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While the Philadelphia Eagles' 2024 NFL season has largely been a success, sitting pretty at 6-2 despite some pretty odd decisions from Nick Sirianni that have taken points off the board, the one major black eye on the campaign has been the decision to sign Bryce Huff to a massive three-year $51.1 million contract.
Now at the time, the idea was fairly sound; the Eagles opted to move off of Haason Reddick out of fear that he wouldn't fit their defensive scheme under Vic Fangio and believed Huff was an ascending player about to pop off after being one of the more efficient rushers in the NFL over the past few years. Factor in his age, his discounted price versus Reddick's demands, and the fact that Roseman secured a third-round pick in a trade with the Jets, and it felt like the Eagles had a risk worth taking.
Unfortunately, this swing appears to have been a major miss, to the point where, in an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show, Tom Pelissero casually mentioned that Huff's name could come up in trade talks before the trade deadline.
“There's certainly going to be interest in guys like Bryce Huff, who was one of the Eagles' big free agent signings, played all of six snaps yesterday after getting his hand apparently banged up during warmups or something,” Pelissero told Eisen. “That's a name I would think could get some potential action.”
Whoa, what? Would the Eagles actually trade Huff in the middle of the season, especially as they are ironically in the market for additional pass-rushing help? And more importantly, is there actually a market for Huff's services? Would some team overlook his issues in Philadelphia and instead take an interest in his services based on his production with the New York Jets? And if so, what kind of pick would the Eagles be able to secure for his services, let alone how much money would the Eagles be forced to take on to get a deal done?
Needless to say, while the 2024 NFL trade deadline was always going to be interesting for Philadelphia, this wrinkle makes things even more interesting for the Eagles and their fans.
Bryce Huff has been historically bad for the Eagles in 2024
In New York last season, Huff was one of the most effective pass rushers in the entire NFL. Despite only playing 480 defensive snaps – appearing in all 17 games without a single start as a designated pass rusher – Huff ranked 11th in the NFL in pass-rush grade (86.8) according to PFF, and with good reason. He finished the season with 67 total pressures, 45 hurries, 12 QB hits, and 10 sacks and looked like the sort of player who could one day dominate a defense in a full-time role.
Unfortunately for Huff, that efficiency hasn't followed him to Philly. Appearing in eight games with five starts, Huff only has 11 pressures, nine hurries, and 1.5 sacks on 132 pass-rushing snaps, making him one of the least effective rushers in the NFL regardless of the team of his role.
In Huff's opinion, this disparity largely comes down to his new role, as he doesn't like rushing from a stand-up position and instead prefers to get right after QBs from a four-point stance. If that's true, maybe a jump to a 4-3 scheme would do him well, especially reuniting with his former Jets head coach, Robert Saleh, who is working in an advisory role with the Packers. But trying to force Huff into a round hole when he is clearly a square peg is a surefire way to waste $51 million over the next three years, especially if the Eagles add a new pass rusher before the deadline who further pushes Huff down the depth chart. At this point, a trade may be the best course of action for al parties involved.
