Eagles to sign AFC East sack artist on historic deal

Bryce Huff‘s primary wardrobe color will not change, but the ascending defensive end is leaving New York. The Jets will lose their 2023 sack leader to the Eagles.

Philly will pick up Huff on a three-year, $51.1M deal, ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter tweets. Although the Eagles are big on fortifying their offensive and defensive lines, the Huff addition would seem to point to one of the team’s trade candidates being moved. The team has dangled Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat in potential deals thus far this offseason.

This contract will make Huff the highest-paid UDFA in NFL history, Schefter adds. Huff broke out during a 2023 contract year, leading the NFL in pressure rate. The Jets did not seem to trust Huff as an every-down player, as suspect run defense was an issue for the former post-draft find. But he played well enough last season to advance beyond the “prove it” tier of free agency. The Eagles will bet on Huff on a deal more expensive — on a per-year basis — than Reddick’s.

The Eagles have let Reddick seek a trade and have taken calls on Sweat. Both players are going into contract years, with Reddick having outplayed the $15M-per-year deal he signed with his hometown team in 2022. While Reddick has not requested a trade, he will certainly take interest in Huff making more than him.

As the Eagles sift through some moving parts here, they will rely on Huff, who had not compiled more than four sacks in a season during his first three years with the Jets. Armed with a quick first step, Huff posted a 21.8 percent pressure percentage but did so on just 480 defensive snaps. That fell outside the top 70 among edges last year, and Pro Football Focus graded the Memphis alum as a bottom-tier run defender.

It will be interesting to see how the Eagles navigate their DE setup, but after the team saw Reddick and Sweat go cold as its defense cratered late last season, it will invest in a Jets-developed sack artist going into his age-26 season.