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Why the 49ers Would be Smart to Extend Talanoa Hufanga's Contract Now

But they won't.
Grant Cohn|
Feb 5, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; AFC captain Snoop Dogg (left) shakes hands with NFC safety Talanoa Hufanga of the San Francisco 49ers (29) during the Pro Bowl Games at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 5, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; AFC captain Snoop Dogg (left) shakes hands with NFC safety Talanoa Hufanga of the San Francisco 49ers (29) during the Pro Bowl Games at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports | Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

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San Francisco 49ers

Talanoa Hufanga has been eligible for a contract extension all offseason and yet there has been zero indication that the 49ers even have considered offering him one.

They should extend his contract today. But they won't.

The 49ers always drag their feet when it comes to contract extensions. If a player wants a new deal as soon he is eligible for one, he probably has to give the 49ers a significant discount, or else he'll have to wait.

But waiting has been helping the players the past few years. Waiting allowed Nick Bosa to sign a contract that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback ever at the time. And waiting likely will push Brandon Aiyuk's price tag beyond $30 million per season when eventually signs his extension either with the 49ers or another team.

Which brings us back to Hufanga. He was an All Pro in 2022, but he's coming off a torn ACL. So the 49ers conceivably could extend him now and save money even though he will be expensive. Because if they wait until next year and he has another Pro Bowl or All Pro season, he'll price himself out of town.

All Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. just signed an extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that will pay him more than $21 million per season. That's the going rate for an elite safety, and it will go up as the salary cap continues to increase.

If the 49ers want to keep Hufanga around beyond this season, they need to extend him now.

If they think they can replace him with rookie fourth-round pick Malik Mustapha, they're kidding themselves.

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Grant Cohn
GRANT COHN

Grant Cohn has covered the San Francisco 49ers daily since 2011. He spent the first nine years of his career with the Santa Rosa Press Democrat where he wrote the Inside the 49ers blog and covered famous coaches and athletes such as Jim Harbaugh, Colin Kaepernick and Patrick Willis. In 2012, Inside the 49ers won Sports Blog of the Year from the Peninsula Press Club. In 2020, Cohn joined FanNation and began writing All49ers. In addition, he created a YouTube channel which has become the go-to place on YouTube to consume 49ers content. Cohn's channel typically generates roughly 3.5 million viewers per month, while the 49ers' official YouTube channel generates roughly 1.5 million viewers per month. Cohn live streams almost every day and posts videos hourly during the football season. Cohn is committed to asking the questions that 49ers fans want answered, and providing the most honest and interactive coverage in the country. His loyalty is to the reader and the viewer, not the team or any player or coach. Cohn is a new-age multimedia journalist with an old-school mentality, because his father is Lowell Cohn, the legendary sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle from 1979 to 1993. The two have a live podcast every Tuesday. Grant Cohn grew up in Oakland and studied English Literature at UCLA from 2006 to 2010. He currently lives in Oakland with his wife.

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