Howie Roseman doesn’t make calendar decisions on impulse. Internally, the Bryce Huff trade had been penciled in for weeks, contingent on one number: June 1. That’s when post-June 1 designations take effect and dead money is split differently. Before that date, trading Huff would have cost the Eagles $12.1 million in 2025 cap charges. After? Just $3 million. The financial margin was the inflection point. So Eagles shipping Huff to San Francisco on June 2 made sense.

Bryce Huff’s 2024 season never aligned with the structure or expectations of his three-year, $51.1 million deal. He finished with just 2.5 sacks, was inactive for Super Bowl LIX, and played only 27.2% of defensive snaps—far too low for a player with a $17 million annual average. His pass-rush win rate dropped from 21.8% with the Jets in 2023 to 15.0% in Philadelphia. The burst and first step were still there, but Huff struggled in early-down run defense, a non-negotiable in Vic Fangio’s front.

What San Francisco acquires is a player Robert Saleh once championed in New York, albeit in a different role. The Eagles? They absorb the $3 million and move forward. This wasn’t a personnel failure so much as a structural mismatch. For Roseman, the trade had less to do with what Huff couldn’t do and more with what the scheme demanded. And the cap math just made it inevitable.

Reports indicate that the Eagles traded Huff to the 49ers, where he can reunite with his former coach, Robert Saleh. That’s how smooth it was. But of course, in the NFL, timing is everything—and so is snark. And naturally, Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk caught the scent. And you can just say that he didn’t exactly clap. His concern? Why did the Eagles part ways with Josh Sweat if they’re already keen on giving up on Huff? “Why wouldn’t the Eagles keep Josh Sweat if they were ready to give up on Bryce Huff?” he said. And that’s definitely something worth noting. Because Florio believes that “One of the reasons that you let Sweat walk, ‘Hey, we got Huff, right?'”

So why part ways with Sweat in the first place? Well, as it turned out, the 27-year-old defensive end didn’t mesh well in the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio’s system last year. The Eagles’ legend, Brandon Graham, noted it earlier, and now Florio kind of echoed the same words. “So, something went haywire last year. Something you know, Vic Fangio doesn’t believe in the guy, I don’t know,” Florio added.

And let’s face it—the Huff-Fangio relationship seemed doomed ever since the Eagles signed him on a three-year, $51.1 million deal. Why? See, back in the 2023 season, Huff had 10 sacks, that too without even starting a single game with the Jets. Then Philly came along with a sweet deal, and everyone was banking on him to replicate what he did in the last season. But Fangio wasn’t sweating it.

The DC claimed that Philly wanted Huff to play more than he played with the Jets. But there’s a catch. First, they wanted to see if the guy can play well against the run as well as rushing the passer. And the way things shaped up, safe to assume that things didn’t turn out very well for either of ’em. By the time Bryce Huff could show his talent in rushing the passer, he was already off to San Francisco.

Here comes the goodbye message from Bryce Huff

Earlier this week, the former Jets head coach and current 49ers defensive coordinator, Robert Saleh, reportedly sought to bring Bryce Huff to San Francisco. The two of them had previously worked together in New York, where the 27-year-old defensive end thrived under coach Saleh. Fast forward to now, and it is safe to conclude that Huff and Saleh are finally reuniting—in a different city, with a different team.

On Sunday, the Eagles traded Bryce Huff to the 49ers in exchange for a future Day 3 draft pick. Bryce will now join Saleh’s defensive unit in San Francisco with two years still left on his current deal with the Eagles. Right after the trade news broke, Huff hopped up to his official Instagram handle and shared a couple of pictures in his story.

The first picture featured the defensive end in the Eagles’ attire, making a peace sign. While the other one featured Huff celebrating a play, clad in a Jets jersey. The New York team signed Huff as an undrafted free agent back in the 2020 NFL draft. Across four seasons in New York, the guy had 17.5 sacks, with 10 of ’em coming in his breakout season back in 2023. No wonder the Eagles signed him on a three-year deal, and now the 49ers are ready to take a chance on him.