The San Francisco 49ers seemed to nail it with the trade for pass rusher Bryce Huff, as their friendly scheme got him back on track after a nightmare 2024 season where nothing went right. 49ers fans won't get to see what Huff's second act will look like, as he decided to call it a career in a stunning reversal of expectations.
Huff announced his retirement from the NFL after just six seasons on Instagram. Oddly enough, Huff's post-football life is so bizarre no one could have predicted it, as he will transition into an engineering career to help build safety infrastructure for lithium batteries.
Huff's rapid rise from an undrafted free agent from a non-Power 4 school to someone who has been a key player of a handful of some of the best defenses in the league shows the type of athleticism and work ethic he managed to combine with one another.
49ers EDGE Bryce Huff announces retirement at just 27
Huff came to the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2020. While his lack of great run defense kept him in a limited role, his speed and pass rushing excellence forced Robert Saleh to give him a chance. After recording 10 sacks in the 2023 season, Huff signed a three-year, $51 million contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Huff struggled mightily, recording just 13 tackles and 2.5 sacks before being taken out of the rotation. He ended up in San Francisco after Saleh saw an opportunity to star once again with someone who could thrive in his very specific scheme.
After coming to San Francisco, Huff managed to tally 30 tackles, four sacks, and enough pressures to make life hard on opposing quarterbacks. Huff's 74.3 PFF pass rush grade shows that Saleh knows how to get the most out of someone with his speed on the outside.
The 49ers plan to go into 2026 with Nick Bosa back healthy and No. 11 overall pick Mykel Williams as the starting defensive ends, but their historic poor luck with injuries and the so-so depth before the Huff retirement make the need for some depth in this area even more important.
Huff has a career that is much better than 99 percent of undrafted free agents out there, and he chose to bring it to an end on his own terms rather than getting pushed out of his league when his play dipped.