Eagles
Eagles Roster: James Bradberry Sticking Around, Moving To Safety
Penn State Great Valley MBA, Penn State Berks Undergrad, Eagle Scout and Vigil Honor, IT Service Manager. I joined Sports Talk Philly in 2017 and root for all the Philly teams (as well as their minor league counter parts).
All posts by Paul BowmanPublished05 Jun 2024
On the first day of mandatory practices, Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni made the mention to the media that the team will be looking to move Bradberry to safety.
While many fans may see this as a bad sign as they may have wanted the team to cut or trade the veteran, it’s really a wise move for the Eagles.
Every fan base has seen how injuries can tear apart a secondary and this move will only help the team prepare for that potential trouble down the line.
In particular, the Eagles have Reed Blankenship and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson set to start at safety, but one of the top two concerns for this team is the depth behind them. Sydney Brown is entering his second season and may not be available to start the season coming off a season-ending injury. That meant, with CJGJ having an injury history, the team might start the season with only Tristin McCollum as their top backup safety.
But the Eagles have clearly placed value on versatility. CJGJ himself could move to nickel corner if needed and McCollum has some experience at corner himself. Kelee Ringo has played some safety before and while first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell is a true corner, their second-round pick Cooper DeJean can play outside, nickel or safety. They also brought Avonte Maddox back in who had previously played good snaps at safety before his “full-time” move to nickel.
Overall, that could five the Eagles more of a “secondary unit” rather than a safety unit and a corner unit. Darius Slay, Quinyon Mitchell and Reed Blankenship seem to be the only favorites without that position versatility that’d seem likely to get a roster spot. The rest of those roster spots appear likely to go to a combination of hybrid players that can play where needed in Ringo, DeJean, Bradberry, CJGJ, Rodgers, Brown (who can move into the nickel) and Maddox that can provide some level of positional versatility.
That versatility could come in real handy if Bradberry can successfully move his skills to the back end, getting him on the field and perhaps get the team to the point where there is a legitimate rotation of defensive backs throughout the game rather than the traditional use of trying to use the same five guys every play.
It’s a particularly wise move to maintain Bradberry because, as anyone who looks at his career knows, he has been a phenomenal player every two years. He was two years ago and if the now eight-year trend continues into year nine, Philadelphia will not want to miss out on that play, especially not just to cut him to save some cap space immediately that isn’t needed elsewhere.
If anything, the Eagles best move is to keep Bradberry, help his transition as a safety to give him positional versatility and try to capitalize on his up traditional up year to see if they can move the veteran for assets during the next offseason to make way for their young core of DBs. The risk is a bit of lost cap space and Bradberry riding the bench, but the reward could be a season of great play plus assets come the offseason – a move that would seem to be wise for any team that, like the Eagles, has plenty of cap space to the point there’s not any reason they shouldn’t make the low-risk, high-reward move here.
Eagles Draft Recap:
Round 1, Pick 22 – CB Quinyon Mitchell – Toledo
Round 2, Pick 40 – CB Cooper DeJean – Iowa
Round 3, Pick 94 – EDGE Jalyx Hunt – Houston Christian
Round 4, Pick 127 – RB Will Shipley – Clemson
Round 5, Pick 152 – WR Ainias Smith – Texas A&M
Round 5, Pick 155 – LB Jeremiah Trotter Jr. – Clemson
Round 5, Pick 172 – OG Trevor Keegan – Michigan
Round 6, Pick 185 – WR Johnny Wilson – Florida State
Round 6, Pick 190 – OG Dylan McMahon – NC State
Additional Pick Acquired: 2025 3rd-Rounder
Additional Pick Acquired: 2025 4th-Rounder
Additional Pick Acquired: 2025 5th-Rounder
Eagles Offseason Recap:
