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Nick Wagoner
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — For the higher a part of the previous 5 months, new San Francisco 49ers defensive finish Bryce Huff anticipated the Philadelphia Eagles to commerce him.
Huff did not know when it could occur or the place he would land, however as he continued understanding and ready, he started hoping for a number of potential locations.
Included on that quick listing was a reunion with defensive coordinator Robert Saleh in San Francisco. On Might 30, Huff bought his want because the Eagles traded him to the Niners for a conditional fifth-round choose within the 2026 NFL draft.
“I had a number of locations in thoughts that I undoubtedly hoped to get traded,” Huff, a sixth-year move rusher, mentioned Wednesday. “All I used to be doing was simply understanding, simply staying in my routine as finest as attainable. Ready to listen to that decision, and fortunately it was to San Francisco, as a result of I am very conversant in this scheme.”
Huff’s commerce from Philadelphia additionally meant getting away from a scheme that by no means appeared to swimsuit him in addition to the one he performed in beneath Saleh in New York from 2021 to 2023.
After a breakout 2023 season with the Jets through which he posted a career-high 10 sacks and 68 pressures on 312 pass-rush snaps — good for a 21.8% stress fee that was one of the best within the NFL, based on Subsequent Gen Stats — Huff signed a three-year, $51 million cope with the Eagles in 2024 free company.
However coordinator Vic Fangio’s most popular defensive scheme eliminated Huff from the hand-in-the-dirt, wide-9 method he’d performed beneath Saleh and requested him to face up as an outdoor linebacker extra typically.
“In the event you’re born right into a hand-in-the-ground protection, it is an adjustment interval to show your self right into a standup outdoors linebacker position and vice versa,” 49ers defensive position coach Kris Kocurek mentioned. “It isn’t snap your fingers and hey, go to a special scheme. And now you have primarily been profitable all through your profession together with your hand within the dust going vertical and now you are standing up. It is a distinction.”
The end result was disappointing for all events, as Huff completed final season with 13 tackles and a couple of.5 sacks in 12 video games.
“I realized quite a bit about myself all through that have, nevertheless it simply did not work out on the finish of the day,” Huff mentioned. “You reside and also you be taught. All I concentrate on is what I am doing proper now, and that is being a 49er and doing every thing I can to assist this crew win.”
Though Huff has been in San Francisco for less than rather less than two weeks, he has already made a robust impression upon leaping again into Saleh’s protection. Huff is not anticipated to grow to be an every-down finish reverse star move rusher Nick Bosa, however the crew has a clearly outlined position for him that facilities on dashing the passer.
San Francisco went by way of a big renovation within the defensive position room within the offseason, chopping all three starters: tackles Javon Hargrave and Maliek Collins and finish Leonard Floyd.
The 49ers rebuilt the defensive position within the draft, utilizing the eleventh choose on finish Mykel Williams in addition to second- and fourth-round picks on tackles Alfred Collins and C.J. West. Williams is predicted to win the beginning job reverse Bosa however has the flexibility to kick inside in apparent pass-rush conditions, which might open the door for Huff to do what he does finest.
“I believe extremely of him as a move rusher,” Saleh mentioned. “He wins at such a excessive fee. Quite a lot of occasions if you have a look at move rushers, you have a look at sacks. Sacks are necessary, they finish drives, and it is what finally will get these guys paid. However his disruption fee in getting the quarterback off the spot and the best way he can do it. … He wins so shortly so typically that coordinators need to account for his presence.”
That sort of speedy presence is one thing the Niners have been searching for for a lot of the previous 5 years. They’ve plugged in quite a lot of move rushers equivalent to Samson Ebukam, Drake Jackson and Floyd with various levels of success.
However none has risen to the extent of the sting rusher who finest complemented Bosa in his rookie season of 2019: Dee Ford. It is a title that coach Kyle Shanahan and left deal with Trent Williams each invoked unprompted on Tuesday when requested about Huff.
“While you discuss simply getting off the ball and how briskly he does it, he might be our greatest get-off-the-ball man we have had since Dee Ford,” Shanahan mentioned. “It is good to beat tackles that approach but in addition widens tackles to assist with the within move rush and issues like that, and he impacts the quarterback.”
Huff does not thoughts the comparability and famous Wednesday in his first session with Bay Space media that Saleh used to point out him clips of Ford as a template for what he believed Huff may ultimately grow to be.
The hope now’s {that a} new starting in a well-recognized scheme can assist Huff rediscover the formulation that turned him from undrafted free agent out of Memphis in 2020 to 2024’s $51 million man.
“I at all times type have that [chip] on my shoulders due to how I got here into the NFL,” Huff mentioned. “I can not wait to get again on the market on recreation days and get off out of my stance, get after the quarterback, cease the run, simply be violent. That is all I am fascinated with.”
