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Former San Francisco 49ers DE Bryce Huff

The San Francisco 49ers were rocked by the news of defensive end Bryce Huff’s sudden and shocking retirement at the age of 27 nearly two weeks ago.

Huff, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Philadelphia Eagles one year ago, was the team’s top pass-rusher after it lost star defensive end Nick Bosa to a season-ending ACL injury in Week 3.

The former Super Bowl champion was tied for the team lead with 4 sacks, and he led the 49ers in pressures (46), hurries (30), and QB hits (5), according to Pro Football Focus.

While Huff, who was heading into the second season of a three-year, $51.1 million contract, likely had a long NFL career ahead of him, he chose to walk away at an early age and pursue another passion.

Huff Finally Reveals Why He Left 49ers to Retire

GettyFormer San Francisco 49ers DE Bryce Huff

During an interview with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport on Friday, Huff finally broke his silence on why he chose to leave the 49ers and get a jump start on his post-football life.

“Pretty much, me and my brother have been building this company for the last two-and-a-half years or so, and we’ve been picking up a lot of steam, weighed the options with my team and advisers and we feel like this was the best thing to do,” Huff stated.

The company Huff was referring to is called Naberstone — an innovative tech company working on reducing the risk of fires caused by lithium batteries.

Though Rapoport made the point that Huff likely could’ve worked on growing his company while also continuing his NFL career if he wanted, to which Huff admitted he was at peace with walking away from the NFL completely and focusing 100% of his time on his new career endeavor.

“I’m extremely at peace (with my decision), especially because this is something that I feel strongly about,” Huff continued. “I feel like we’re going to save a lot of lives, protect a lot of companies, protect a lot of assets. Just for me being so young, I’ve always been an entrepreneur.

“I’ve always thought of ways to move society forward and I feel like this is a great opportunity being my age, getting immersed in the business world, getting immersed in the company and learn the ins and outs of what it’s going to take to be a successful founder.”

Life in the NFL Prepared Huff For What Comes Next

Huff had quite a brief, yet accomplished NFL career.

He won a Super Bowl with the Eagles, and he totaled 203 pressures, 136 hurries, 108 tackles, 40 QB hits, 24 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and 4 passes defensed across 6 seasons, per PFF.

With the 49ers adding star receiver Mike Evans, reuniting with star linebacker Dre Greenlaw, and beefing up a few other positions in free agency, Huff likely could’ve had a shot at playing in another Super Bowl next season had he returned.

But as he tells it, he learned a lot from his 6-year run in the NFL that helped prepare him for his next career opportunity.

“Definitely perseverance because most things don’t go to plan when it comes to new companies, and not being deterred by any missteps, just learning as we grow, continuing to network, continuing to learn about the tech and ways we can innovate to improve,” Huff added. “Those are just things that would help immediately just getting better 1% every day.”

Michael Gallagher Michael Gallagher is a sports journalist covering the NFL for Heavy.com. He has more than a decade of experience working for both local and national news outlets covering the NFL, NHL, NBA, WNBA, college football, and MMA. His work has been featured in Newsweek, Yahoo Sports, Fox Sports, Athlon Sports, The Hockey News, the Nashville Scene, SB Nation, and Yardbarker. More about Michael Gallagher