Tani Tupou
Taniela "Tani" Tupou (born December 13, 1992) is an American football defensive tackle who is a free agent. He played college football at the University of Washington.
Free agent | |||||
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Position: | Defensive tackle | ||||
Personal information | |||||
Born: | Marysville, Washington | December 13, 1992||||
Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||
Weight: | 284 lb (129 kg) | ||||
Career information | |||||
High school: | Everett (WA) Archbishop Murphy | ||||
College: | Washington | ||||
Undrafted: | 2016 | ||||
Career history | |||||
* Offseason and/or practice squad member only | |||||
Career NFL statistics | |||||
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Early years
Tupou attended Archbishop Murphy high school in Everett, Washington where he played football as a strongside defensive end and as a tight end. He led the Wildcats to the WIAA State Championship game at the Tacoma Dome in 2010.[1] Tupou graduated from Archbishop Murphy in 2011.[2]
College career
Tupou verbally committed to the University of Washington on April 8, 2010.[2] Tupou redshirted his first year on campus before playing the next four seasons. In his five years at Washington Tupou appeared in 46 games for the Huskies as a defensive tackle and recorded 59 tackles.[1]
Professional career
Seattle Seahawks
On May 9, 2016, Seattle Seahawks signed Tupou as a fullback / defensive tackle after participating in their rookie mini-camp.[3][4] He played in the team's season-opening victory over the Miami Dolphins on September 11.[5]
On September 13, 2016, Tupou was released by the Seahawks.[6]
Atlanta Falcons
During April 2017, Tupou played as a defensive tackle for The Spring League, a developmental football instructional league.[7] Tupou received an invitation to attend rookie minicamp for the Atlanta Falcons. On May 14, 2017, following minicamp, Tupou signed with the Falcons.[8] He was waived on September 2, 2017 and was signed to the Falcons' practice squad the next day.[9][10] He was released on September 6, 2017.[11] He was signed to the practice squad on September 19.[12] He was promoted to the active roster on October 10, 2017.[13] He was waived on October 19, 2017 and was later re-signed to the practice squad.[14][15] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Falcons on January 15, 2018.[16]
On April 11, 2018, the Falcons waived Tupou with a non-football injury designation.[17]
Arizona Cardinals
On August 22, 2018, Tupou signed with the Arizona Cardinals.[18] He was waived on September 1, 2018.[19]
San Diego Fleet
In 2019, Tupou joined the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football.[20][21] In the first game of the season, Tupou recorded 2 tackles and a sack, and finished the year with 13 tackles and 4 quarterback hits.[22] The league ceased operations in April 2019.[23]
Seattle Dragons
During the 2020 XFL Draft, the Seattle Dragons selected Tupou in the seventh round.[24] He was placed on injured reserve before the start of the season on January 21, 2020.[25][26] He was activated from injured reserve on March 11, 2020.[27] He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.[28]
References
- "90 - Taniela Tupou". Washington Athletics. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- "Taniela Tupou". 247.com. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- Condotta, Bob (May 9, 2016). "Seahawks sign 5, including FB Taniela Tupou, and release 5 others, including CB Mohammed Seisay". SeattleTimes.com. Seattle Times. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- Bell, Gregg (May 9, 2016). "Seahawks sign ex-UW DL Taniela Tupou as 284-pound FB, waive Mohammed Seisay, have special role for Brandon Browner". TheNewsTribune.com. The News Tribune. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
- "Tani Tupou". nfl.com. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
- Boyle, John. "Seahawks Sign Fullback Will Tukuafu And Cornerback Neiko Thorpe". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15.
- http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/04/spring_leagues_roster_shows_va.html
- Jackson, Curtis (May 14, 2017). "Falcons Sign WR Reggie Davis And DL Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017.
- Conway, Kelsey (September 2, 2017). "2017 Atlanta Falcons Roster Cuts Tracker: Deadline To 53 Is 4 P.M. ET On Saturday". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017.
- McFadden, Will (September 4, 2017). "Falcons Announce 10 Players Added To Their Practice Squad". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017.
- McFadden, Will (September 6, 2017). "Falcons sign quarterback Trevor Knight to practice squad, release DL Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on 2017-09-08. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
- Conway, Kelsey (September 19, 2017). "Falcons Sign Defensive Lineman Taniela Tupou to Practice Squad". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017.
- Conway, Kelsey (October 10, 2017). "Falcons Sign Defensive Lineman Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com.
- Conway, Kelsey (October 19, 2017). "Falcons sign defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin waive defensive lineman Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2018-12-17.
- Conway, Kelsey (October 24, 2017). "Falcons sign linebacker Sean Weatherspoon, waive defensive lineman Joe Vellano". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on January 31, 2018.
- McFadden, Will (January 15, 2018). "Falcons announce signing of nine players to reserve future contracts". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on February 2, 2018.
- McFadden, Will (April 11, 2018). "Falcons waive defensive lineman Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on April 15, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
- Urban, Darren (August 22, 2018). "Injuries Lead Cardinals To Sign Pair Of Defensive Tackles". AZCardinals.com.
- Urban, Darren (September 1, 2018). "Cardinals Make Cuts To Reach 53-Man Roster". AZCardinals.com.
- Goldberg, Jeff (January 30, 2019). "'It's Go time': Roster in place, Fleet excited for season debut". Alliance of American Football. Archived from the original on February 2, 2019. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- Solares, Diego (January 31, 2019). "Taking a Look at San Diego Fleet's Final 52-man Roster". East Village Times. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
- https://noextrapoints.com/players/tani-tupou/
- Michael Rothstein, Seth Wickersham (June 13, 2019). "Inside the short, unhappy life of the Alliance of American Football". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
- Bender, Bill (October 21, 2019). "XFL Draft picks 2019: Complete results, rosters, players for new football league". Sporting News. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
- Talbot, Damond (January 22, 2020). "A Full List of XFL Roster Cuts, Who was released today?". NFLDraftDiamonds.com. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
- "XFL Injured Reserve". XFL.com. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
- "XFL Transactions". XFL.com. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
- Condotta, Bob (April 10, 2020). "XFL suspends operations, terminates all employees, but Jim Zorn says he has hopes league will continue". SeattleTimes.com. Retrieved July 17, 2020.