Eagles’ Bryce Huff will be out indefinitely after wrist surgery

The Eagles will be without edge rusher Bryce Huff for the foreseeable future.

Huff will have surgery on his left wrist Thursday, NFL sources said. The hope is Huff will be able to return toward the end of the regular season.

Huff, whom the Eagles signed to a $51.1 million contract this offseason, injured his wrist in warmups before the Eagles hosted the Jacksonville Jaguars on Nov. 3. Huff played just six snaps during that game, the majority on Jacksonville’s final drive. He then played 12 snaps in a blowout win in Dallas before playing 14 last week vs. Washington. During those games, Huff wore a cast that limited the movement of his fingers.

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That, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said, was limiting Huff’s playing time.

“On the less-obvious downs, it just makes sense to put a guy in there that’s 100%,” Fangio said last week.

Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said “we’ll see” when asked Wednesday if Huff was a candidate for injured reserve.

“He’s really done a good job of battling through, but this will hopefully help him get some more function in that hand and we’ll see as the season continues,” Sirianni said.

The Eagles hope the procedure gets Huff back to 100% in time to make an impact at the end of the season. But even before the injury, Huff was having trouble acclimating to Fangio’s system and did not look like the pass-rushing threat the Eagles thought they acquired, one who tallied a career-high 10 sacks with the New York Jets last season. Huff has just 2½ sacks in 10 games this season while generating pressures on just 9.1% of his pass-rushing snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. Huff created pressure on 20.1% of his pass-rushing snaps last season.

Huff’s injury came two days before the trade deadline, but the Eagles elected to let the deadline pass without making a move.

“We talk about everything and through every situation,” Sirianni said when asked whether Huff’s surgery was a possibility as the Eagles navigated the deadline. “We really like this room and the guys. We love Bryce and the way he’s battled through and the things that he’s done, but we feel good about the depth that we have here.”

Despite Huff’s struggles, the Eagles have still gotten production from their edge rushers, particularly from Josh Sweat and Nolan Smith.

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Smith played 33 snaps vs. Washington, his highest total of the season and most since his 41-snap outing during Week 18 last season. He has 3½ sacks in his last six games and has generated at least one pressure in all but two games this season, according to PFF.

“A guy that’s been able to handle the ups and downs, not getting a lot of reps early on in his career because of the depth that we had at that position to now being a big-time contributor,” Sirianni said. “He just keeps getting better because of the skill that he has and who he is as a person.”

Rookie Jalyx Hunt, a third-round pick, played 25 snaps in the runaway win in Dallas but did not get on the field for defensive snaps vs. Washington. Hunt would figure to see an uptick in snaps, but the Eagles also could rely more heavily on Sweat, Smith, and Brandon Graham. They also signed 2021 sixth-round pick Tarron Jackson to the practice squad two weeks ago.

“We really like our room,” Sirianni said. “They’ve been playing at a really high level. We obviously drafted Jalyx because we liked his skill set. Jalyx has been doing a lot of good things on special teams, so we’ll see how those reps get divvied up and this week will tell a lot in practice.”