When the Philadelphia Eagles began to turn to rookie defensive end Jalyx Hunt over $51 million free agent Bryce Huff over the last week, it cause more than a few set of eyebrows to be raised.
Now, we may have some answers to as why Huff has experienced such a dramatic drop off in production for the NFC East Division leaders, who are playing their best football and are on a 6-game winning streak.
On November 20, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni told the media that Huff will undergo wrist surgery and will be out until late in the regular season.
The Eagles are 8-2 headed into a Sunday Night Football showdown at the Los Angeles Rams in Week 12.
“Huff posted 10 sacks for the New York Jets last season but has had a disappointing start to his time in Philadelphia,” ESPN’s Tim McManus wrote. “He has posted 2.5 sacks and four quarterback hits through 10 games, well short of expectations that came with the lucrative three-year, $51 million free agent contract he signed this offseason. He has been wearing a cast on the wrist for the past couple weeks. His playing time has dipped since the injury cropped up, averaging just 11 snaps per game over the past three weeks compared to 28 snaps over the first seven games.”
Dominant Pass Rusher for Jets in 2023
The Eagles paid big for Huff after the 6-foot-3, 255-pound Memphis product went from undrafted to one of the NFL’s elite edge rushers — enough that they coughed up a 3-year, $51.1 million contract for him in March 2024.
“The Eagles’ decision to invest heavily in Huff was largely based on his impressive pressure rates with the Jets,” wrote Heavy.com’s Beth Mishler-Elmore on November 11. “In 2023, he led the NFL with a 21.8% pressure rate (minimum 250 pass rushes), per Next Gen Stats. That efficiency created high expectations for his impact in Philadelphia. However, his current performance has not mirrored these past achievements, leading to questions about the team’s return on investment for his services. Huff’s inability to replicate past success has led to Hunt, who is in the first year of his $5.5 million rookie contract, seeing the field more as the season has progressed.”
While Huff might not have the regular season stats to hang his hat on in 2024, there’s still a way the Eagles’ investment in him could pay off in a big way.
Huff Investment Could Pay Off in Postseason
The Eagles seem poised for a postseason run and Huff could be a key figure in that — it’s not hard to imagine a world he comes back healthy and is dominant in the postseason. Philadelphia won an NFC championship in 2022 and started the 2023 season 10-1 before finishing the season 11-6 and falling to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Working in Huff’s favor is he doesn’t have a history of injuries and has avoided major injuries that might cause some level of greater concern. He missed 8 games in 2021 with a back injury but has otherwise been healthy and has only missed 6 games over the last 3 seasons.
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