SANTA CLARA, Calif. – San Francisco 49ers’ new defensive end, Bryce Huff, spent much of the last five months waiting for a possible trade from the Philadelphia Eagles. Huff didn’t know when or where he would be transferred, but while he trained and waited, he began to desire some potential destinations. Among them, the possibility of reuniting with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh in San Francisco stood out. On May 30, Huff saw his wish fulfilled when the Eagles sent him to the Niners in exchange for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2026 NFL draft.
Huff’s move from Philadelphia also meant moving away from a scheme that never seemed to suit him as well as the one he played under Saleh in New York from 2021 to 2023. After a standout 2023 season with the Jets, where he recorded a personal best of 10 sacks and 68 pressures in 312 pass plays (which translated to a pressure rate of 21.8%, the best in the NFL according to Next Gen Stats), Huff signed a three-year, $51 million contract with the Eagles in free agency in 2024. However, coordinator Vic Fangio’s preferred defensive scheme moved Huff away from the hand-in-the-dirt, wide-9 technique he had played under Saleh, and asked him to stand up more often as an outside linebacker.“I had a few places in mind where I definitely hoped to be changed,” Huff, a sixth-year player, said on Wednesday. “All I was doing was training, keeping my routine as best as possible. Waiting for that call, and fortunately it was to San Francisco, because I’m very familiar with this scheme”.
Bryce Huff
The result was disappointing for all parties, as Huff finished last season with 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks in 12 games.“If you’re born in a hand-in-the-dirt defensive end, there’s an adjustment period to become a stand-up outside linebacker and vice versa,” said 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek. “It’s not snapping your fingers and saying, hey, go to a different scheme. And now you’ve been successful primarily throughout your career with your hand in the dirt going vertical and now you’re standing up. It’s a difference.”
Kris Kocurek
“I learned a lot about myself throughout that experience, but in the end it didn’t work out,” Huff said. “You live and learn. Everything I’m focused on is what I’m doing right now, and that is being a 49er and doing everything I can to help this team win.”
Bryce HuffAlthough Huff has been in San Francisco for just under two weeks, he has already made a strong impression by returning to Saleh’s defense. Huff is not expected to become a defensive end on every play alongside standout pass rusher Nick Bosa, but the team has a clearly defined role for him that focuses on pressuring the passer. San Francisco made a significant overhaul of the defensive line room in the offseason, cutting the three starters: tackles Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins, and edge rusher Leonard Floyd. The 49ers rebuilt the defensive line in the draft, using the number 11 pick on edge Mykel Williams, as well as second and fourth-round picks on tackles Alfred Collins and C.J. West. Williams is expected to win the starting position alongside Bosa, but he has the versatility to move inside in obvious pass-rushing situations, which would open the door for Huff to do what he does best.That type of speedy presence is something the Niners have been looking for for much of the last five years. They have included a variety of pass rushers like Samson Ebukam, Drake Jackson, and Floyd with varying degrees of success.“I think very highly of him as a pass rusher,” Saleh said. “He wins at such a high rate. A lot of times, when you watch pass rushers, you watch the sacks. Sacks are important, they end drives and that’s ultimately what gets these players paid. But his disruption rate in getting the quarterback off his spot and the way he can do it… He wins so fast and so often that coordinators have to account for his presence.”
Robert SalehBut none has reached the level of the pass rusher who best complemented Bosa in his 2019 rookie season: Dee Ford. It’s a name that coach Kyle Shanahan and left tackle Trent Williams invoked without being asked on Tuesday when they were asked about Huff.
A Huff doesn’t care about the comparison and pointed out on Wednesday in his first session with the Bay Area media that Saleh used to show him clips of Ford as a template for what he thought Huff could become. The hope now is that a fresh start in a familiar scheme can help Huff rediscover the formula that turned him from an undrafted free agent out of Memphis in 2020 to the $51 million man of 2024.“When you talk about just getting off the ball and how fast he does it, he’ll be our best player getting off the ball that we’ve had since Dee Ford,” Shanahan said. “It’s good to beat tackles that way, but it also widens tackles to help with the interior pressure and things like that, and it affects the quarterback.”
Kyle Shanahan“I always have that [chip] on my shoulder about how I got to the NFL,” Huff said. “I can’t wait to get back out on the field on game days and get out of my stance, go after the quarterback, stop the run, just be violent. That’s what I’m thinking about.”
Bryce Huff
