As Brock Purdy spun and reversed course in a signature move, Bryce Huff came bearing into the pocket with backside pressure. Purdy flicked a short-range completion, Huff breezed by, and the 49ers\u2019 final minicamp practice marched on Thursday without much fanfare.<\/p>\n
Huff\u2019s ability to quickly disrupt a quarterback, however, is why the 49ers traded for him nearly two weeks ago from Philadelphia. It\u2019s why the Eagles signed him a year ago to a three-year, $51 million deal.<\/p>\n
Huff\u2019s style didn\u2019t jibe with the Eagles, who deployed him as a stand-up linebacker with little impact on their Super Bowl charge. He thus anticipated his agent\u2019s call informing him of a trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully it was to San Francisco,\u201d Huff said Thursday, \u201cbecause I\u2019m very familiar with this scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huff now reunites with Robert Saleh, his former Jets coach who is reprising his 2017-20 role as the 49ers\u2019 defensive coordinator.<\/p>\n
Undrafted out of Memphis, Huff latched onto the 2020 New York Jets, packed on 20 pounds of muscle the next year and ultimately thrived in 2023 with 10 sacks. That sold the 2024 Eagles, \u201cbut it just didn\u2019t work out at the end of the day. You live and you learn,\u201d Huff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe will be our best get-off-the-ball guy we\u2019ve had since Dee Ford,\u201d coach Kyle Shanahan said.<\/p>\n
Ford was acquired in a 2019 trade and his explosive first step proved an ideal complement to Nick Bosa, who became the NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. A back injury hindered then halted Ford\u2019s career in 2021, about the same time Huff was studying his moves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did watch a lot of Dee Ford film in my earlier years in this scheme. He\u2019s definitely a guy I\u2019ve watched a long time,\u201d Huff said. \u201cWe have the same type of stride, and that\u2019s something (Saleh) showed me so I can work on my timing with some of my moves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saleh, who left his 49ers\u2019 post for the Jets in 2021, is enamored with Huff\u2019s speed and win rate off the line of scrimmage. \u201cHe is a second-effort pass rusher but he wins so quickly so often that coordinators have to account for his presence,\u201d Saleh said.<\/p>\n
Left tackle Trent Williams described Huff as a \u201cspeed demon,\u201d and the 49ers figure to use him as a pass-rush specialist while first-round pick Mykel Williams starts opposite Bosa at defensive end in the base package before shifting inside on third down.<\/p>\n
Huff (6-foot-3, 255 pounds) said he\u2019s \u201calways been a twitchy player,\u201d but he enhanced his explosiveness at Memphis alongside Genard Avery, a 2018 fifth-round pick of the Cleveland Browns. Huff\u2019s \u201cget-off\u201d took another step under the Jets\u2019 help, and another could come in 49ers defensive line coach Kris Kocurek\u2019s Wide-9 scheme.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we got in the building with the Jets, we let him know if he was going to make it, it was as a defensive end,\u201d Saleh said. \u201cHe put on 20-plus pounds of muscle. He really reshaped his body and kept plugging away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Huff had just 2 1\/2 sacks and four quarterback hits in 285 defensive snaps last season. A wrist injury kept him out Weeks 12-16, and although he made a 12-snap cameo in the NFC Championship win, he was inactive in the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always have that (chip) on my shoulder because of how I came into the NFL (undrafted in 2020),\u201d Huff said. \u201cIt\u2019s really more of a feeling of being grateful for having an opportunity to do what I love, and that\u2019s get off the ball, be aggressive and get after the quarterback.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s all I\u2019m thinking about right now. I can\u2019t wait to get back out there on game days and get off out of my stance, get after the quarterback, stop the run, and just be violent. All I\u2019m thinking about is having fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
The past two weeks, Huff has been out there soliciting tips from Bosa.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust being able to hear what he has to say about certain things within the pass rush or scheme, it\u2019s been cool to chop it up with him every day,\u201d Huff added. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to working with him this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Running back Christian McCaffrey accomplished his offseason goal of not missing a day of the 49ers\u2019 offseason program, after Achilles and knee injuries limited him to four games last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spent a lot of time building back a base from scratch,\u201d McCaffrey said. \u201cA lot of it was rehab. I wanted to put myself in a position where I didn\u2019t miss a day of OTAs and I could practice and play football again and be healthy, and I did that. I did that, now we can kind of kick back up the training again. I feel great.\u201d<\/p>\n
McCaffrey\u2019s offseason isn\u2019t about to quiet down.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be just getting ready for this season, and having a kid. So also that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He and his wife, Olivia Culpo, are expecting their first child \u201cright around the corner,\u201d though they didn\u2019t intentionally plan for it come during summer break.<\/p>\n
A day after incumbent kicker Jake Moody made 6-of-7 field-goal attempts, Greg Joseph got a turn and made 7-of-7, the longest coming from 55 yards. \u2026 Brock Purdy, who had three passes intercepted Tuesday, had only two incompletions Wednesday, and those came on a drop by Patrick Taylor Jr. and miscommunication by Watkins. \u2026 Jaylen Mahoney made the day\u2019s lone interception, on a Mac Jones pass to Jordan Watkins. \u2026 Rookie running back Jordan James showed nice burst on the play preceding the interception.<\/p>\n