In what could turn out to be either a bold move or a highly questionable one, the San Francisco 49ers agreed to a trade that will bring Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Bryce Huff to town in exchange for a mid-round draft pick and $7.9 million of his salary.
Last season, Huff posted 13 total tackles with five solo and three for loss, four QB hits, one forced fumble and just 2.5 sacks across 12 games with six starts.
In a recent interview, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio discussed the reasons for letting Huff go after just one season in Philadelphia.
And the unfortunate part for the Eagles was that it was mainly due to the injury he suffered to his wrist, which required surgery.
“I think the one thing is, he was getting better, and when he hurt his hand, he tried to play with it for a couple weeks,” Fangio said. “It wasn’t going good because he was reluctant to use his hand. Then when they operated on it, he had to play with a big cast on his hand, which basically rendered his hand useless and then rendered his arm useless because you can’t use your hand. That really had an effect on him.”
Fangio continued that while his injury had a negative affect on his time in Philly, he thinks he'll play well with the 49ers.
“I think he’ll do fine in San Francisco,” Fangio added.
Huff played for Saleh in New York from 2021 -2024, so that's the familiarity. And Huff did have his best season in 2023 under Saleh with the Jets. That year, he posted 29 tackles with 10 solo and 10 for loss, 21 QB hits and 10 sacks.
If Saleh can get that production from him again - even for just one season - then the trade is a massive success. Otherwise, we'll find out that Huff was just a one-year wonder in the NFL.