“Film Room” is a bi-weekly column by Aidan Berg that highlights player performances by breaking down basketball and football tape.
Talanoa Hufanga entered his junior season of 2020 as an intriguing safety prospect with a few major questions about his NFL transition. Although he had proven himself to be a reliable and physical tackler with a knack for making highlights out of big hits as a starter in 2018 and 2019 for USC, he didn’t make much of an impact in coverage and appeared to lack the agility to be great in that area. Throw in the fact that he was considered a bit of a safety-linebacker tweener and that he missed time with shoulder and collarbone injuries, and you’d be hard pressed to find many evaluators who had anything better than a late-round grade on him.
But Hufanga turned that idea on its head with a stellar 2020 season in which he was the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year and a consensus All-American First Teamer. He showcased growth in important areas while maintaining his strengths and displaying the versatility that has become all the rage in NFL defenses. So in the return of “Film Room,” let’s take a look at what Hufanga could bring to the table at the next level.
NOTE: You’ll notice that this article only truly touches on Hufanga’s strengths. That’s partially because it’s much easier to access footage of Hufanga’s highlights, but also because I subscribe to the team-building technique of focusing on what a player can do rather than what they can’t. Hufanga, like every other player, is not perfect, but these are the things he does that teams can gain plenty of value from. So let’s get to it.
Hufanga’s best skill and the one that will 100% translate to the NFL is his ability as a downhill tackler.
You can see from the first clip how well Hufanga reads the run game, and that assuredness allows him to trigger quickly and beat blockers to the ball carrier for run stuffs. You can also see from the second two plays why he has earned the nickname “The Trojan Missile,” as he explodes from the left side of the screen and lays hard hits.
He’s also a very reliable and technically sound tackler, wrapping up and driving players back instead of relying on his hitting power.
He’s not simply a run game thumper either; Hufanga does a great job reading the flow of the offense and navigating between bodies to attack the ball, which makes him a similarly physical presence in the pass game.
The first two plays show how well Hufanga’s instincts serve him in the screen game, but the third play is the most impressive. Even as Utah quarterback Tyler Huntley is still faking the handoff left, Hufanga is already rotating to the right side of the field. This anticipation allows him to take the proper vertical tackling angle to prevent the tight end from gaining any extra yardage after the catch that may have resulted in a touchdown.
Hufanga has always been a strong tackler, but he has used that skillset to expand the number of ways he can disrupt the offense. He has improved as a blitzer each season at USC, going from zero sacks in eight games in 2018 to 3.5 in 10 games in 2019 to three in six games in 2020. As you can see below, he was especially dynamic in this area in the Pac-12 Championship Game against Oregon.
Hufanga certainly has the burst and tackling ability to provide plenty of sacks and tackles for loss by shooting the gaps and getting after the passer. But this leads into the crux of what makes Hufanga such a fascinating evaluation. Before 2020, he was seen as a tweener without the speed to play safety and without the size to play linebacker. After his stellar 2020 campaign, he is seen as a do-it-all, scheme-versatile defender.
Check out all the skills he displays below.
First, he occupies an offensive lineman while spying the quarterback before shedding his blocker and taking down Washington State quarterback Jayden De Laura when he tries to escape up the middle. Next, he slides down to the edge and uses his speed to catch the running back from behind for a loss. Then, he slides down again to check the sweep motion before reading Huntley’s movement and contributing to the sack. Finally, he drops from the linebacker slot back to safety and makes a big open field tackle.
Hufanga’s abilities range from edge rusher to high safety, and trust me when I say that creative defensive coaches in the NFL salivate at the thought of a player who can do so much. Hufanga will be best served if he ends up in a defense that won’t confine him to one role but will take advantage of his versatility. Hufanga would have fit right in with that Chargers defense that stymied Lamar Jackson in the 2019 playoffs by playing a bunch of versatile defensive backs who could hold their own in the run game and contain Jackson’s speed.
Let’s take a look at what Hufanga ideally looks like in the NFL.
This is the play that leads a player’s highlight reel. The tipped-to-himself interception and the hurdle on the return are super fun, but the most exciting part is that Hufanga baits this throw by rushing downhill initially. Seemingly as soon as De Laura starts pulling his arm back to throw, Hufanga drops back into the throwing lane for the pick. De Laura never had a chance of seeing him, and that instinctiveness is what makes Hufanga such a useful defender: He’s just a straight up playmaker.
You can see more of his nose for the ball above as well as his ability to contribute to special teams, which all franchises love. Hufanga had four forced fumbles and four interceptions as a Trojan, and all eight plays happened in his final two seasons. Not only is Hufanga already a dangerous defensive playmaker, but he has shown the ability to learn and improve very quickly.
Hufanga’s greatest area of growth came in coverage in 2020. In his first two seasons, Hufanga was used primarily as a downhill tackler. When he was tasked with holding up in coverage, he never appeared comfortable and consequently gave up some big plays. That changed in 2020, as evidenced by the fact that he secured all four of his career interceptions in his final season.
In the first clip, he reads the quarterback’s eyes and explodes into the passing lane, nearly coming up with the pick. In the second, he times his leap perfectly to high-point the ball and prevent the receiver from coming over his back for it. Neither of these were good decisions or throws, but nevertheless, Hufanga displays coverage skills he hadn’t in the previous two seasons.
And that UCLA interception is the best case against those who argue he doesn’t have the athleticism to hang in the NFL passing game. The ball is delivered late, but Hufanga makes up ground in a hurry after reading Bruin quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson like a book. Hufanga won’t be confused for a great single-high safety, but he showed enough in coverage in 2020 that teams can feel comfortable drafting him on day two given his physicality and instincts.
“Film Room” runs every other Thursday.