Second-year safety Talanoa Hufanga had a coming out party for the San Francisco 49ers in front of the entire NFL Monday night against the Los Angeles Rams.
Second-year safety Talanoa Hufanga came away with his second interception of the 2022 season Monday evening against the Los Angeles Rams as his San Francisco 49ers imposed their will in a matchup with the defending Super Bowl champions.
The USC product returned said interception of Matthew Stafford 52 yards for a touchdown. He stepped in front of reigning NFL Offensive Player of the Year Cooper Kupp, sealing a dominating 24-9 win for a 49ers team that was in desperate need of a victory.
„You could see moments when he was just a guy and now he’s just taken a hold of his role and run away with it,” 49ers All-Pro linebacker Fred Warner told reporters after the game.
This was one of those moments. San Francisco found itself up just 17-9 despite dominating the trenches on both sides of the ball. Just over two minutes prior, Robbie Gould had missed a 42-yard field goal that would’ve given San Francisco a two-score lead roughly halfway through the final quarter.
For some, a nervous energy was starting to kick in following Los Angeles’ comeback win over the 49ers in last season’s NFC Championship Game as San Francisco looked to avoid a 1-3 start to the campaign. It was a game-changing play, one that will continue to define Hufanga’s career from here on out.
If you had asked the average fan who Hufanga was leading up to the 2020 NFL Draft, most would’ve given you a quizzical look. He was a little-known safety from the Pacific Northwest who had been misused during his time with the USC Trojans.
Hufanga, 23, ended up falling to San Francisco with the 180th overall pick in the fifth round of that year’s draft. He played 15 games as a rookie (three starts) while displaying some of the dominance we’ve seen thus far during his sophomore campaign.
