SANTA CLARA – The 49ers try, try, and try again to unearth a top-tier defensive end to pair with Nick Bosa. It’s an annual exercise, well-intentioned and definitely warranted. Yet the search resumes.
Now it’s Bryce Huff who is expected to join top draft pick Mykel Williams as this season’s Bosa Boosters. The 49ers announce Monday a trade with Philadelphia for Huff, in exchange for a mid-round draft pick, as first reported Friday.
Huff, 27, is a pass-rush specialist whose New York Jets tenure blossomed under coach Robert Saleh in 2023, before Huff bombed last season for the Super Bowl-champion Eagles. The 49ers know all about underachieving defensive ends and they can only hope Huff is an exception.
Bosa, 27, gets introduced annually to new linemen who supposedly will unlock his maximum production. Each summer, his meet-and-greets extend into him sharing pass-rush techniques developed with big brother and new Buffalo Bill Joey Bosa.
Dee Ford was Nick Bosa’s first and most renowned partner on the 49ers, only to vanish due to injury after Bosa won 2019 Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. When Bosa won Defensive Player of the Year honors two seasons ago, he compiled a league-leading 18 ½ sacks … while fellow starter Samson Ebukam had five sacks, then left to join the Indianapolis Colts.
With Saleh reprising his 2017-20 role as the 49ers’ defensive coordinator, Bosa and his new linemates could compensate for the revamped defense’s growing pains.
The base front likely will deploy Bosa with Williams as edge setters with rookie Alfred Collins and Jordan Elliott on the interior. A pass-rushing foursome could see Bosa and Huff line up in the Wide-9 scheme, while Yetur Gross-Matos and Williams slide inside (with the versatility that was trumpeted on draft day) and Yetur Gross-Matos does the same.
Sam Okuayinonu, Robert Beal Jr., Jonathan Garvin and Tarron Jackson are the other defensive ends on this revamped roster.
Bosa is two years into a $34 million-per-year contract that ranks fourth among NFL edge rushers. As for Huff’s 2025 paycheck, the Eagles are handling $9 million of his salary and the 49ers $8 million, per ESPN.
Even before Bosa and ever since their 2017 takeover, coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch have gone on annual hunts for defensive ends. The before-Bosa list: Solomon Thomas, Elvis Dumervil, Cassius Marsh, Leger Douzable, Eli Harold, Pita Taumoepenu, and Ronald Blair, the latter of whom is now a 49ers quality control coach.
Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Thomas, first-round draft picks from 2015-2017, all influenced Bosa’s initial growth before they were ushered out of town – Buckner in 2020 for Indianapolis, Thomas in 2021 for Las Vegas, and Armstead last year for Jacksonville.
Let’s rank acquisitions of 11 defensive ends since 2019 and how they paired with Bosa:
1. DEE FORD (2019-21)
Ford’s explosive burst made an ideal match with Bosa, but his health didn’t cooperate. The Chiefs had franchise-tagged Ford before trading him to the 49ers for a second-round pick, six weeks before Bosa was drafted. Ford scored a huge contract upon arrival (five years, $87.5 million), and he pocketed $46 million of that for 9 ½ sacks and 10 quarterback hits in 18 regular-season games (two starts), plus one sack in the 2019 team’s three playoff games. In 2019, he missed five games and delivered 6 ½ sacks. He played just one game in 2020 and the first six of 2021 before back and neck issues ended his career.
2. SAMSON EBUKAM (2021-22)
After four years with the Rams, Ebukam defected and served as a two-year starter opposite Bosa. Ebukam had just 9 ½ sacks while starting 26 of 32 regular-season games, and that is as many sacks as he had in 2023, his first season in Indianapolis. He missed 2024 with a torn Achilles. He delivered three sacks in six playoff starts for the 49ers, highlighted by a third-down sack of Dallas’ Dak Prescott in a NFC divisional-playoff win that also saw Ebukam block a point-after try.
3. ARDEN KEY (2021)
Key, waived by the Raiders after three seasons, turned his career around with the 49ers, who flexed him as an interior rusher on passing downs. He had 6 ½ sacks and appeared in every game, though he didn’t touch a quarterback through three playoff games. He’s entering his third year with the Titans after playing for the 2022 Jaguars.
4. CHARLES OMENIHU (2021-22)
Acquired in a 2021 deadline trade from Houston, he had no sacks in nine games as a Niner that year. He returned in 2022 as a valued contributor with 4 ½ regular-season sacks, then had two sacks in a wild-card win over Seattle. He played the past two years with the Kansas City Chiefs, tearing an ACL in the 2023 team’s AFC Championship win before sitting out their Super Bowl comeback over the 49ers. He re-signed with the Chiefs in March (one year, $7 million).
5. LEONARD FLOYD (2024)
The 32-year-old veteran proved as durable as expected, making 17 starts and totaling 8 ½ sacks; Bosa had a team-high nine sacks in 14 games. Floyd wasn’t invited back to finish out his two-year contract and got cut in March with an $8.6 million hit on the 2025 salary cap.
