PHILADELPHIA – It’s becoming increasingly likely that James Bradberry won’t be around much longer. June 1 is coming, and the veteran isn’t coming to OTAs again this week.
The Philadelphia Eagles cornerback will be in Birmingham, Ala. on Thursday and Friday hosting a charity event.
To say it’s not a big deal that Bradberry isn’t attending OTAs is understating it. Yes, OTAs are voluntary, so Bradberry doesn’t have to attend.
It’s also true that the Eagles stocked up on cornerbacks this offseason and every practice Bradberry misses puts him further behind the race to start. He was just a second-team All-Pro two years ago, but last year was a disaster for him.
He needs every opportunity to prove last year was a fluke, a byproduct of two defensive coordinators, neither up to the task. He needs to show that, on the brink of 31, his skills haven’t diminished as much as it appeared last year.
In his place, the Eagles used Isaiah Rodgers to start opposite Darius Slay at last week’s OTAs. Pushing for a role are a pair of picks this past draft – first-rounder Quinyon Mitchell and second-round Cooper DeJean. They each ran second-team
The Eagles will hold their second open-to-the-media OTA practice of the spring on Thursday.
The terms of Bradberry’s contract change on June 1. The Eagles can release him and eat “just” $4.3 million. They wouldn’t save anything under the salary cap.
Now, if the Eagles found a trade partner willing to accept Bradberry, the Eagles would consume $3.0M of dead money but save $1.2M on the salary cap.
Bradberry isn’t concerned about any of that right now. He will host his inaugural All-Pro Blitz Charity event to benefit the A.H. Gaston Boys and Girls Club in Birmingham, so that shows you the measure of the man the cornerback is off the field.
The right thing for the Eagles to do would be to release him before the mandatory minicamp begins on June 4, allowing him to get a head start on finding a new team. And there will be another team willing to roll the dice to find out if last year was just a bump on the road for him or the beginning of the end of his career.,
The NFL is a business, though, and hanging on to him until a trade partner can be identified may be what the Eagles will do.
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