ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Talanoa Hufanga has a decorated resume.
The 6-foot, 200-pound player has appeared in a pair of NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl.
He's a former Associated Press first-team All-Pro, counts Hall of Famer Troy Polamalu among his mentors and earned Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors while at USC.
And he believes none of his pass accolades or accomplishments matter as he begins a new chapter of his career in Denver.
"You have to humble yourself each and every year, because it's a clean slate regardless if you've been there or not," Hufanga said Thursday after the Broncos' first open OTA practice. "I've been to a Super Bowl and I've been to NFC Championships. That has nothing to do with me being here. I have to come in here and earn the respect from my teammates first and foremost. I have to go out there and show them that I am willing to work and show them things that I have seen in the playoffs that is different than the regular season [and things that I have] seen in the Super Bowl that are different than the regular season.
"But at the end of the day, we have to go through that journey together. That's going to be something that is exciting — that we have each other's backs and we go out there and compete."
Hufanga's interest in joining the Broncos in free agency stemmed, in part, from his belief in both quarterback Bo Nix's ability and the talent on Denver's defense. Defensive Coordinator Vance Joseph's unit ranked third in scoring defense in 2024 and added some big names in Hufanga, Dre Greenlaw and first-round pick Jahdae Barron.
"This defense is incredible," Hufanga said. "You look from top to bottom, it's just players. So for me, I just wanted to humbly come in, earn their respect and join a crew that already did really well last year."
And while Head Coach Sean Payton said Thursday that it's hard to evaluate a safety's performance when the team isn't in pads, he's previously explained how Hufanga can help the defense take another step.
"Well, he's a great communicator, he's super intelligent, his experience and there is a toughness about the way he plays," Payton said at the NFL Annual Meeting in March. "Sometimes you can be a second responder [and] sometimes a first responder, and he appears first a lot on-screen. There's a style to how he plays. … Because he's so physical and so quick to support, he's had a handful of injuries, but there's a toughness to his game."
Those injuries — Hufanga has played a combined 17 games over the past two seasons — only serve as motivation as the 26-year-old player continues his career.
"Injury is part of the game," Hufanga said. "Troy Polamalu always told me, 'It's a 100 percent injury rate regardless.' For you to go in, you have to understand what comes with it. So every injury that I've came [across], 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."
When he's been on the field, the results have been undeniable. He earned a Pro Bowl nod and first-team All-Pro honors in 2022 as San Francisco advanced to the Super Bowl, and he notched 149 tackles, six tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, two sacks, 12 passes defensed, two forced fumbles, seven picks and a touchdown across 27 games in the 2022 and 2023 campaigns.
In a city that has a historic lineage of great safeties, Hufanga said he's eager to strive to emulate the play of Hall of Fame players like Steve Atwater, John Lynch and Brian Dawkins.
"There is a long line of history here," Hufanga said. "My goal is to represent them the right way."
