Tani Tupou

Taniela "Tani" Tupou (born December 13, 1992) is an American football defensive tackle for the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL. He played college football at the University of Washington. He also plays rugby for the Seattle Seawolves of Major League Rugby (MLR). His position is at prop.[1]

Not to be confused with Taniela Tupou (rugby union).
For the Australian rugby league player, see Daniel Tupou.
Tani Tupou
refer to caption
Tupou with the St. Louis BattleHawks in 2023
No. 91 – St. Louis Battlehawks
Position:Defensive tackle
Personal information
Born: (1992-12-13) December 13, 1992
Marysville, Washington, U.S.
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:284 lb (129 kg)
Career information
High school:Archbishop Murphy (Everett, Washington)
College:Washington
Undrafted:2016
Career history
 * Offseason and/or practice squad member only
Roster status:Active
Career NFL statistics
Games played:2
Player stats at NFL.com · PFR

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.[2] Tupou graduated from Archbishop Murphy in 2011.[3] Tupou is of Tongan and Hawaiian descent.

College career

Tupou verbally committed to the University of Washington on April 8, 2010.[3] 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.[2]

Professional career

Seattle Seahawks

On May 9, 2016, Seattle Seahawks signed Tupou as a fullback / defensive tackle after participating in their rookie mini-camp.[4][5] He played in the team's season-opening victory over the Miami Dolphins on September 11.[6]

On September 13, 2016, Tupou was released by the Seahawks.[7]

Atlanta Falcons

During April 2017, Tupou played as a defensive tackle for The Spring League, a developmental football instructional league.[8] Tupou received an invitation to attend rookie minicamp for the Atlanta Falcons. On May 14, 2017, following minicamp, Tupou signed with the Falcons.[9] He was waived on September 2, 2017 and was signed to the Falcons' practice squad the next day.[10][11] He was released on September 6, 2017.[12] He was signed to the practice squad on September 19.[13] He was promoted to the active roster on October 10, 2017.[14] He was waived on October 19, 2017 and was later re-signed to the practice squad.[15][16] He signed a reserve/future contract with the Falcons on January 15, 2018.[17]

On April 11, 2018, the Falcons waived Tupou with a non-football injury designation.[18]

Arizona Cardinals

On August 22, 2018, Tupou signed with the Arizona Cardinals.[19] He was waived on September 1, 2018.[20]

San Diego Fleet

In 2019, Tupou joined the San Diego Fleet of the Alliance of American Football.[21][22] 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.[23] The league ceased operations in April 2019.[24]

Seattle Dragons

During the 2020 XFL Draft, the Seattle Dragons selected Tupou in the seventh round.[25] He was placed on injured reserve before the start of the season on January 21, 2020.[26][27] He was activated from injured reserve on March 11, 2020.[28] He had his contract terminated when the league suspended operations on April 10, 2020.[29]

The Spring League

Tupou signed with the Jousters of The Spring League in October 2020.[30]

St. Louis BattleHawks

On November 17, 2022, Tupou was drafted by the St. Louis BattleHawks of the XFL.[31]

Professional rugby career

After playing in the XFL and the league folded in 2020, Tupou tried to get back in the NFL by doing combines on the side. Tupou then got a call from Peter Pasque, the general manager of the American Raptors in Glendale, Colorado and asked if he wanted to try rugby out. After stepping onto the pitch for the Raptors, Tupou said, "I just fell in love with the game".

On January 27, 2022, Tupou signed with his hometown Seattle Seawolves of the Major League Rugby (MLR) as a part of their front row. The crossover athlete marks his third professional contract with a Seattle team.[32]

References
  1. "Seattle Seawolves Signs Taniela Tupou". 28 January 2022.
  2. "90 - Taniela Tupou". Washington Athletics. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  3. "Taniela Tupou". 247.com. Retrieved May 24, 2016.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. "Tani Tupou". nfl.com. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
  7. Boyle, John. "Seahawks Sign Fullback Will Tukuafu And Cornerback Neiko Thorpe". Seahawks.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15.
  8. "Spring League releases initial player roster". 10 April 2017.
  9. Jackson, Curtis (May 14, 2017). "Falcons Sign WR Reggie Davis And DL Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on December 17, 2017.
  10. 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.
  11. McFadden, Will (September 4, 2017). "Falcons Announce 10 Players Added To Their Practice Squad". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on November 6, 2017.
  12. 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.
  13. Conway, Kelsey (September 19, 2017). "Falcons Sign Defensive Lineman Taniela Tupou to Practice Squad". AtlantaFalcons.com. Archived from the original on September 20, 2017.
  14. Conway, Kelsey (October 10, 2017). "Falcons Sign Defensive Lineman Taniela Tupou". AtlantaFalcons.com.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. Urban, Darren (August 22, 2018). "Injuries Lead Cardinals To Sign Pair Of Defensive Tackles". AZCardinals.com.
  20. Urban, Darren (September 1, 2018). "Cardinals Make Cuts To Reach 53-Man Roster". AZCardinals.com.
  21. 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.
  22. Solares, Diego (January 31, 2019). "Taking a Look at San Diego Fleet's Final 52-man Roster". East Village Times. Retrieved February 1, 2019.
  23. "Tani Tupou".
  24. Michael Rothstein, Seth Wickersham (June 13, 2019). "Inside the short, unhappy life of the Alliance of American Football". ESPN.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  25. Bender, Bill (October 21, 2019). "XFL Draft picks 2019: Complete results, rosters, players for new football league". Sporting News. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  26. Talbot, Damond (January 22, 2020). "A Full List of XFL Roster Cuts, Who was released today?". NFLDraftDiamonds.com. Retrieved January 25, 2020.
  27. "XFL Injured Reserve". XFL.com. Retrieved February 6, 2020.
  28. "XFL Transactions". XFL.com. Retrieved March 13, 2020.
  29. 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.
  30. Nagashima, Matthew (October 27, 2020). "The Spring League 2020: Jousters Depth Chart Projection". XFLNewsHub.com. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
  31. "Rosters for all eight XFL teams: Full draft results and where Vic Beasley, Martavis Bryant landed". ESPN.com. 2022-11-18. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  32. "With UW's Taniela Tupou, Seawolves ready for 5th pro rugby season". 2 February 2022.
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