The NFC West could be a very tight division in 2025. The Seattle Seahawks reached 10 wins in 2024, tied with the Los Angeles Rams for the best record in the division, and Seattle still missed the playoffs. This coming season might be more stressful.
The Rams are likely to be just as good, if not better. They probably won't struggle through the first part of the season with as many injuries as early in 2024. The Arizona Cardinals made some splash signings defensively and should also be better.
Few teams over the past few decades are as much of a thorn in the Seahawks' side as the San Francisco 49ers have been. San Francisco made big changes this offseason, however, and one of them might be ready to not work out in any sense of the word.
The 49ers' Bryce Huff gamble may not be worth it, and Seahawks fans love it
Edge rusher Bryce Huff is the Sam Darnold of his position. Huff has spent five seasons in the NFL, but only one of them has been good. That didn't stop his former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, from giving him a three-year deal for $51.1 million in 2024 free agency.
It took one season for the Eagles to realize they made a mistake. Though Philly had a fantastic defense, Huff found a way to underperform and lose his spot in the rotation. He finished the season with four quarterback hits and three tackles for loss. The Eagles traded Huff to the 49ers this offseason.
The gamble San Francisco is hoping works out is that Huff will be rejoining coach Robert Saleh. Saleh is back as the 49ers' defensive coordinator after spending 2021 through some of 2024 as the New York Jets' head coach. Huff played for the Jets from 2020 through 2023.
San Francisco is hoping that Huff getting back to Saleh's system will allow the edge rusher to be his best. In 2023, Huff had 10 sacks and 10 tackles for loss for New York. But Huff was also in Saleh's system for the two years before that and did not do much. It's almost as if Huff knew 2023 was the final year of his rookie deal and decided to play a little harder in order to get a huge new contract.
Huff has shown he might be a me-first player rather than a team-first guy this offseason. He recently said that his issues in Philadelphia were his fit in the scheme, not that he lost reps to better players who were producing more.
Huff told The SFNiners podcast in early July, "If I'm being honest with you, I wanted a trade fairly early on. Just because of how things went in Philly, I knew pretty early on that it wasn't a fit..."
A player who was just on a Super Bowl-winning team might say things such as they were grateful to be a part. Instead, Huff seems more focused on what he personally didn't achieve with the Eagles.
Should things not work out with the 49ers, how quickly will Bryce Huff begin to complain? San Francisco made a lot of changes defensively and needs Huff to be productive. He has only been so for one year.
But what might work out beautifully for the Seattle Seahawks and 12s is that Seattle is likely going to run a lot more with new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak. Having success against the 49ers, doing so might have a big impact on who wins the two games the team will play. While Huff had one good year of rushing the passer, he is terrible against the run.
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