Eagles, Bryce Huff Split Is a Sign of Growth in Philadelphia

Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman has never been afraid to take a big swing. Yet one of Roseman’s biggest strengths has become his willingness to admit when he whiffs on one of those massive swings.

In 2024, Roseman took a chance on a promising edge rusher that was coming off a career year with the New York Jets. The Eagles signed Bryce Huff to a three-year, $51.1 million contract as the then 25-year-old became Philadelphia’s most expensive signing during a free agency period that included the addition of Saquon Barkley.

While Barkley exceeded everyone’s wildest expectations during his first season with the Eagles, Huff did quite the opposite. He recorded just 2.5 sacks in 12 games for the Eagles and was ultimately a healthy inactive for Super Bowl LIX against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The writing was on wall for Huff’s departure this offseason but many general managers around the NFL wouldn’t be willing to admit their mistake. Roseman knew it was time and traded Huff to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick.

Several years ago, Roseman would have likely kept Huff around and tried to rebuild his value. Yet thanks to Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie’s willingness to bite the bullet with cash heavy contracts, Roseman is allowed to make tough decisions and eat dead cap hits like he did with Huff earlier this offseason.

While it certainly isn’t ideal that things didn’t work out between the Eagles and Huff, it’s important for everyone in the situation to be honest with themselves. It was clear that Eagles defensive coordinator was skeptical of Huff from the beginning, as he bluntly revealed when asked about Huff’s ability to defend the run during a training camp press conference last July.

“It will be a work in progress,” Fangio said. “Does it look like he can do it today? No. But I do think eventually he will.”

Unfortunately, eventually never arrived during Huff’s time in Philadelphia. He struggled to find success on the field, battled a wrist injury and saw his role decreased from a situational edge rusher on obvious passing downs to becoming a healthy scratch on game day.

It was an unceremonious fall for one of Philadelphia’s biggest acquisitions of the offseason. Yet Huff recently revealed that he knew things weren’t going to work out in with the Eagles early during his tenure in an interview with Brad Graham on “The SFNiners” podcast.

“If I'm being 100% honest with you, I wanted a trade like fairly early on," Huff said. "And just because of how things went in Philly, I knew pretty early on it wasn't a fit.”

"There's a plethora of things that went down. I don't wanna get into specifics. Being in the league for five years, I kinda knew what it felt like to be in a good situation. I kind of knew where it was headed fairly early on into the season, probably even training camp if I'm being honest."

While Huff stated that he didn’t want to get into specifics, his potential issue seems obvious from the outside looking in. Fangio is a hard-nosed coach that doesn’t hold back during his press conferences. It was clear that he wasn’t impressed with Huff in July and that theme held true throughout the entire season.

Huff likely wasn’t expecting to have his effort and technique publicly called into question during training camp, yet there we were. While many players in Philadelphia appreciate Fangio’s coaching style, it sure seems like Huff didn’t.

Huff likely thought that he would be guaranteed a big role because of his hefty contract, yet that wasn’t the case. While he excelled in a pass rushing specialist role in New York, he needed to prove that he could hold up against the run in Philadelphia. Obviously, Huff was unable to do so last season.

Nick Sirianni, Roseman and Fangio have built a culture that rewards hard work in Philadelphia. Yet it appeared as though Huff thought the hard work was over once he signed a massive contract with the Eagles.

Roseman has now moved on from high-priced edge rushers in back-to-back offseasons. He was right about trading away Haason Reddick in 2024 and now we’ll have to wait and see if he made the right decision with Huff.

Philadelphia has a bright future on the edge with a group that is headlined by Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt. Two players that embody the hard-working, “basement mentality” that former Eagles edge rusher Brandon Graham has discussed.

While Huff seemed to appreciate his “good situation” with the lowly Jets, Philadelphia is content building around the players that enjoy working in the basement. After all, that mentality helped add another Lombardi Trophy to the team’s showcase last season.