Getting the Huff deal done

Edition #502

Good morning!

Whether you like him, hate him or are indifferent to him, the commissioner is here to stay. The Compensation Committee updated the ownership yesterday that an agreement had been reached to extend Commissioner Roger Goodell’s contract for 3 years, through March 2027. Most of the owners will be delighted, Goodell has overseen a tremendous amount of growth which equals revenue, only Jerry Jones is probably crying over his overpriced coffee this morning.

Today we’re going to focus on Bryce Huff’s contract situation, something that’s occupying more and more of my thoughts on a daily basis. What options do the Jets have? How much is it going to cost? Will it get done before the season finishes?

First, we’re heading for some quick throws.

Mecole Hardman has left the building and we could barely tell he was here at all. 28 offensive snaps through 6 weeks after signing a $4 million contract is a strange situation. For one reason or another, he never meshed with the coaching staff, and I do think that it was never the plan to sign Randall Cobb, once he was signed, combined with the emergence of Xavier Gipson, the Jets just couldn’t find a role for Hardman. He took all this in his stride, and I’m glad we could find a trade partner to send him back to a familiar team. We’ll also send a 2025 7th-round pick for the Chiefs 6th-round pick in 2025. So a small jump, but a swing and miss in free agency by Joe Douglas.

Aaron Rodgers insisted on "The Pat McAfee Show," yesterday that the goal is still to play again this year, which would be unprecedented. He did confirm he’s ahead of schedule but a lot of hurdles need to be cleared and everyone needs to sign his return off. "It's not just going to be boom, boom, boom, boom, boom," he said. "There are critical markers that I have to hit as far as single-leg strength and being able to do heel raises and being able to do explosive movements. And these are all progressions that take time." - He’s not close to returning and wouldn’t put a timetable on it, but can I see Aaron returning for a potential playoff push? Absolutely.

The frustrating thing about a bye week is the Jets are not obliged to divulge injury information. Which means we still don’t have any information on Joe Tippmann and how severe his injury is. Saleh said he could be out for a while, which probably means he’ll be back straight after the bye week.

If you’ve read my posts over the last two years, you’ll know that coverage from the linebacker unit has been a real sticking point for me. Well the Jets have the best coverage duo at linebacker in the league according to PFF:

Also had to take this from the Jets social account, as you know I’ve been a Jermaine Johnson stan for a long time, pre-dating him landing with the Jets

On Sunday, Bryce Huff hit the 50% snap count threshold for the first time in his career, showing his increasing role within the Jets defensive structure.

With that increased role comes an increase in production. On 28 pass-rush snaps on Sunday against the Eagles, Huff generated 9 pressures. His 25.7% pressure rate over the last two seasons is the best in football, no other player with a minimum of 250 pass-rush snaps even eclipses 22%. Green Bay’s Rashan Gary is second with 21.2%.

But it’s not just the pressure rate, it’s the context of the pressure rate. 20 of Bryce Huff’s pressures have come on either 3rd or 4th down, more than any other player in the NFL. When Huff generates pressure, teams complete just 40% of passes.

Huff has appeared in 25+ snaps in back-to-back games now for the first time in his career, and over the last two weeks, no player in the NFL has more than the 15 pressures he’s generated.

His run defence stats continue to increase as well, over the first three weeks of the season he was in for just 7 run defence snaps combined. He’s been in for 20 run defence snaps over the last 3 weeks, small steps, but doubling your run defence output is notable when it comes to contract negotiations.

As Huff’s role has increased, Lawson’s role has decreased, making the former Bengal a prime candidate for a trade deadline deal. The issue is that Lawson hasn’t looked healthy since suffering that back injury toward the end of camp, if we can see that, other teams can too.

What would a Bryce Huff contract extension look like today?