 season, Hufanga was a Consensus All-American. In addition, he won Pac-12 Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

NFL.com lead analyst Lance Zierlein projected Hufanga to be selected in the fourth or fifth round of the 2021 NFL Draft. Bleacher Report had him ranked as the 12th best safety prospect and projected him to be selected in the fourth round. Dane Brugler of the Athletic had Hufanga ranked as the eighth best safety prospect. Scouts Inc. had him as the 20th best safety in their big board (212th overall).

The San Francisco 49ers selected Hufanga in the fifth round (180th overall) of the 2021 NFL draft. He was the 14th safety drafted in 2021. On May 13, 2021, the 49ers signed Hufanga to a four-year, $3.72 million rookie contract that includes an initial signing bonus of $240,152.

Throughout training camp, Hufanga competed to be the starting strong safety against Tavon Wilson, Tarvarius Moore, and Jaquiski Tartt. Head coach Kyle Shanahan named Hufanga the No. 2 strong safety on the depth chart to begin the season. Jaquiski Tartt was named the starting strong safety alongside free safety Jimmie Ward.

On September 12, 2021, Hufanga made his professional regular season debut during the San Francisco 49ers' season-opener at the Detroit Lions, but saw limited snaps on defense and special teams as the 49ers won 41–33. On October 31, 2021, Hufanga earned his first career start in place of Jaquiski Tartt, who was placed on injured reserve due to an injury. He collected a season-high five combined tackles (four solo) during a 33–22 win at the Chicago Bears. He was inactive for two games (Weeks 16–17) after sustaining a knee injury. He finished his rookie campaign with a total of 32 combined tackles (28 solo) and two pass deflections in 15 games and three starts. He received an overall grade of 62.5 from Pro Football Focus as a rookie in 2021.

The San Francisco 49ers finished the 2021 NFL season third in the NFC West with a 10–7 record, clinching a Wildcard berth. He was sidelined during a 23–17 win at the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Wild-Card Game. On January 22, 2022, Hufanga appeared in his first career playoff game and scored his first career touchdown after returning a blocked punt during a 13–10 win at the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round. He scored his touchdown after defensive lineman Jordan Willis blocked a punt by Corey Bojorquez and returned it six–yard to score a critical touchdown in the fourth quarter.