Broncos S Talanoa Hufanga Tapped as Top 'Bounce-Back' Candidate by PFF

The Denver Broncos took some significant risks this offseason by bringing in new players via free agency. While the Broncos have been one of the healthiest teams over the past two seasons, GM George Paton and head coach Sean Payton have also moved on from most of the ‘snake-bitten’ players that had previously plagued the team.

After purging the roster of those players, the Broncos' three big signings in free agency all have a reputation for being injury-prone.' That doesn’t mean these players weren’t necessary risks for the Broncos to make, though.

Dre Greenlaw was a must to improve the Broncos' linebacker corps after multiple other top payers at the position re-signed with their teams before free agency even started. The tight end market wasn’t great, so when Evan Engram became available, Denver pounced. As for Talanoa Hufanga, though, there was a strong safety market that hadn't dried up, but Denver decided to press on anyway. 

That could be a good thing, as Pro Football Focus' Dalton Wasserman named Hufanga as his comeback candidate for the Broncos.

“Hufanga was limited to just seven games last season due to injury and posted a career-low 57.8 PFF grade. If fully healthy, he appears to have landed in an ideal spot with Denver," Wasserman wrote. "Hufanga is most comfortable operating around the box as a traditional strong safety, while his new teammate, Brandon Jones, is one of the league’s top pure free safeties. Jones’ 89.8 coverage grade ranked third among qualified safeties in 2024. Together, they have the potential to form one of the NFL’s best safety duos.”

There's no question about Hufanga's talent and his ability to be one of the best safeties in the NFL. If he can stay healthy, that should be the Broncos' level of expectation, even if he is coming off his career-low PFF grade after playing seven games.

The concern is that Hufanga also missed time in 2023, playing in only three games. His 2022 season was an exceptional All-Pro display, as he played every game and accumulated more than 577 snaps. He's two years removed from that body of work, which is where the risk comes in for the Broncos. 

If Hufanga can get back to being that caliber of player, there may still be some risk with Jones playing that single-high coverage role. While Jones performed well in this role in 2024, albeit in limited usage, he struggled there during his time in Miami.

Now, that could have been an issue with the scheme and not the player, which appears to have been the case after what Jones showed in 2024. However, it could still be an issue with Jones, given the usage. 

The Takeaway

Hufanga can be a tone-setter for the defense and help the Broncos generate more turnovers. If he can stay healthy, he will have proven himself to be well worth the risk and a clear candidate for Denver's comeback player of the year, and possibly even for the NFL.

Of course, Hufanga could have stiff competition from Engram and Greenlaw, who are also working back from an injured season last year.