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Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links …
5. My biggest concern about the Eagles before this transaction was at edge rusher. I wasn’t expecting Huff to be a contributing member of the team, so this does not make it worse, but it brings to the spotlight the Eagles’ edge rusher group. Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt are key — they’re the top two edge rushers, they’re homegrown players, and they can both take another step in development. Azeez Ojulari was the Eagles’ biggest signing this offseason. They’ll try to see if Josh Uche can reclaim his double-digit sack form. But I don’t think the Eagles are finished at this spot. There are potential ring-chasing veterans available, such as Za’Darius Smith and Von Miller. Could the Eagles try to pull off a high-profile trade for Travon Walker? I don’t think the Eagles are finished.
Eagles officially announce Bryce Huff trade to 49ers [UPDATE] – BGN
UPDATE: We finally have details on the pick! Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports that the Eagles will receive “a 2026 conditional fifth-round pick that can turn into a fourth-round pick [with] conditions tied to Huff’s performance.” We’ll see if we can find out exactly what those conditions are. For now, a 2026 fifth-round pick seems like a pretty decent return for a player who had become unplayable in this defense. The Eagles are now projected to own 13 picks in next year’s draft:
A lot of things went right for the Eagles defense last year as it finished the season number one overall. There were plenty of questions going into the season. Aside from Bryce Huff, the Eagles got a lot of good answers. The defense lost some key players this offseason so that means new questions for the 2025 season. How will the team replace the 14 sacks by edge rushers that are now gone (Sweat, Huff, BG)? We can talk about Jalyx Hunt taking a big step forward. The front office thinks Azeez Ojulari and Josh Uche can do their part. But the real key will be Nolan Smith. Smith made a massive leap from his rookie season to 2024. He went from seldom-used role player to impact defender. He was a force in the postseason. Smith finished the regular season with 6.5 sacks, 11 QB hits and 8 TFLs. He added 4 sacks, 4 TFLs and 3 QB hits in the playoffs. Not bad for a guy that some wanted to label a bust because of his slow start. Some might wonder if Smith can play like that for a whole year. I think he absolutely can. Smith fell to pick 30 in 2023, but there was some discussion of him possibly being a Top 10 pick. He lacked ideal size, but was a freak athlete.
2025 NFL offseason trade grades: Who won Bryce Huff trade? – ESPN
Critically, the 49ers are not paying full price. As Field Yates laid out, the 49ers will pay Huff just under $8 million this year after he restructured his deal ahead of this trade. That, plus a Day 3 draft pick, seems like a worthwhile risk for a team with Super Bowl aspirations and a pass-rush need. On the other hand, the Eagles clearly do not feel the same about Huff. They have a bevy of alternatives to play opposite Nolan Smith Jr., from veterans who have flashed in the past (Azeez Ojulari and Joshua Uche) to a young player with promise (Jalyx Hunt). Philadelphia isn’t walking away with a huge haul, but if Huff was not a lock to be active on Sundays, then saving a few million and getting a draft pick is a pretty good outcome.
49ers draft compensation revealed for the Bryce Huff trade – Niners Nation
The fifth-round pick can turn into a fourth-rounder depending on various performance benchmarks, so the Eagles could get a bump in compensation if Huff plays like the 49ers hope he will. San Francisco is notably expected to have compensatory picks in next year’s draft after losing quite a haul of free agents this offseason. Those selections could hover around the fourth or fifth round, so they will likely have extra assets in either of those rounds to trade. Huff will now be tasked to do what he does best in Robert Saleh’s scheme: rush the passer. During his breakout 2023 campaign, Huff only played in 42 percent of the defensive snaps. But, he was a mainstay on third downs and racked up 10.5 sacks to go with 68 pressures.
Why didn’t Bryce Huff work out with the Eagles? – The Gold Standard
Why didn’t Bryce Huff work out with the Eagles?The San Francisco 49ers are trading for Bryce Huff, who is coming off a terrible year with the Philadelphia Eagles. Why didn’t it work out there, and can it work out with Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco? Brandon Lee Gowton of Bleeding Green Nation joins us to break it down!
The Eagles did a lot of things right last year. They finally got the coaching right as Vic Fangio and Kellen Moore were excellent coordinators. The Saquon Barkley and Zack Baun moves were outstanding. And they have stepped up their drafting since the days they were picking Jalen Reagor and J.J. Arcega-Whiteside over guys like Justin Jefferson and D.K. Metcalf. But they have also done a lot of things wrong. A lot. And they paddle through those mistakes by pushing out a ridiculous amount of money and reloading the clip. That is the Roseman way. Watching the Eagles win the Super Bowl makes everyone think a little differently about what the correct path is to get there. When you lay everything out on the table, it becomes easier to see that the Eagles make a lot of mistakes, but their willingness to keep swinging by borrowing extra hacks from future seasons affords them a lot of forgiveness. The Cowboys get no forgiveness. Until they win the big prize, anything they do will always be seen as not good enough.
