SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — Bryce Huff went into the offseason expecting a trade after failing to produce in a new role in his one year in Philadelphia after signing a lucrative contract as a free agent.
Ending up in San Francisco seems to be a perfect fit.
After being a proverbial square peg in a round hole with the Eagles when he was used as a standup outside linebacker instead of a pass rusher off the edge, Huff has reunited with his former coach Robert Saleh in a scheme that caters to his strength of being able to get off the ball quickly and disrupt opposing quarterbacks.
“I learned a lot about myself throughout that experience,” Huff said Wednesday about his season with the Eagles. “It just didn’t work out at the end of the day. So you live and you learn. All I focus on is what I’m doing right now and that’s being a 49er and doing everything I can to help this team win.”
The Niners are counting on Huff to be able to do just that, believing that he can be the bookend speed rusher across from star Nick Bosa that the team has been seeking ever since a back injury sidelined Dee Ford after he helped the team reach the Super Bowl in 2019.
Ford had 6 1/2 sacks in 11 games that season when Saleh was defensive coordinator but played only seven games the next two seasons because of the injuries, leaving a void in the defense that the 49ers believe Huff can fill.
“He affects the quarterback,” coach Kyle Shanahan said. "When you talk about just getting off the ball and how fast he does it. He will be our best get off the ball guy we’ve had since Dee Ford. So in terms of that, it’s good to beat tackles that way, but also widens tackles to help with the inside pass rush and things like that and he affects the quarterback.”
The Niners got Huff on the cheap a year after he signed a $51.1 million, three-year deal with Philadelphia. San Francisco traded a conditional fifth-round pick last month for Huff and are on the hook for only $7.95 million of salary this season.
Huff had his best success as a pro under Saleh with the New York Jets, He was initially as an undrafted free agent in 2020 and began to emerge as a key player after Saleh took over as head coach the following year and turned him from a linebacker into a defensive end.
Huff put on about 20 pounds of muscle and began to show flashes quickly before breaking through with a 10-sack season in 2023 that led to the big free-agent contract.
“Speed off the edge,” Saleh said of Huff's biggest strength. “I think highly of him as a pass rusher. Thought he was very productive, obviously, with the Jets. He wins at such a high rate. A lot of times we look at pass rushers, we look as sacks and sacks are important. They end drives. It’s what ultimately gets these guys paid. But his disruption rate in getting the quarterback off the spot and the way he can do it now. ... He wins so quickly so often that coordinators have to account for his presence on the field.”
Huff had 67 pressures on just 334 pass rush snaps in 2023 for the Jets, according to Pro Football Focus, as he became one of the most efficient pass rushers in the game.
The Niners were in need of another pass rusher after cutting Leonard Floyd early in the offseason. They drafted Mykel Williams 11th overall in April but had no other defensive end who had a season with at least five sacks in the NFL. Yetur Gross-Matos is the only other edge rusher on the roster with extensive experience. Gross-Matos had four sacks last season in his first year with San Francisco.
“He’s going to bring that speed demon off the edge, that’s going require a running back or a chip opposite of Nick,” left tackle Trent Williams said.
“I think he adds that the kind of that Dee Ford effect that they had in '19 that took them to the Super Bowl. One of the reasons we had a really, really good defense for those couple years is having that guy who can actually make that quarterback step up by getting a good jump off the ball and being able to bend the edge.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa (97) talks with defensive lineman Bryce Huff (47) during practice at NFL football minicamp Tuesday, June 10, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Bryce Huff speaks during a news conference after practice at NFL football minicamp Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Bryce Huff (47) runs a drill during practice at NFL football minicamp Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
