If the New York Giants are going to make any big purchases in free agency doing so on fairly young, ascending players who could fill areas of need seems like a sensible approach.
Bryce Huff of the crosstown New York Jets, entering his age 26 season and coming a career-best 10.0 sack season, appears to be such a player. And adding pass rush is a Giant need we have been alluding to since last offseason, exacerbated currently by a second straight injury-riddled season for Azeez Ojulari and the midseason trade of Leonard Williams to the Seattle Seahawks.
Despite blitzing the second-most of any NFL team in 2023 under the direction of former defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, the Giants were in the bottom half of the league in pressure percentage. Clearly, they need more players who can win 1-on-1 matchups and affect opposing quarterbacks.
Huff can do that.
In 2023, the only edge defender more successful on a per-rush basis than Huff was Micah Parsons, superstar edge defender for the Dallas Cowboys. Per Pro Football Focus, Huff’s 22.9% win rate on pass rushes was second to Parsons’ 24.9%. Huff’s pressure rate of 12.2% was second to Parsons’ 12.4% pressure rate.
In 2022, Huff led all edge defenders with a pass rush win percentage of 25.6. His 12.2% pressure rate was second to Josh Uche of the Philadelphia Eagles, who posted a 12.8% pressure rate.
Pro Football Focus ranks Huff as its No. 18 free agent and projects a three-year, $50 million ($16.67 annually) with $35 million guaranteed.
PFF says:
Huff set out to prove that his absurd pass-rushing efficiency in 2022 wasn’t an aberration, and he did just that in 2023 with a crazy high pass-rush win rate once again. Still, there’s a reason the team that developed the former undrafted free agent and saw him every day didn’t like to deploy him against the run and hasn’t made much of an effort on an extension. This will be a nuanced negotiation for a designated pass-rusher type. Fortunately, that’s the richest facet to excel in for an edge defender. Former Baltimore Raven and Chicago Bears pass rush specialist Pernell McPhee comes to mind as a comparable player, as does Huff’s current teammate Carl Lawson.
Spotrac projects a somewhat lower market value for Huff of four years, $36.856 million ($9.2 million annually).
Why would the Jets let a relatively young impact player like this get away? Especially one who is such a great story for them, having gone undrafted out of Memphis, signing with the Jets as an undrafted free agent and working his way into becoming one of the league’s best pass rushers?
The Jets are facing a serious salary cap crunch. As of this writing, Over The Cap lists the Jets with only $1.667 million in cap space. As good as he is at pressuring quarterbacks, Huff has generally played a limited pass-rush only role, and the Jets have edge rusher Will McDonald IV, the No. 15 overall pick in last year’s draft, clamoring for a bigger role. McDonald played just 184 defensive snaps last season.
Rich Cimini of ESPN calls handling the cap crisis “a global decision for a front office under intense scrutiny from ownership and fans.”
Of the Huff decision in particular, Cimini writes:
Without a doubt, Huff is the Jets’ most important free agent to be. The most compelling, too. In four years, he went from an unknown to leading the league in quarterback pressure percentage (21.8%) for edge rushers, slightly ahead of Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons (20.8%). The natural inclination is to say, “Sign him at all costs!” But that isn’t how the Jets view the situation, which ultimately could lead to them losing him on the open market.
Huff played only 42% of the defensive snaps last season — no starts — and his possible replacement already is on the roster, Will McDonald IV, their 2023 first-round pick. With one of the highest-paid defenses, and with owner Woody Johnson demanding major improvement from the offense, can the Jets afford to keep Huff? Or can they afford to let him go somewhere else?
“I would absolutely hate to lose him,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said, “but he’s a guy that has earned every penny that he’s about to make.”
His value is difficult to project because of his unique career trajectory and relatively small role, but one player comparison is Carl Granderson, who signed a four-year, $52 million extension ($22 million fully guaranteed) with the New Orleans Saints in September. Huff’s first four seasons also compare favorably to Carl Lawson, who received a three-year, $45 million contract ($30 million fully guaranteed) from the Jets in 2021.
Huff is a generally poor run defender. In four seasons with the Jets, he graded above the 40s only once for a full season — a 64.9 run defense grade in just 16 run defense snaps in 2022. The Jets have clearly tried not to have Huff on the field in obvious running situations. The 134 run defense snaps Huff played in 2023 were a career high.
New defensive coordinator Shane Bowen ran defenses in Tennessee the past two seasons that were among the best in the league defending the run. Could you argue then that Huff might not be a perfect fit for Bowen?
Perhaps, but the pass rush impact is undeniable.
If the Jets let Huff hit the open market, should the Giants be at the front of the line trying to secure his services?
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