Bryce Huff signs with Eagles for $51 million in NFL free agency as Jets lose major piece

The Jets lost a major piece of their defense in the early hours of free agency on Monday.

Edge rusher Bryce Huff, who led the team in sacks last season, agreed to a three-year, $51.1 million contract with the Eagles, a source confirmed.

The deal pays him an average of $17 million per season and can go as high as $20,033 million per year, according to the NFL Network.

The Jets have been bracing for Huff’s departure for a while, knowing his price could get higher than they were willing to go.

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Still, this one stings for the Jets, who signed Huff as an undrafted free agent in 2020 out of Memphis.

Huff had a career-high 10 sacks last season, driving his price up in a league starved for pass rushers.

Huff is only 25 years old and it will be interesting to see what his role is on the Eagles.

One thing that bothered Huff with the Jets was he was not an every-down player.

He played 42 percent of the defensive snaps last year as part of Jeff Ulbrich’s pass-rusher rotation.

The Jets’ defensive coaches surely are devastated that Huff is gone.

Ulbrich called Huff a “curveball” in their defense because of his speed off the edge that complemented power rushers Jermaine Johnson and John Franklin-Myers.

“I would absolutely hate to lose him,” Ulbrich said in January. “But … he’s earned every penny he’s about to make.”

Huff’s departure leaves a hole in the defense that the Jets need to hope Will McDonald, last year’s first-round pick, can fill.

There will be pressure on McDonald to replace Huff’s production this year.

As a rookie, McDonald had three sacks but he only played 19 percent of the defensive snaps.

The Jets may need to add another edge rusher, too.

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Ulbrich and coach Robert Saleh like to deploy a deep rotation at edge rusher to keep players fresh. Right now, they have Johnson, Franklin-Myers, McDonald and Micheal Clemons.

Huff was a success story for the front office and coaching staff.

He was a raw prospect when the Jets signed him in 2020, and he progressively got better before his breakout season in 2023.

He recorded 68 quarterback pressures in 312 pass rushes. His sack rate of 3.2 percent ranked sixth in the NFL.

Prior to 2023, Huff only had 7.5 career sacks over three seasons.

“The memories I made in MetLife and in the city of New York will be cherished forever,” Huff said Monday in a post on X. “The constant words of encouragement from fans from the day I signed as an undrafted free agent to my last snap as a Jet kept me going through the good and bad times. … It’s been fun.”

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The question now is whether general manager Joe Douglas should have signed Huff before last season when his price tag would have been much lower.

The Jets used a second-round tender ($4.3 million) on Huff last year instead of giving him a long-term contract.

The Jets could have revisited a long-term deal before or during last season, though.

There were also chances to trade Huff last year instead of letting him walk as a free agent, although the Jets should receive a compensatory pick for Huff next year.

This was not the start to free agency the Jets fans hoped for. Huff was far and away the top free agent the Jets had on their team. Now, he is an Eagle.