After a disappointing 2023 season, James Bradberry has been considering his future and has transferred to the Eagles with the desire to learn to play safety.
why?
“Why not?” Bradbury said.
The real answer is that the soon-to-be 31-year-old cornerback sensed things were coming to an end.
“So after the season ended,” Bradberry said, “Obviously it wasn’t the best season. I also know going into year 9 they signed Isaiah Rodgers. Obviously he wasn’t available when I asked him to join, but I knew he was going to end up being with the team. We had a lot of young guys at cornerback anyway and I felt like we were shorthanded at safety.”
It’s an awkward situation, but Bradbury handles it with grace.
Bradberry was a strong player in 2022, earning second-team All-Pro honors, but his performance took a nosedive last season and the Eagles ended up in the rotation for their playoff game against the Buccaneers. Bradberry allowed opponents a 114.3 passing percentage last year, by far the worst among the Eagles’ full-time starters.
There’s no chance the Eagles will play him again in 2024, and he knows it.
There has been a lot of speculation about Bradberry’s future this offseason, but he played as a second-team safety through the first three days of Eagles training camp.
“A lot of it is out of my control,” he said of the speculation. “Right now, I still have two years under contract, one year guaranteed, so I’m trying not to think about it too much. I’m trying to enjoy time with my family. Obviously, I was here for a little bit for OTAs, but I was just trying to do my part, whatever the coaches asked me to do, and that’s it. I’m trying not to think about it too much, honestly.”
Bradberry already knew the talented Rodgers would likely return from a one-year suspension after the 2023 season, and he had played so badly that he expected the Eagles to draft a cornerback. The Eagles did so in the draft, selecting Quinion Mitchell in the first round and Cooper DeJean in the second, and already had young cornerbacks like Keely Lingo and Eli Ricks on the roster.
So Bradberry approached Vic Fangio with the idea of playing safety, which he accepted, and also had discussions with general manager Howie Roseman, who said Bradberry clearly wanted to play as a starter but did not request a trade.
“No, I was going to leave it to Howie,” Bradberry said. “We’ve had conversations, but as of now I’m still with the team. I’m going to try to find a role for myself while I’m with the team. If they want to let me go, they’ll let me go.”
Due to the structure of Bradberry’s three-year contract he signed before the 2023 season, there would be no cap benefit to releasing him. The only cap space that would be freed up by a trade would be his $1.21 million base salary, but that may be the most palatable conclusion for Roseman if he can find a partner.
Fangio warned last week about how difficult it is for a cornerback to successfully transition to safety in the NFL, but Bradberry believes he has the size and athleticism to do it (though he didn’t show it last year) and that his experience playing nickel-and-dime last season makes the transition more natural.
Let’s take a look.
He said the hardest part of the transition will be communication and knowing the other players’ roles in the middle of the field. He played a little bit of safety in high school, but there’s a learning curve in the NFL.
And the Eagles don’t even have an open safety position.
The Eagles’ starters at safety are clearly C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Reid Blankenship, with 2023 third-round draft pick Sidney Brown due to return at some point from a torn ACL suffered later this year.
Could Bradberry make the Eagles roster as a versatile backup defensive back? Probably, but he hasn’t played a single special teams snap in his two years with Philadelphia and hasn’t practiced with those units this summer.
“I’m trying to adapt,” Bradberry said. “Now that I’m on the team, as long as I’m on the team, I want to find my role on this team, and if I’m a versatile player, I think I can have a role. Obviously, I want to start. So, where do I start? I don’t know. But right now I’m working out at safety, trying to learn and play and see if I can be a valuable asset to the team.”
Blankenship said he thinks Bradberry has the ability to play safety and would enjoy helping his veteran teammates with the transition, but it’s still a bit tough to see Bradberry remaining on the 53-man roster when the Eagles open the season in Brazil.
As he said multiple times Saturday, Bradberry is now part of the Eagles.
Will he still be with the team in 2024?
“Well, now I’m with a team, so I’m just taking it one day at a time,” Bradberry said. “You never know what’s going to happen in the NFL. I might get traded, I might not. I’m prepared for whatever the situation is.”
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