Talanoa Hufanga’s return from a season-ending ACL injury wasn’t easy, but luckily, he counted on the support of a Pro Football Hall of Fame safety.
Speaking to Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher on KNBR’s “Murph and Markus” on Tuesday, the 49ers safety, who played his first live football reps since Nov. 19, 2023 in San Francisco’s devastating 27-24 loss to the Los Angeles Rams, detailed the conversation he had with retired safety Troy Polamalu during his recovery.
"He was like, 'Well, this is the time for you to really dive down into your playbook, dive into the film, critique yourself at the highest level, and most importantly, spend time with the family. So when you can do all those things, you come back stronger mentally and physically, for sure,’” Hufanga told Murphy and Boucher.
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The four-year veteran, who earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors during the 2022 NFL season, sustained a torn ACL in his right knee on a non-contact play against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Nov. 19, 2023, ending his season short.
In efforts to facilitate his rehab process during the offseason, the All-Pro safety chose to stay closer to the team facility in Santa Clara over his usual regiment: training with Polamalu in San Diego.
In more ways than one, it worked.
Hufanga benefited from Polamalu’s psychological guidance just as much as he did from the team’s injury rehab techniques and treatments, playing 54 snaps and recording seven total tackles in his return to the field.
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"Honestly, I can't be complaining at all," Hufanga added. "I feel excellent. Continue to strive and put good stuff out there on film and stuff. But for me, the body held up, and for a first game, I played more snaps than I could ever even imagine."
With the injury in his rearview mirror and an entire season ahead, Hufanga’s priority now is to improve on the field.
"Credit to the Rams and what they did late in the game to get going, but we got to do better," Hufanga concluded. "And that starts with me, whether that's something I can do in the huddle, alerts, checks, different things. So, anytime plays are made in the back end, I like to put it all on me because, at the end of the day, that's my job.
"My job is to communicate. My job is to get guys set up and put them in the right positions because I feel like me and [LB] Fred [Warner] can really run this defense, and Fred gets his guys going, and I got to get my guys going as well.
"So we get back in the film room; we're trying to figure everything out and detail it out so we can come back out strong this week.”
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