Eagles Blasted for ‘Mistake’ Trading Disgruntled $51 Million Edge Rusher
One thing the Philadelphia Eagles don’t have — at least not through 2 games — is an elite edge rusher.
Which is kind of hard to believe. Because just one year ago the Eagles had at least 2 players who may have fallen in that category in Josh Sweat and Bryce Huff, who they signed to a 3-year, $51.1 million free agent contract in March 2024.
Sweat left to the Arizona Cardinals on a 4-year, $76.4 million free agent contract after leading the Eagles in sacks and winning a Super Bowl.
Huff spent one miserable season with the Eagles and was a healthy scratch in the Super Bowl before he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for a conditional 2026 fifth round pick.
Now, the Eagles are being called out for moving too quickly to trade Huff, who made it clear how unhappy he was playing for defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in Philly.
“The Eagles made a mistake,” NFL Network’s Brian Baldinger said. “He’s not a linebacker. He’s a pass rush specialist. He’s gotta put his hand in the dirt. He’s not an outside linebacker like they wanted him to be in Philadelphia … (49ers defensive coordinator) Robert Saleh knows what Huff is. He closed the game out against the Saints like Nick Bosa did the game before. Nick has somebody who can come off the edge opposite of him right now. Huff is better than anybody they had over there at DE the last couple of years.“
Huff Has Looked Sharp With 49ers
Huff has looked like the player he was with the Jets in the first 4 years of his career, when Saleh was his head coach, and he closed out a win over the New Orleans Saints in Week 2 with a strip sack in the fourth quarter.
Through 2 games, Pro Football Focus sees Huff playing like one of the NFL’s very best at his position. His 81.3 overall grade from PFF has him at 15th out of a possible 147 players at his position and his 6 QB pressures are also among the NFL leaders.
It’s a far cry from the player who looked lost in Fangio’s system in Philly and finished with 2.5 sacks and 4 QB hits in 2024 while missing 5 games due to wrist surgery. That was just one year after Huff had career highs of 10.0 sacks and 21 QB hits with the Jets — numbers that landed him his monster deal in Philly.
Huff Took Potshots At Philly Following Trade
After his trade, Huff sounded off on his time the Eagles during an interview with The SFNiners YouTube Channel.
“There’s a plethora of things that went down,” Huff said. “I don’t wanna get into specifics. Being in the league for five years, I kinda knew what it felt like for me to be in a good situation. I gotta look out for myself and do what I think is best. I kind of knew where it was headed fairly early on into the season, probably even training camp if I’m being honest. So when everything popped off, it was just like ‘Yeah, all right let’s get to work.’ “
DJ Moore Makes It Clear He Wants More Targets: ‘Do I Want Mine? Of Course’
After last Sunday’s loss to the Detroit Lions, everybody in the Chicago Bears locker room had good reason to be disappointed, and that includes wide receiver DJ Moore. Not only was Moore, like the rest of his 52 teammates and every single member of the coaching staff, on the wrong end of a 31-point tail-whooping, but in the loss, Moore posted his eighth straight game with under 100 receiving yards, the longest such stretch in his time with the Bears.
At this point, DJ Moore’s frustration in Chicago has been well-documented and is a matter of public record. Moore was vocal about not wanting the Bears to move on from Justin Fields prior to the 2024 NFL Draft, which to be fair, was understandable considering the Bears closed the 2023 season on a high note and Moore was coming off of the best statistical season of his career.
He infamously walked off the field mid-play last season, though that was a story that was slightly overblown, especially considering numerous Bears seemed to check out from the 2024 season early anyways. And now as the Bears find themselves in an early 0-2 hole, the frustrations are starting to boil over again, this time related to Moore’s role within the offense.
“Do I want mine? Of course. Everybody wants their 100-yard game,” Moore said earlier in the week, per Gene Chamberlain of Sports Illustrated. But here is where Moore’s comment does take a turn. This wasn’t the prototypical
“At the same time, whoever’s going off, we’ve just gotta feed off their energy. When your number gets called, you’ve just gotta do it. His (Rome Odunze’s) number was called a lot and he made the plays when it was there,” Moore continued. Rome Odunze
Odunze set career highs with 7 receptions, 128 yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 2, and through two weeks of the season, the second-year wideout is on pace — assuming he plays all 17 games — to have the second-most receptions (110) and third-most receiving yards (1,402) in a single season in Bears history.
“Just reflecting on this last game that he had, over 120 (yards)? Just gotta keep building on top of that,” Moore added. “This is Year 2 for him and he’s already started off like that. Only can start from there and go up.”
It’s a welcome sign that Rome Odunze is coming into his own. Assuming he can keep up this pace, he will be well-worth the 9th overall pick that the Bears used on him in the 2024 NFL Draft. But too much Odunze and not enough DJ Moore is a problem. For the Bears to be at their best, they need to maximize what Moore can bring to the table.
How Can The Bears Get More Out Of DJ Moore?
Well, to answer that question, a good place to start would be this week at Soldier Field, when the Dallas Cowboys come to town just one week after allowing 450 yards and three touchdowns through the air to Russell Wilson and the New York Giants. That’s right… 36-year-old Russ had the fourth-most passing yards in a single game in New York Giants history last week, and both Malik Nabers (167 receiving yards) and Wan’Dale Robinson (142 yards) were both eating.
There’s no reason why both DJ Moore and Rome Odunze shouldn’t eat plenty on Sunday in Matt Eberflus’ return to Chicago. It’s been lost in the shuffle of an 0-2 start, but the Bears offense
DJ Moore needs to be involved early and often, and that doesn’t mean as a running back, even though D’Andre Swift may not be able to go against Dallas. Even if Rome Odunze has overtaken the WR1 role in the Bears offense — and even if DJ Moore is willing to help Odunze solidify himself as such — Moore is too talented to become an afterthought.
