What Newly Acquired Bryce Huff Brings to the 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers are finalizing a trade with the Philadelphia Eagles for Bryce Huff, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. The return for Huff is expected to be a mid-late round pick.

Coming into the offseason with little depth, the 49ers went after defensive linemen in the 2025 draft. They drafted Mykel Williams, Alfred Collins, and CJ West in the first four rounds. Even with those additions, they must have felt more depth was needed.

Bryce Huff’s Skillset

Huff is a five-year pro who has spent the majority of his career playing for 49ers’ Defensive Coordinator Robert Saleh. Huff had his most success with Saleh on the Jets in the 2023 season, where he accumulated 10 sacks and 21 Quarterback hits. Last season, he started six games for the Eagles and posted an above-average PFF pass rush grade of 68.2.

Huff should be expected to be an important pass-rusher for the 49ers, as he is an explosive player with good bend to play off the edge. Additionally, he is quick off the ball and violent with his hands at the point of attack. In the run game, he struggles against bigger competition and to set the edge. Luckily, the 49ers already have two capable defensive ends for early downs: Nick Bosa and Mykel Williams.

Expected Role for Huff

Robert Saleh used Bryce Huff in a role that complemented his talent well on the Jets. In three of his four seasons, he was purely a rotational player to combat his weaknesses in the run game.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter broke down how well Saleh used Huff: “Under current 49ers defensive coordinator and former Jets head coach Robert Saleh in 2023, Bryce Huff had a career-high 10 sacks and 68 pressures on just 312 pass rush snaps — the best pressure rate in the NFL at 21.8%, per Next Gen Stats.”

The 49ers should expect Huff to play a similar role as he did in 2023. Saleh understands the type of skillset Huff will bring. The 49ers’ dedication to building up a big, strong defensive front left them lacking speed off the edge. While the Niners’ main priority this offseason was to improve the run defense, they still needed to add guys equipped with pass-rushing abilities. That’s where Huff will step in perfectly. He will most likely have one job: get after the Quarterback.

Why Were the Eagles Willing to Trade Him Away?

The Eagles signed Bryce Huff to a 3-year, $51 million contract in the 2024 offseason. He put up just 2.5 sacks in 12 games (six starts) last season. Eventually, he was benched later in the season, and he refused to show up to the Eagles’ OTAs this offseason.

Things clearly ended on a sour note in Philadelphia. I would be lying if I ignored that this isn’t at least somewhat concerning for the 49ers. Huff was reported to have reworked his deal in the trade. It will be interesting to see what portion of it the 49ers the 49ers still have to pay. Depending on what the new deal looks like, this trade could have some serious risk attached to it.

We already know that Huff is not an every-down player. He will have a lot of pressure to put up elite sack and pass rush numbers this season. Placing him across Nick Bosa with a defensive coordinator is a good first step. Still, he needs to show up and turn the clock back to 2023 for this 49ers defense.