6. CHASE YOUNG (2023)
The biggest pass-tandem tease came on Nov. 12, 2023. It was Young’s 49ers debut after a trade-deadline deal with Washington: He and Bosa combined on a fumble-forcing sack in Jacksonville to spark a 34-3 victory, snap a three-game losing streak, and ignite a Super Bowl run. But the reunion of former Ohio State teammates was short-lived. Young had two sacks over the next 10 games, drew criticism for his effort in the NFC Championship Game, then rebounded with a sack in the Super Bowl. He exited in free agency for New Orleans and underwent neck surgery, but played all 17 games last year (5 1/2 sacks).
7. KERRY HYDER (2020, 2022-23)
Hyder led the 2020 49ers with a career-high 8 ½ sacks and 18 quarterback hits as their top pass rusher after Bosa sustained a season-ending knee injury in Week 2. Hyder left for the Seahawks in 2021, but returned to post one sack for the 49ers in 2022 and then played four games in 2023 before getting cut.
8. JORDAN WILLIS (2021-23)
Acquired from the Jets at the 2020 trade deadline for a sixth-round pick, Willis had a twisted tenure with the Niners. The highlight came when he blocked a punt that triggered the 2021 49ers’ divisional-round comeback at Green Bay. Otherwise, a strip sack in the 2022 regular-season finale may have highlighted his 7 ½ sacks in 26 games (none in six playoff games). He served a six-game PED suspension to delay his 2021 season.
9. YETUR GROSS-MATOS (2024-present)
His three-sack breakout Dec. 8 against Chicago was roundly celebrated by teammates, in their only win over the season’s final two months. It was a nice payoff to a rough season hindered by a knee injury in the preseason finale at Las Vegas. Gross-Matos, 27, had just four sacks in 11 games but still offers the versatility desired in the 49ers’ defensive front. He had 13 total sacks in his previous four years in Carolina.
10. DRAKE JACKSON (2022-24)
His three sacks in the 2023 opening win at Pittsburgh stoked visions of the ultimate tag-team partner with Bosa, as that three-sack output matched Jackson’s 2022 rookie total as the 49ers’ top draft pick (second round). Jackson got shelved after eight games because of a quadriceps/knee injury that required surgery and extensive rehabilitation before the 49ers cut ties with him last month.
11. RANDY GREGORY (2023)
The 49ers culled Gregory from the Denver Broncos’ doghouse with an October trade. He had 2 ½ sacks in 12 games before delivering no sacks and no quarterback hits in the three playoff games, including 27 snaps in the Super Bowl loss. He signed last April with Tampa Bay but was a no-show and got released in August, then did not play elsewhere last season.
***
This is how the 49ers’ aforementioned trio of Armstead, Buckner and Thomas contributed alongside Bosa:
ARIK ARMSTEAD (2015-23)
Related Articles
49ers mailbag: Is veteran help needed at wide receiver, safety amid injuries?
Report: 49ers trading for Eagles pass rusher Bryce Huff to reunite with Robert Saleh
49ers expand reach in European soccer, buy majority stake of Glasgow club Rangers
49ers listened to pessimists and will be better for it
Meet the 2025 49ers — with all the new faces, it might take a while
Armstead, the 17th overall pick in 2015 under then-general manager Trent Baalke, fluctuated between defensive end and defensive tackle in an esteemed tenure that definitely complemented Bosa’s growth. Armstead had a career-best 10 sacks in 2019 while starting every game. He was released a year ago, and although he delivered just two sacks with the 2024 Jaguars, he won the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year award.
DeFOREST BUCKNER (2016-20)
Buckner made AP second-team All-Pro in his fourth season, which coincided with Bosa’s rookie year. But that was their lone season together. Buckner was traded to Indianapolis as the Colts met his asking price for a new contract, and the 49ers used their first-round pick on Javon Kinlaw, who missed 26 games his first three seasons.
SOLOMON THOMAS (2017-21)
The 49ers wrestled with whether to deploy Thomas on the interior or as a defensive end, but regardless of that positional mystery, he and Bosa basically only played together in 2019, as both sustained season-ending knee injuries in Week 2 of 2020. That proved Thomas’ final game with the 49ers, who picked him No. 3 overall in 2017 with visions of him being an Aaron Donald-type powerhouse on the inside.
* * *
After Bosa and Thomas suffered ACL tears in Week 2, the 49ers brought in Dion Jordan and Ziggy Ansah. Jordan had three sacks and five quarterback hits in 13 games (one start) in the final stop of a troubled career that began as the 2013 draft’s No. 3 overall pick with Miami. Ansah played just 34 snaps in 1 ½ games before tearing a biceps, thus ending a career that began as the 2015 draft’s No. 5 overall pick by Detroit.