PHILADELPHIA – There has to be a certain kind of pleasure that Eagles fans have been taking at the expense of the Giants.
There was the final game of the 2020 season when the Eagles tanked the fourth quarter against Washington, serving to improve the Eagles’ draft position while costing the Giants a playoff berth.
Then there was the 2021 draft-night trade in which the Eagles traded up – with the Dallas Cowboys no less – two spots to get ahead of the Giants.
The Eagles drafted wide receiver DeVonta Smith. The Giants, admitting that they would have taken Smith, quickly traded back and picked wide receiver Kadarius Toney.
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The Giants reportedly tried to trade Toney this offseason. The Giants denied this, but then drafted a wide receiver in the second round last month.
Then came the Giants’ decision a few weeks ago to release their best cornerback, James Bradberry. Taken by itself, the decision made sense. The Giants have a new general manager in Joe Schoen, they were cash-strapped from the previous regime, and Bradberry would have meant a $21.9 million salary cap hit.
That’s way too much to pay for a rebuilding – in perpetuity – team.
Except that Bradberry took his talents 90 miles down the New Jersey Turnpike to the Eagles. And you could get a sense that Bradberry was not pleased that the Giants waited through the first two months of the new league year before releasing him.
Let’s parse through Bradberry’s answer when asked about the Giants waiting so long to release him.
“First of all, I understand that it’s a business,” Bradberry said Tuesday. “So I always put my business cap on first, understanding that I’m an asset, and I understand that they’d want something for me. So that was part of the game.”
That’s true. The Giants were hoping that a team would trade for Bradberry, especially before the draft. But that seemed like a long shot. Every team knew that the Giants would have to release him because they couldn’t afford to keep him, so why give up a draft pick?
And any trade would have been contingent on Bradberry agreeing to an extension, which he apparently wouldn’t do because it would’ve been a below-market deal. After all, teams had already used their money to sign and/or trade for players.
The Eagles, for example, had done that the night of the draft on April 28 when they traded for wide receiver A.J. Brown, and then signed him to a four-year deal worth as much as $100 million.
So Bradberry parsed his words:
“Personally, I didn’t necessarily like it,” he said. “But it’s a business at the end of the day, and I understand that.”
As one of the top cornerbacks in the NFL, Bradberry could have gotten himself a multi-year contract in the $60 million range had he been available early in free agency. J.C. Jackson, for example, signed a five-year deal worth as much as $82 million with the Chargers.
Instead, Bradberry settled for one year worth as much as $10 million, with $7.5 million guaranteed.
That it came from the Eagles only further added salt to the Giants’ wound of losing Bradberry in order to save about $11 million in cap space.
Sure, Bradberry tried to stifle the revenge narrative for signing with the Eagles, knowing that he’d face his former team twice.
But you can certainly believe that Bradberry circled the two games against the Giants – on Dec. 11 and Jan. 8 – as soon as the schedule was released on May 12, even though he didn’t admit that.
“I’m looking forward to every game this year,” Bradberry said when asked about facing the Giants twice. “There are 17 games. I know that we have to win a lot of them to make it to the playoffs. So I’m looking forward to all the games that we play.”
It’s clear that Bradberry is not lamenting leaving the Giants. He was selected to the Pro Bowl his first season with the Giants, in 2020, when he had 3 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles.
Bradberry wasn’t quite as good last season, although he did have a career-high 4 interceptions.
But he’s in a much better situation. With the Eagles, Bradberry will be paired with Darius Slay, himself a Pro Bowl lockdown cornerback. The two, along with nickel Avonte Maddox, give the Eagles one of the best corner trios in the NFL.
Bradberry can play both zone and man coverage, which appeals to the schemes that Eagles defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon uses.
“One of the things I love about him is the high football intelligence,” Gannon said. “He has a high football IQ and production, and he can cover. That’s what you want. You want people that can deny the football, and he can do that.”
The Eagles haven’t had that kind of threesome at corner in 20 years when they had Bobby Taylor and Troy Vincent on the outside, with Al Harris at nickel.
Bradberry, of course, was understated when asked about the potential of him and Slay paired together.
“I think individually, we’re pretty good,” Bradberry said. “Of course, we haven’t played together yet. And I’m still also learning the scheme. As I continue to learn the scheme, and as we continue to put the work in, it’ll formulate itself.
“Potential only gets you so far. So I don’t really want to speak on potential … The goal is to be great together.”
The Giants, meanwhile, signed former Eagles cornerback Michael Jacquet last week. Revenge? Hardly. More like the Giants need someone to guard Smith or Brown when they face the Eagles.
Contact Martin Frank at mfrank@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @Mfranknfl.
