The San Francisco 49ers on Monday officially announced their trade with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire defensive end Bryce Huff.
In their announcement the 49ers indicated the compensation was “a mid-round pick.” Jonathan Jones from CBS Sports later reported the 49ers dealt a conditional 2026 fifth-round pick to the Eagles. That choice could be elevated to a fourth-round pick based on performance benchmarks for Huff.
The 49ers would certainly love to see their investment become a fourth-round pick. Huff quickly becomes a key member of San Francisco’s defensive line. If he’s not in line to start opposite Nick Bosa, he’ll be a rotational pass rusher they rely on a lot to help fix their issues generating pressure last season.
While Huff has only 20.0 sacks in 66 career games, he put together his best season under 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh when Saleh was the head coach of the New York Jets. The 49ers are hopeful Huff will recapture some of that production back in Saleh’s defensive scheme after he struggled to find his footing in Eagles DC Vic Fangio’s base 3-4 defense.
If Huff is good, a fourth-round pick will be easy to part with. The 49ers need another edge rusher to be productive and shelling out one of their three projected fourth-round picks would be well worth it for another good player on the edge. If he struggles, the 49ers will part with a fifth-round pick. It’s not ideal to give away any draft compensation, but the potential reward is worth the risk in this deal.
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