5 questions for another glimpse at Eagles’ 2025 OTAs – NBCSP
2. What will Vic have to say? Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio will speak to reporters around noon on Tuesday. It’ll be his first press conference since his defense dominated in Super Bowl LIX. So maybe there will be a few questions about that dominant performance, the departures in free agency and more. The good news with Fangio is that he’s always honest and to the point. So if you have questions about any of the position battles on defense or where Jihaad Campbell might fit or basically anything else, we can count on Fangio to tell the truth.
Saquon Barkley on Eagles chasing back-to-back Super Bowls: ‘We know the recipe’ – NFL.com
The Philadelphia Eagles feel no Super Bowl hangover. In the quest for back-to-back Lombardi Trophies, Saquon Barkley said the Philly OTAs have been just as spirited as last year when they had a lot to prove. This time around, they know what it takes to concoct a winning formula. “It’s been great,” Barkley said Monday on NFL Network’s The Insiders. “We’ve got guys coming in and buying in, training really hard, competing at a high level. The young guys that we drafted and the people we brought in, they’re buying into the culture right from the beginning. The best way I can answer that question is success is not an accident. We know the recipe. We know what it takes. We can’t skip any steps to get to where we want to get to. Last OTAs, it was the same thing, and we already know how training camp’s gonna be and we know how it’s gonna be during the season. We know the recipe, and we just got to stick to it and a little bit of luck when that comes in with staying healthy. We do that, with the talent that we have and the coaches that we have, we’ll be in a good position.”
Eagles rookie NFL player comparisons: OT Cameron Williams – PhillyVoice
Williams only had 16 career starts in college, and he played exclusively at RT. He has prototype size at 6’6, 317, with 34 1/2” arms, and massive 11 3/8” hands. He’s a raw “traits” prospect who is going to need significant development in the NFL. The player Williams reminds me of is the Chiefs’ Jawaan Taylor. Williams and Taylor are built similarly. Taylor’s measurables are from the 2019 Combine, not his current listed weight of 330 pounds.
Better or worse in 2025? New York Giants edge defenders – Big Blue View
Of course, Carter has to be the player the Giants drafted him to be for the edge group — and the defense as a whole — to look as impressive on the field as it does on paper. Pro Football Focus ranked both Burns and Carter among the league top 32 edge defenders. In putting Carter at No. 20, PFF wrote: Projecting rookie production is always tricky. However, Carter led the FBS in PFF pass-rush grade (92.4) and total pressures (66), and he also ranked in the top five in pass-rush win rate (22.6%). He has all the tools to make an immediate impact at the NFL level. Carter has drawn comparisons to fellow Penn State alum Micah Parsons, who was elite as a rookie in 2021. Given his potential, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Carter crack the top 15 on this list next year. Media should get to speak with Bowen on Thursday. We will try to get more clarity on what the defensive coordinator is learning about Carter and how he might maximize snaps played for all three edge defenders at that time.
With Frank Ragnow retiring, what’s next for the Lions? – Pride Of Detroit
Following the offseason loss of Kevin Zeitler in free agency, the expectation was that two starting positions would be up for grabs: left guard and right guard. With the sudden retirement of Ragnow, the entirety of the interior is a question mark for the Lions. Detroit has multiple in-house solutions, but none of them are slam-dunk cases. Graham Glasgow is the obvious candidate to take Ragnow’s spot, having played center multiple times as a starter and in relief. Other centers on the roster include Kingsley Eguakun and Michael Niese, neither of whom should be relied upon to start. The dark horse candidate is rookie Tate Ratledge. Ratledge had no college experience at center, but post-draft, there was the expectation that he would get cross-trained at center. With Ragnow missing OTAs, it was Ratledge repping as the first-team center. Is this simple cross-training, or is center Ratledge’s position of the future? Athletically, Ratledge is an elite candidate at center—like Ragnow was—but at 6-foot-6, he is almost too tall for a center. Thankfully, quarterback Jared Goff is on the taller end of quarterbacks (6-foot-4), so struggling to see over his offensive line should not matter too greatly.
JJ McCarthy will make or break the Vikings – SB Nation
RJ: The Minnesota Vikings were one of the most impressive stories of last season and rightfully so given that they won 14 games with Sam Darnold starting at quarterback. It made sense for Minnesota to let Darnold walk in free agency to the Seattle Seahawks, especially with last year’s first-round draft pick waiting in the wings in J.J. McCarthy. It obviously feels like forever ago now, but the Vikings took McCarthy at 10th overall in the draft coming off of him helping the Michigan Wolverines win the National Championship. Minnesota head coach Kevin O’Connell has developed a reputation to suggest he can succeed with a variety of options at quarterback, Darnold is proof of that, but so much about the Vikings and the NFC North in general and therefore the NFL at large rests on what kind of player McCarthy is as a professional. The Vikings are a team who we all believe can contend in different ways. McCarthy is either going to amplify that notion or take some of the steam out of it. He is arguably the biggest what-if across the entire NFL.
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