Lions Urged to Target Breakout Edge Rusher

The Detroit Lions should be in the market for another edge rusher this offseason. But they wouldn’t necessarily have to target a big name to find good production. At least that’s what Pro Football Network’s Dallas Robinson suggested when he linked the Lions to defensive end Bryce Huff.

Robinson predicted the Lions to pursue Huff in NFL free agency.

“The Lions could move in various directions this offseason, with free agent additions at WR, G, DT, and CB all in play over the next month,” Robinson wrote. “Detroit could also keep a strength a strength by bolstering its already-talented pass-rushing corps, which includes 11.5-sack artist Aidan Hutchinson and a host of other complementary talents.

“Bryce Huff ranked top-two in pressure rate in each of the past two seasons, but he was never a full-time player for the New York Jets. He’s never played 500 defensive snaps in a single campaign. The Lions have the depth to account for Huff’s lack of availability, but they might also see if he could be similarly effective in an expanded role.”

Huff hasn’t started an NFL game since 2021. However, in 2023, he experienced a breakout season on the stat sheet with 10 sacks, 10 tackles for loss and 21 quarterback hits.

All of those totals were career bests.

How Bryce Huff Could Fit With the Lions

To simply say Huff had a breakout season in 2023 is an understatement. He didn’t have 10 sacks or 10 tackles for loss in his first three seasons combined let alone one campaign with double digits in both categories before last fall.

According to Pro Football Focus, Huff broke out with a 90.4 player grade during the 2022 season. However, he only played 191 defensive snaps that year.

Huff was still a rotational player in 2023, but with 480 defensive snaps, he posted another strong PFF grade (79.7).

If he played even more in 2024, perhaps Huff could build off of his first 10-sack campaign.

Detroit has defensive ends Aidan Hutchinson, John Cominsky, and Josh Paschal under contract for 2024. Outside linebacker James Houston will very likely be back as well.

But the Lions could use another elite edge option to truly complement Hutchinson, who accounted for 11.5 of the team’s 41 sacks in 2023.

Should the Lions consider Huff a double-digit sack candidate, or even more with an increase in snaps, then he is an obvious potential free agent target.

Projecting Huff’s Next Contract

There will be some risk to Detroit making Huff its big addition along the edge. As Robinson detailed, Huff has never played 500 defensive snaps in a season. So, it’s unclear how he will produce in a full-time role.

Big producers in small samples don’t always then increase their production with more opportunities.

But Huff might not be as expensive as other edge rushers with the potential for double-digit sacks in 2024. Spotrac projected Huff to be worth about $36.8 million on a four-year contract this offseason. Such a contract would give Huff an average annual salary of $9.2 million.

PFF ranked Huff the fourth-best available edge rusher in the upcoming free agency class. He was behind only Josh Allen, Brian Burns and Danielle Hunter.

PFF, though, criticized Huff for his run defense and argued that is why he hasn’t played more defensive snaps in his career.

That could be a concern for the Lions or any team potentially interested in Huff. There’s also no guarantee that he will be much cheaper than one of the other top edge rushers in free agency. PFF projected Huff to be worth $50 million on a 3-year contract, giving him an average annual salary of $16.67 million.