The 49ers acquired Bryce Huff to be the complement for Nick Bosa they have lacked for several seasons.
The 49ers left it late to make what could prove to be one of the most important moves of their offseason with the trade for edge rusher Bryce Huff.
San Francisco took a low-risk bet on Robert Saleh’s ability to get the best out of a player who thrived under his tutelage in his time with the New York Jets by trading a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles. That pick could upgrade to a fourth-rounder based on performance.
Handing a fourth-rounder to an NFC rival will be a small price to pay for the 49ers if Huff recaptures his Jets form, and they will likely feel substantially better about their range of skill sets on the edge after bringing Huff into the mix.
Asked about Huff’s potential impact in his press conference at mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, Shanahan made an obvious comparison in articulating what the 49ers are hoping to get out of him.
Shanahan said:
“He affects the quarterback. We talk about just getting off the ball, and how fast he does it — he’ll be our best get off the ball guy we’ve had since Dee Ford. So, in terms of that, it’s good to beat tackles that way, but also widens tackles to help with inside pass rush and things like that. He affects the quarterback.”
The comparison to Ford speaks volumes. The 49ers have consistently had dominant pass-rushing defensive lines during the Shanahan era, but they have arguably never had it better than in 2019 when DeForest Buckner and Arik Armstead would rush from the inside on true passing downs with Nick Bosa collapsing the pocket off one edge and Ford creating havoc with his speed off the other.
Bosa, of course, has continued to dominate in subsequent seasons — save for the 2020 campaign, when he lost to a knee injury, and last year, when injuries severely hampered his stretch run — but the 49ers have clearly lacked that speed complement to the 2022 Defensive Player of the Year.
Shanahan and the 49ers clearly believe Huff’s explosiveness off the snap will allow him to fill that void. As Shanahan articulated, Huff’s ability to quickly put tackles in the race will benefit other teammates beyond Bosa.
If Huff can consistently get tackles to turn their hips quickly by threatening to turn the corner, then that will leave them vulnerable to inside moves from him and create more space for the 49ers’ defensive tackles, as well as Mykel Williams and Yetur Gross-Matos when they rush from those spots, to impact the quarterback with their interior rush
While the 49ers have had the likes of Armstead, Javon Hargrave, and Maliek Collins at defensive tackle in recent seasons, the lack of support for Bosa had become increasingly apparent.
In selecting Williams in the first round and then trading for Huff, the 49ers have made significant moves to address that issue and, in doing so, acquired a blend of skill sets that should put them in a much better position to frequently disrupt the quarterback in 2025.
The 49ers will want Huff to enjoy better luck in terms of injuries than Ford did, but if he can match the impact Ford made when he was healthy, San Francisco’s pass rush will be one to be feared.