Eagles schedule: Ranking expected matchups for James Bradberry
James Bradberry could spend a lot of time covering the second-best receiver on every offense the Eagles face.
The Philadelphia Eagles haven’t played a down of NFL regular-season football yet, and we’re already comfortable with making a bold statement. Rumors of James Bradberry‘s demise have been erroneously and grossly overstated.
Sure, you can call his final season in the Big Apple with the New York Giants an off-year by his standards, but come on. Who didn’t look awful playing for that trainwreck masquerading as a professional football team?
Frankly, all things considered, Bradberry’s numbers don’t look that bad: 47 total tackles, four interceptions, 17 pass breakups, and two fumble recoveries. There are a lot of corners that would do anything to boast that stat line.
Most expect a better and more motivated Bradberry in 2022, his seventh season in the NFL. Why wouldn’t they?
He’s playing on a better team. He’s only signed for one season, and he isn’t making the type of coin that you’d expect someone with his talent and resume to be making, $7,250,000 to be exact. The Birds definitely got him for a bargain.
That means he’s playing for a new deal and respect, and you can never question an alpha male when that’s the case, Schematically, regardless of what we see from Philly and their defensive coordinator, Jonathan Gannon, many believe that it would be wise to let Bradberry and his teammate, Darius ‘Big Play’ Slay, line up and battle the opposing offense’s top two receivers in man-to-man situations more often than not.
Sure, J.G. figures to sprinkle in some zone coverages, but that’s what we all want to see, right? The Eagles’ secondary will be tested. We expect Slay to draw the other team’s best receiver week-in and week-out. Sure, there will be exceptions, but that gives Philadelphia’s defense a nice feather in its cap. How great will it be to put James Bradberry, a star in his own right, on every team’s second option?
With that being said, let’s rank what should be some of his toughest battles if that’s the game plan the Birds run with.