Talanoa Hufanga is a baller. That’s it. That’s who he is. The San Francisco 49ers’ safety helped the Niners win a seventh straight regular season game over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night. The fomer USC Trojan jumped a Matthew Stafford wide-receiver screen to Cooper Kupp and dashed to the end zone for the game-sealing score to give the Niners the 24-9 win over their division rivals.
“It’s the instincts and the understanding of the defense to me,” Niner teammate Donte Whitner said about Hufanga’s play on 49ers Postgame Live after the win. “You know they like to throw the ball out there to Cooper Kupp. He’s not even supposed to be there. He’s supposed to get on the outside of the receiver that’s blocking him and turn the ball back into the defense. But there, when you recognize something and you’ve seen it all week in practice, you go out and make a play in the game.
“And that’s what he’s been doing at all levels of the defense. TFL’s, he’s leading the team in TFL’s, playing linebacker, playing safety, D-line, the reaction skills from just being back there and reading the quarterback’s eyes. Talanoa Hufanga is the No. 1 safety in the NFL currently.”
What a play by Talanoa Hufanga for a 49ers pick-six on a Matthew Stafford pass! đ pic.twitter.com/hqU3KcNqDW
— The Comeback (@thecomeback) October 4, 2022
Hufanga is in just his second NFL season, but he has already gained massive attention after appearing in 19 games, seven as a starter. The USC product not only has amassed 58 total career tackles — five for a loss — but has a nose for the ball in both the run and pass game. He has already recorded two interceptions and four pass breakups through Week 4.
He’s a baller.
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