One thing the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have — at least not through 2 games — is an elite edge rusher.
Which is kind of hard to believe. Because just one year ago the Eagles had at least 2 players who may have fallen in that category in Josh Sweat and Bryce Huff, who they signed to a 3-year, $51.1 million free agent contract in March 2024.
Sweat left to the Arizona Cardinals on a 4-year, $76.4 million free agent contract after leading the Eagles in sacks and winning a Super Bowl.
Huff spent one miserable season with the Eagles and was a healthy scratch in the Super Bowl before he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a conditional 2026 fifth round pick.
Now, the Eagles are being called out for moving too quickly to trade Huff, who made it clear how unhappy he was playing for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in Philly.
“The Eagles made a mistake,” NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger said. “He’s not a linebacker. He’s a pass rush specialist. He’s gotta put his hand in the dirt. He’s not an outside linebacker like they wanted him to be in Philadelphia … (49ers defensive coordinator) Robert Saleh knows what Huff is. He closed the game out against the Saints like Nick Bosa did the game before. Nick has somebody who can come off the edge opposite of him right now. Huff is better than anybody they had over there at DE the last couple of years.“
Huff Has Looked Sharp With 49ers
Huff has looked like the player he was with the Jets in the first 4 years of his career, when Saleh was his head coach, and he closed out a win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 with a strip sack in the fourth quarter.
Through 2 games, Pro Football Focus sees Huff playing like one of the NFL’s very best at his position. His 81.3 overall grade from PFF has him at 15th out of a possible 147 players at his position and his 6 QB pressures are also among the NFL leaders.
It’s a far cry from the player who looked lost in Fangio’s system in Philly and finished with 2.5 sacks and 4 QB hits in 2024 while missing 5 games due to wrist surgery. That was just one year after Huff had career highs of 10.0 sacks and 21 QB hits with the Jets — numbers that landed him his monster deal in Philly.
Huff Took Potshots At Philly Following Trade
After his trade, Huff sounded off on his time the Eagles during an interview with The SFNiners YouTube Channel.
“There’s a plethora of things that went down,” Huff said. “I don’t wanna get into specifics. Being in the league for five years, I kinda knew what it felt like for me to be in a good situation. I gotta look out for myself and do what I think is best. I kind of knew where it was headed fairly early on into the season, probably even training camp if I’m being honest. So when everything popped off, it was just like ‘Yeah, all right let’s get to work.’ “
Eagles Blasted for ‘Mistake’ Trading Disgruntled $51 Million Edge Rusher