The bulk of the offseason might be over, but NFL teams still can mold their rosters between now and Week 1. The best way to do that this time of year? Trades.
There are still weaknesses to shore up, players teams want to move on from and looming contracts.
As always, I’ll be grading these trades from each team’s perspective. I’ll be looking at the deals from all angles — including quality, age and contracts of the players dealt, salary cap implications, draft compensation and the short- and long-term outlooks of the teams involved. I’ll also consider the effect of each deal and how certain we can be that the move was positive or negative.
Let’s dive in to grading offseason transactions, starting with the 49ers bringing in pass-rush help.
49ers get: Edge Bryce HuffEagles get: 2026 midround draft pick
49ers’ grade: B+Eagles’ grade: B+
The 49ers are betting that Huff’s 2024 season was an outlier — not a sign of what’s to come.
A year ago, Huff was a high-end free agent who signed a three-year, $51.1 million deal with the Eagles after showing serious pass-rushing chops with the Jets. Despite questions about his run defense, it seemed well worth it at the time. From 2020 to 2022, Huff recorded a 26% pass rush win rate at edge — a top-10 number at the position had he qualified — in a situational pass-rushing role. The sacks followed when Huff got more playing time in 2023, with 10 that season before hitting free agency.
But Huff’s numbers immediately dropped in Philadelphia. His win rate fell to a career-low 19% (which is still higher than average), but the sacks weren’t there (2.5) and his playing time dipped before he missed time in the second half of the season to have wrist surgery. He was healthy for the postseason but inactive for the Super Bowl — a clear sign of what Philadelphia thought about his play.
The 49ers have been looking for a quality edge rusher opposite Nick Bosa. Their biggest investment in that area is first-round pick Mykel Williams, but Huff is another swing.
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This is a pretty reasonable play for San Francisco. As poorly as Huff played last season, there’s still plenty to like in his history, and his pass rush win rate remained solid despite his struggles. His pass rush get-off (time to cross the line of scrimmage) has bounced around, from 0.8 seconds in 2021 to an absurd 0.67 in 2022 to 0.75 in 2023 and 0.79 in 2024.
Though that shows Huff slowing down, it’s still a better-than-average get-off for an edge rusher. The 49ers could put Huff back into a situational pass-rushing role — with Williams handling run downs — which would probably suit his skill set better. And if there is anyone who can get more out of Huff, perhaps it is 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh, who coached Huff with the Jets from 2021 to 2023.
Critically, the 49ers are not paying full price. As Field Yates laid out, the 49ers will pay Huff just under $8 million this year after he restructured his deal ahead of this trade. That, plus a Day 3 draft pick, seems like a worthwhile risk for a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a pass-rush need.
On the other hand, the Eagles clearly do not feel the same about Huff. They have a bevy of alternatives to play opposite Nolan Smith Jr., from veterans who have flashed in the past (Azeez Ojulari and Joshua Uche) to a young player with promise (Jalyx Hunt). Philadelphia isn’t walking away with a huge haul, but if Huff was not a lock to be active on Sundays, then saving a few million and getting a draft pick is a pretty good outcome.
