Your daily San Francisco 49ers news for Saturday, May 31st, 2025
Kawakami: 49ers’ goal? Whatever happened in 2024 … do the opposite in 2025 (paywall)
“You also can feel how important it was to get Robert Saleh back for his second stint as defensive coordinator after Shanahan ran through Nick Sorensen last year and Steve Wilks in 2023. The 49ers needed a DC who commands instant respect and confidence. They needed a DC who can be a partner with Shanahan. They needed somebody they knew could do the job.
And on Thursday, Shanahan and Saleh walked out to the field together, they huddled through the early drills, and they laughed and chatted throughout the team sessions, when it was Shanahan’s offense going up against Saleh’s defense. I watched a lot of practices the past two years, and Shanahan never looked that comfortable talking with Wilks or Sorensen. And there’s a new flavor to their relationship after Saleh’s up-and-down run as the Jets’ head coach.
“I don’t have to get on him as much,” Shanahan said with a laugh. “He knows. No, because it’s funny when you hear stories of, ‘Oh, now I get why you were so frustrated with me in this instance because I thought you were being kind of a jerk about it.’ He goes, ‘But I was twice as mean to my guy the last two years on it.’ So you start to learn those things as you go through them and it kind of makes it a little more fun.”
49ers trade for Eagles’ Bryce Huff to add veteran to defensive line (paywall)
“Huff’s struggles as a run defender are why he hasn’t been an every down player in the NFL. He has played more than 43% of his teams’ snaps once in his career, logging 51% in nine games with the Jets in 2021, and has started 13 of 66 career games.
Last year, after Huff signed with the Eagles, Saleh was asked about Huff’s one-dimensional reputation. He noted Huff’s best quality had great value.
“People want to say that all he does is rush the passer, but all Mariano Rivera did was close ninth innings,” said Saleh, who coached Huff from 2021-2023. “So he’s a pretty darn good pass rusher.”
Hutchinson: Robert Saleh’s D̶e̶e̶ ̶F̶o̶r̶d̶ Bryce Huff reunion is a coup (paywall)
“This sets San Francisco up for a situation where, on third downs, they could theoretically have zero defensive tackles on the field. Imagine their so-called NASCAR package with Huff recapturing the Dee Ford archetype that the 49ers have not had since 2019. You’d have Nick Bosa and Huff on the edges, Mykel Williams bull rushing from 3- or 5-technique, and Yetur Gross-Matos or Sam Okuayinonu up the middle, as he did, and was effective early on last season.
There are variations of this, of course, where you could have a split front, putting two wide-9 rushers and two 5-techniques, with Fred Warner and another linebacker or nickel flashing A-gap pressure. The possibilities for stunts and overloads while still rushing four players is tantalizing.
In short, you’re acquiring a speed rushing option you’ve never had. You have flexibility with your defensive front, and you allow the players you’ve assigned to do certain jobs to do those jobs.
Alfred Collins and CJ West might turn out to be capable NFL pass rushers, but their jobs are to hold a damn gap.”
“The trade, which is expected to be finalized next week after the calendar turns to June, includes a restructured contract for Huff, sources told Schefter. Huff was slated to make $16.75 million in fully guaranteed money in 2025 but the Eagles will take on $9.05 million in salary, leaving the Niners to handle the remaining $7.95 million this season once the deal is completed. San Francisco is expected to send a middle-round draft pick to the Eagles for Huff.”
Baldy: Nick Bosa should be thrilled about 49ers trading for Bryce Huff
“He likes to be in a 4-point stance,” Baldinger said Friday on Bay Area radio station 95.7 The Game. “He’s got an electric takeoff. He’s got a variety of moves to beat tackles in his business.”
Huff reunites with Saleh, who was the head coach of the New York Jets during Huff’s time there. While Huff spent last season with the Eagles, Baldinger believes Philadelphia didn’t fully utilize his strengths.
“He’s not a guy that’s going to drop into coverage and do all that kind of stuff,” Baldinger explained. “That’s what the Eagles wanted him to do, and he’s not that guy. Robert Saleh knows how to use him. He had him, basically, the whole time he was there.”
Kyle Shanahan shares early impressions of Mac Jones in first offseason with 49ers
“We’ve only been on the field two days, but he’s been great going through the meetings those first two weeks in Phase One,” Shanahan said, “just going through all the cutups, talking about some of his stuff he’s done over the last few years, just being able to coach him on that.”
Shanahan noted that, for quarterbacks, the early part of the offseason has been focused on refining fundamentals—something especially important with Brian Griese no longer on staff. New quarterbacks coach Mick Lombardi has been working closely with Jones, and it sounds like the early returns are positive.
“And to watch him go through those three weeks, working on some technique things and stuff, and just how we see football, and I’m hoping it leads to help him, and he enjoys it,” Shanahan said. “But he’s had two days to kind of practice it versus the defense, and I think he’s had two real good days, and we’ll see how the rest goes.”