The biggest offseason decision for the New York Jets is what to do with defensive lineman Bryce Huff.
Huff is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in 2024 for the first time in his professional career. One thing has been made abundantly clear, Huff told Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic that “there will be no [hometown] discount” for the Jets.
Huff Is the Perfect Touchy-Feely Jets Story
The Jets’ scouting department deserves a huge raise for finding Huff as an undrafted free agent back in 2020.
Bryce Huff said “there will be no discount” for the #Jets because he feels like he’s earned a payday.
— Zack Rosenblatt (@ZackBlatt) January 7, 2024
That was in the middle of COVID and the lack of attention to detail during that time could have contributed to Huff slipping through the cracks.
He just completed his fourth professional season and it was the best of his career. Huff finished with 10 sacks, the first double-digit sack season of his career.
In his four years, Huff registered 43 quarterback hits, over 65 tackles, and 17.5 sacks (including the 10 this year).
By every definition of the word, Huff is a homegrown talent. He entered the league with humble beginnings as a UDFA and the team developed him into one of the top pass rushers in the league from a pressure rate perspective.
He is 25 years old and he will turn 26 before the start of the 2024 season.
This season Huff played out the $4.3 million one-year restricted free-agent tender. Prior to that, he made $2.3 million over the first three years of his career on a UDFA contract.
Huff is projected to receive a massive pay raise this offseason from the Jets or one of the other 31 NFL teams.
According to Spotrac’s calculated market value, Huff is expected to sign a contract this offseason that pays him $9.2 million annually.
The Jets Might Not Be Able to Bring Huff Back
Ahead of the Week 18 regular-season finale between the Jets and the New England Patriots, Huff hinted at where he was leaning.
Huff told Rich Cimini of ESPN in an exclusive 1-on-1 conversation that he “wants to be a full-time player, not just a pass-rushing specialist.”
“I definitely want to be able find a scheme that sees me as an every-down player,” Huff told ESPN. “It gives me the opportunity to show that I can be a top-tier edge in this league in the run and in the pass. So that’s definitely something I’m going to be looking for.”
That hasn’t been the case with the Jets.
Huff has only started seven games in his NFL career and it all came during the injury-riddled 2021 season. That year he appeared in 51% of the defensive snaps.
That would prove to be the outlier during his time with the Jets to date. In the other three seasons, Huff has appeared in 30%, 20%, and 42% of the defensive snaps.
The Jets have categorized him as a rotational player who mainly has suited up on third downs as a pass rush specialist. Even the Jets’ best player on the defensive line, Quinnen Williams, only played in 69% of the defensive snaps.
The moral of the story is if Huff stays in New York there will always be a ceiling to his playing time here because of the philosophy of the coaching staff and rotating defensive linemen to keep them fresh.
#Jets DL Bryce Huff might have hinted at where he’s leaning heading into free agency to Rich Cimini of ESPN:
"I definitely want to be able find a scheme that sees me as an every-down player," he told ESPN. "It gives me the opportunity to show that I can be a top-tier edge in… pic.twitter.com/nBwTUF906x
— Paul Andrew Esden Jr (@BoyGreen25) January 7, 2024
Huff did tell Cimini that he would like to stay with the Jets and re-sign. However, he finished the conversation by saying, “I feel like I still need to go wherever’s best for me personally, just because of how much work I put in. I feel like I owe it to myself to really reach my full potential as far as playing time and really reaching for (statistical) goals.”
