Will the 49ers Re-Sign Talanoa Hufanga?

The 49ers have a tough decision to make.
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga (29) before the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
Dec 30, 2024; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers safety Talanoa Hufanga (29) before the game against the Detroit Lions at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images / Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images
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The 49ers have a tough decision to make.

Talanoa Hufanga is an impending free agent and their best safety. When he plays, their entire defense performs better because he communicates so well and he's a playmaker against the run and pass.

But in the past two seasons, he has appeared in just 17 games total. He tore his ACL 10 games into in 2023, and this season he injured his wrist and played in the final five games with a cast covering his entire hand.

The 49ers have lots of cap space for 2025, but also have to make Brock Purdy a long-term offer that will tie up cap space in the future, so they might not be able to offer Hufanga anything more than a one-year prove-it deal. And he might take it just to boost his value before entering free agency in 2026. Remember, he was a first team All Pro in 2022.

But if another team were to offer Hufanga a two- or three-year deal this offseason, I'm guessing he would take it and leave because I doubt the 49ers would be able to match it. And I do think there will be a market for Hufanga despite his recent injuries because he's still young.

Don't be surprised if the Miami Dolphins show interest -- their head coach Mike McDaniel was the 49ers' offensive coordinator during Hufanga's rookie season, so they know each other. In addition, the Houston Texans could show interest considering their head coach was Hufanga's defensive coordinator during his All Pro season.

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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.