The decision to acquire Huff follows a move earlier this week to sign former Jets linebacker Chazz Surratt, who will add experience to another group anchored by a star in Fred Warner but that remains otherwise thin on pro experience.
Surratt was a backup linebacker for the Jets from 2022-2024 and also served as a valuable special teams player under then-coordinator Brant Boyer, who was hired to lead the 49ers’ special teams units this offseason.
49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan hasn’t been coy about how thrilled he is to reunite with Saleh, who served as the defensive coordinator in San Francisco from 2017-2019 before departing to coach the Jets. The 49ers cycled through three different coordinators — DeMeco Ryans, Steve Wilks, and Nick Sorensen — who all had varying degrees of success.
Ryans was a fast-riser in the coaching ranks and left the staff to become the head coach of the Texans, whereas Wilks was a former head coach who never seemed to mesh with Shanahan despite coordinating a defense that helped lead the 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance.
Sorensen, who was promoted to defensive coordinator last year, oversaw one of the league’s worst run defenses and was fired at the beginning of the offseason.
The 49ers didn’t have to search far and wide for a replacement as Saleh was the clear choice from the start. The only issue was waiting out a head coaching cycle where Saleh was viewed as a serious candidate for multiple vacancies.
Once the former Jets’ head coach was no longer in consideration for a top job, he and the 49ers worked quickly to arrange a deal that brought him back to San Francisco.
The unit he’ll lead in 2025 is far different from the one he oversaw during the 49ers’ run to an NFC title in 2019, but it still features Bosa and Warner. Aside from the mainstays, the 49ers have worked aggressively to reshape the defense in Saleh’s image, using each of their first five draft picks on defensive players who are all realistic candidates to earn significant playing time this year.
Beyond the draft picks, acquisitions such as Huff and Surratt add players with experience playing in Saleh’s defensive system who should help provide stability for a defense that lacked it for much of last season.