I think the biggest compliment he ever got was from
Steven Jackson. We as fans talk about who is good all day but when a player that actually plays against you says something, it carries a lot of weight.
ESPN - Pro Bowl defenders - Fantasy Football
Despite being a USC fan too, I admit that I was one of the ones who raised their eyebrow when we actually traded up to get him. He's proven me wrong big time. I'm especially glad to see this deal get done because Tatupu is the exact type of guy that the Patriots go after and Tatupu grew up in Boston because his dad (like Matt Hasselbeck's dad) is a former Patriot. I just knew he would bolt to New England in free agency.
If you look around our division, MLB is probably the strongest position. Each of the four teams have a pretty good guy manning the middle (Tatupu, Witherspoon, Dansby, and Willis).