Broncos' New S Talanoa Hufanga Shares Unique Insight on Injury History

The Denver Broncos have a storied history at the safety position. Multiple Hall-of-Famers have rocked the Orange and Blue, like Steve Atwater, John Lynch, and Brian Dawkins.

The Broncos boasted one of the league's best safeties in Justin Simmons for many years before his 2024 release — a Pro Bowler and All-Pro. The Broncos are hoping to recreate some of that safety magic with the signing of Talanoa Hufanga.

The fly in the Hufanga ointment is his relatively fresh injury history, but with their top-of-the-league strength and conditioning and player wellness program, the Broncos are hoping to keep that in his rear-view as best as they can. But as Hufanga said following Thursday's OTA practice, injuries are part of the game; it's how a player rebounds that matters, sharing an anecdote of something he learned from a Hall-of-Fame safety.

“Injury is part of the game. [Pittsburgh Steeler HoFer] Troy Polamalu always told me, ‘It’s a 100 percent injury rate regardless,'" Hufanga said on Thursday. "For you to go in, you have to understand what comes with it. So every injury.. I think it’s just a testament to who I am, and to battle through adversity through those moments. [It is] something that I’ve taken in and wear on my sleeve when I go out on the field.”

One year after exploding on the NFL scene as a San Francisco 49ers All-Pro and Pro Bowler, Hufanga's career momentum was derailed due to a torn ACL. That happened in late November of 2023, so the injury recovery ended up eating into his 2024 campaign.

Then Hufanga suffered a wrist injury not long after his return last season, which cost him more time. He ended up missing 10 starts in 2024 between those two injuries, and then he hit free agency. Because of his injury jacket, the Broncos signed him for a relative bargain, and they're banking on their internal expertise to help keep him on the field.

But as Hufanga learned from Polamalu, every NFL player has a 100% injury rate. It's not question of if, but when the injury bug will strike, so player resilience becomes key in stitching together a long and impactful career.

"Understand that there’s a competitiveness to me... You make a play, you get beat on a play, you get to learn, you get to grow and you have to flush it and do it again the next play," Hufanga said. "You get injured, and you have to fight those nine months of trying to get back on the field, doing stuff like that. For me, it was just something that I gravitate towards. I like to endure stuff that’s not easy.”

Hufanga's style of play and his look, with the flowing curly hair sprouting out of the back of his helmet, are reminiscent of Polamalu. There's a reason for that. Hufanga has long been influenced by the former Steelers All-Pro, modeling his game after him since meeting him as a teenager.

“I was a big Troy fan... that was somebody I really used to watch a lot," Hufanga said.

It sounds like Polamalu helped inspire Hufanga's love for football, but there are many other reasons why he loves the game. Turn on the tape and watch Hufanga and you'll see that he's not only unafraid of contact, he seems to crave it.

There's a reason Broncos head coach Sean Payton called Hufanga a "first responder" on the field. He's the first guy to the ball, like a missile.

“For sure," Hufanga said in reply to whether he enjoys contact. "I think that it’s free violence, I guess you could say, and you don’t get in trouble. But I’m very blessed to be able to play this sport.”

The Broncos signed two former Niners this year: Hufanga and linebacker Dre Greenlaw. The latter is absent from the Broncos' OTA practices as he works back from an offseason quad injury.

Not only does Hufanga have a familiar face on the first-team defense in Denver, but he also got to keep his locker mate.

“A lot of people don’t know, he was my locker mate at the 49ers, and he’s my locker mate here as well," Hufanga said of Greenlaw. "Something about him that a lot of people don’t understand is just how nice he is of a person first and foremost. Off the field, he’s amazing. You won’t think that when you watch him play because he’s just very aggressive and is violent. That’s something that I love, the way that he can just flip the switch. [He is] someone that I’m truly blessed to be able to work with every day for sure.”