Hercules Mata'afa


Hercules Mata'afa is an American football defensive tackle for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League. He played college football at Washington State University.

College career

As a junior in 2017, Mata'afa was a consensus All-American and was named the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year. He was also named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press. On December 31, 2017, Mata'afa declared his intentions to enter the 2018 NFL Draft.

Professional career

Mata'afa signed with the Minnesota Vikings as an undrafted free agent on April 30, 2018. However, on June 6, he suffered a season-ending injury to his ACL. He was waived/injured on June 20, 2018 and was placed on injured reserve after clearing waivers. He was signed back to the Vikings for the 2019 preseason. He managed to make the final roster coming out of training camp. On September 15, 2019, he recovered an Aaron Rodgers fumble in a loss to the Packers.