I never thought the Eagles were going to be able to resign cornerback James Bradberry. Spotrac gave him a market value of $45m over three years, and I thought even that might be low since teams will overpay for cornerbacks. Bradberry, however, valued his time in Philadelphia so much that he took less money to resign for 3 years and $38m ($20m guaranteed). Any way you slice it, that’s a huge win for the Eagles, who lost a number of free agents on day one.
Day one wasn’t kind to the Eagles, but we all knew that was coming. Javon Hargrave, TJ Edwards, Marcus Epps, Andre Dillard, and Kyzir White all signed elsewhere. None of those losses were unexpected, but it didn’t necessarily make losing four starters from Super Bowl LVII any easier. The only silver lining on Monday was the triumphant return of Jason Kelce for one more year.
Still, a narrative was forming of the Eagles falling apart to those outside of the 215. Resigning James Bradberry for $3m less a year than most expected him to sign for, however, flipped the narrative pretty quickly.
Overall, the Eagles had a pretty good day two of free agency, but the Bradberry news was the biggest of the day for the Birds. Over the weekend, momentum was picking up for a potential return to Philly, with Josina Anderson reporting that Bradberry was going to give Philly a chance to match any deal. On Tuesday, Anderson reported that Bradberry told him that there were offers for more money than what he took to stay in Philly for there more years.
He also told the Philly Inquirer that he took the deal he did because he wanted to win a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
James Bradberry taking less money to say in Philadelphia is a testament to the culture that the Eagles have built and that head coach Nick Sirianni preaches. When headline players are taking less money to resign with you, it’s a sign of a healthy organization. And make no mistake, James Bradberry is a headline player. Bradberry had the 10th-best coverage rating from PFF of all cornerbacks who played at least 50% of their team’s snaps. No corner with 50% of snaps played in the entire NFL had a better QB rating allowed than Bradberry’s 51.8. The Cowboys new cornerback acquisition Stephon Gilmore, for instance, was 22nd with an 82.6 rating allowed.
The Eagles resigning of Bradberry is the polar opposite of the way the Giants handled him a year ago. Instead of trying to restructure his deal and spreading out his cap hit, the Giants cut a former All-Pro cornerback. They then saw that same corner reach All-Pro status with a division rival and record an interception against them in a 38-7 depantsing in the playoffs before ultimately resigning on a discount deal. That’s got to be a big ouch to the Giants organization who is currently celebrating trading a 3rd round pick for a soon to be 31-year declining tight end who is owed more than $12m this year.
There are still some questions surrounding the future of Darius Slay, but a trade or cut seems very unlikely right now. Assuming Slay returns, the Eagles will once again have one of, if not the best, cornerback tandem in the entire NFL.
Fans of NFC East rivals unwisely wanted to celebrate the Eagles demise on Monday when the Birds lost a few starters, but Tuesday was a different story. The Eagles brought back Bradberry and running back Boston Scott and signed former Seattle Seahawk running back Rashaad Penny to a very low risk, high-reward deal. If Howie can figure out a way to resign CJ Gardner Johnson next, we’re really going to be cooking.
