49ersand#039; Lynch is confident Hufanga will return to form in the second half
Joaquin Ruiz
Eight games into San Francisco’s 2023 NFL Draft, Talanoa Hufanga looked like a shell of his 2022 NFL Pro Bowl self.
With just two interceptions and questionable tackles, the third-year NFL safety knows he has to be better in the second half of the 5-3 49ers’ season.
Fortunately for Hufanga, 49ers general manager John Lynch is in his corner, expressing his confidence in the USC product’s ability to return to game-changing status this season during an appearance on KNBR’s “Murph and Mac Podcast” with Brian Murphy and Markus Boucher.
“I think Talanoa needs to understand that you just have to be who you were and not try to do too much,” Lynch told Murphy and Boucher. “I think sometimes as a player, going back to when I made my first Pro Bowl, sometimes you think, ‘Okay, I’ve got to go to another level.’
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Lynch knows best, having played safety for 15 years with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Denver Broncos, earning nine NFL Pro Bowl nods, winning a Super Bowl and entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The San Francisco GM is well aware of Hufanga’s talent and is confident that the player who had four interceptions last season will be revealed in the coming weeks.
“Talanoa is a difference maker when he’s at his best,” Lynch explained to Murphy and Boucher. “And we just have to get him back to his best inside and out. He wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t the difference we were used to. I think he’ll get back on track.”
This season, Hufanga is on pace to match last year’s total of 97 tackles and needs two more interceptions to match last season and #039; AD
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While Hufanga isn’t the only player responsible for the 49ers’ three-game losing streak, his mediocrity won’t win.
After Week 9, San Francisco needs to do better overall. Changing things at Hufanga would go a long way to achieving that goal.
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