James Bradberry Wants "Top Dollar" and a Good Roster, Too
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There are already mock drafts that have the Eagles taking a cornerback with their first pick of this spring’s draft, which is the tenth overall selection.
From Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon to Oregon’s Christian Gonzalez.
It’s probably not a bad play for the Eagles to go CB with that pick or even later in the first round at No. 30, or if they trade back from No. 10 into the teens somewhere.
Darius Slay is 32 and his contract has grown so much that restructuring is probably going to happen this offseason, and James Bradberry is a free agent, whose chances of returning are slim.
Bradberry, who will turn 30 in August, had a Pro Bowl season.
Slay had another Pro Bowl season.
Bradberry, who will turn 30 in August, was a second-team Associated Press All-Pro. He gambled on himself last year when he agreed to a one-year, $10 million contract with the Eagles after the New York Giants cut him in a salary cap maneuver.
“I think my stats show that I should be a top-dollar guy,” said Bradberry last week after Super Bowl LVII, “but I know there are a whole bunch of variables that go into that. We’ll see.”
The Eagles would like to have Bradberry back, but at what cost?
Would they be willing to go for two years?
Former Eagles CB Steven Nelson, who worked on the other side of Slay in 2021, received a two-year contract from the Texans after the one-year deal he signed with the Eagles expired. Nelson got a two-year deal with a base value of $9M with $4.5M guaranteed.
Bradberry was better this year and will come with a much higher price tag.
“I think I deserve top dollar,” he said. “Just a matter of who’s out there willing to pay it at the end of the day.”
Bradberry said it wouldn’t be all about money, but also a roster that can compete to make a Super Bowl will also be layered into the equation.
“I would probably say I want to go to a team that has a good roster,” he said. “And of course, I want the number to be right. What that number is for me in my head, I haven’t figured it out yet. I got more time to think about it. But I know I want to be on a good roster.”
With so many free agents, the Eagles’ roster is in flux.
There are foundation pieces, though, that will be good building blocks for another push to the big game, including Jalen Hurts, A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Dallas Goedert, and Haason Reddick, to name a few.
Bradberry would certainly like a shot at Super Bowl redemption after his holding penalty in the final two minutes allowed the Kansas City Chiefs to drain the clock down to 11 seconds before kicking a chip-shot field goal to beat the Eagles, 38-35.
Right away, Bradberry spoke about the penalty, which most felt shouldn’t have been called, even though Bradberry himself admitted he held. Video footage shows him clearly tugging on the jersey of KC receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
As most of his teammates fled the locker room quickly in the aftermath of the loss or were nowhere to be found, Bradberry graciously answered questions.
“I felt like I only had two options, really,” he said last week. “I felt like I could take responsibility for it, or I could blame it on somebody else. I try not to live that way.
“I understand we make a lot of money in this business because of the media and how people report on us and talk about us. So, I know at the end of the day, y’all got a job to do, just like I got a job to do. Might as well jump in front of it. “
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
