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PFF Ranks 49ers S Talanoa Hufanga 13th Among NFL Safeties

This ranking feels too low.

Grant Cohn

Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) tries to make the stop on San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga (29) after Hufanga intercepted a Lawrence pass early in the third quarter. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the San Francisco 49ers at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, November 12, 2023. The Jaguars trailed 13 to 3 at the half and fell to the 49ers with a final score of 34 to 3. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union]
Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence (16) tries to make the stop on San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga (29) after Hufanga intercepted a Lawrence pass early in the third quarter. The Jacksonville Jaguars hosted the San Francisco 49ers at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, FL Sunday, November 12, 2023. The Jaguars trailed 13 to 3 at the half and fell to the 49ers with a final score of 34 to 3. [Bob Self/Florida Times-Union] / Bob Self/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY
In this story:

One of the most underrated players on the 49ers is strong safety Talanoa Hufanga.

He wan an All Pro in 2022 when the 49ers had the no. 1 defense in the NFL. Then in 2023, he played the first 10 games, tore his ACL and then the defense fell off drastically even though it still had Nick Bosa, Javon Hargrave, Fred Warner and Charvarius Ward.

Now it's unclear how good Hufanga will be when he returns from his ACL surgery, although Pro Football Focus recently ranked him 13th among NFL safeties.

"Following a breakout 2022 season, Hufanga had his 2023 campaign cut short due to injury. However, he still nearly matched his interception total of four from 2022 by picking off three passes across nearly half as many snaps. Hufanga also gave up just one touchdown compared to the six he allowed in 2022 and, as a result, allowed a career-low 72.9 passer rating into his coverage."

- PFF analyst Zoltan Buday.

This ranking feels too low for Hufanga.

As Buday pointed out, Hufanga actually improved in coverage last season. In 2022, he was a bit of a liability at times because he gave up big plays. In 2023, he did not give up big plays, but he still made them at a high rate. And the run defense in particular completely fell apart without him.

If Hufanga is fully healthy this season, the 49ers once again could have the no. 1 defense in the NFL. If he doesn't fully recover, neither will the 49ers defense. He's that important.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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