Bryce Huff is paid to rush the passer. Through four games in a Philadelphia Eagles uniform, Huff hasn’t done that.
Huff struggled again in Sunday’s loss to the Tampa Bay Pirates, finishing with no sacks and no quarterback hits again. He finished with pressure, but had a 4.0% pressure — a very low percentage for a player paid like Huff.
Although Huff has struggled to get to the quarterback, Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio believes he is becoming a more complete player. Even if the statistics don’t show it.
“I think he’s getting better. When I say getting better against the run, that’s something he hasn’t really been asked to do in the past,” Fangio said. “And that’s been an adjustment for him. I see some improvement there. We don’t ask him to fall very often, but when he does, I see some improvement there.
“So he’s working hard on it. He’s as frustrated with it as any of us, but confident he’ll get it going.”
Perhaps the Eagles making Huff a more complete passer affected his ability to rush the passer. Huff does not have a sack or a quarterback hit through four games, and has just three pressures (4.4% pressure rate). He has played just 43% of the snaps on the season, in line with the snap percentage he played on Sunday.
The issue with Huff goes back to the Eagles paying him $17 million a season to rush the passer. Huff isn’t even on the stat sheet there, a major reason why the Eagles are 30th in the NFL in sack rate (4.2%) and 17th in strike rate (34.5%). Of the Eagles 50 pressures, Huff has only three.
The Eagles are trying to get Huff on the field more, instead of being a situational player. Huff had 16.75% of his rush defense snaps faced as a result of a tackle, by far a season high.
Fangio sees the improvement.
“Obviously, in his past, passing was his forte. And that was number one for us,” Fangio said. “And then see if we can develop him in the other areas as well, so he can play more.”
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