Bryce Huff has been an absolute dud. 0 sacks, 0 pressures, 0 tackles for loss. Possibly he ought to have picked a unique jersey quantity.
Brian Baldinger not too long ago identified that the Eagles are misusing him by having him be a rise up edge rusher, and he’s not incorrect to assume that. 9 of his 10 sacks final yr with the Jets got here from his hand within the floor as a correct defensive finish, and the Eagles are asking him to be a rise up linebacker.
Let’s go decabox with Huff pre-snap 10 of his sacks final yr, leaving out one which got here in opposition to a rush up offense as a result of 11 makes a bizarre graphic.
The largest takeaway isn’t that his sacks got here from him in a 3 level stance. It’s that they nearly completely got here with him in a 3 level stance out of the vast 9.
Let’s dig a little bit deeper. Final yr Huff had 10 sacks, 9 solo and a pair of halves. 6 of his 11 sack performs got here with a distance of 10+ yards. 4 got here on third and 6+. 9 got here within the second half. Put Bryce Huff in a passing scenario, put him in opposition to a tiring offensive line, and, crucially, on a protection the place he isn’t the lead go rusher (he didn’t begin a recreation since 2021) and perhaps he can produce. Or perhaps not. In 37 video games previous to final season, he had simply 7.5 sacks.
Merely placing Huff in a 3 level stance, and placing him within the vast 9 doesn’t magically unlock him. Towards the Bucs, Huff was in a 3 level stance on 6 of his 33 snaps. This was the very best rep:
That’s fairly good! The remainder have been like this:
Yuck. Huff is trying like simply one other one yr double digit sack marvel like Kyler Fackrell (10.5 sacks in 2018, 13.5 in 70 different video games), or Romeo Okwara (10 sacks in 2020, 15 in 76 different video games), or Josh Uche (11.5 sacks in 2022, 8 in 40 different video games).
For cap causes Huff can’t be reduce or traded till 2026 so the Eagles are caught with this. Within the quick time period, Vic Fangio has however one choice to attempt to get manufacturing out of Huff, to play him on passing downs. 16 of Huff’s 33 snaps in opposition to the Bucs have been on 1st down, although in opposition to the Bucs each down is a passing down, they handed on two thirds of their performs in opposition to the Eagles.
Bryce Huff is the 14th highest paid edge rusher by totally assured cash. It’s previous time to start out enjoying prefer it.
