Eagles news: Legends return on Saturday, A.J. Brown’s day off

If you’re like us, you’re sick of talking about this Philadelphia Eagles game versus the New York Giants. Bring it on already! We’ve dissected the coming Divisional Round clash backward and forward and from every angle. If you want to be technical, when one throws in how often we’ve discussed the G-Men during the days leading up to both the Week 14 and Week 18 games, we’re blue in the face. Again, bring it on already!

Here’s an appetizer that you’ll enjoy nibbling on while awaiting the main course. Three heroes of the Super Bowl LII-winning team, Malcolm Jenkins, Torrey Smith, and Brent Celek will serve as honorary captains for Saturday night’s game.

Kickoff is scheduled for 8:15 PM EST. It was already going to be an emotional affair. The return of a few franchise legends makes it even more so.

More Eagles news: Here’s how A.J. Brown spent a recent day off.

We now fire up the team bus and move on from franchise legends. Our next stop brings us to legends in the making, How about the season that A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith had?

In his first run with the Birds, Swole Batman broke Mike Quick’s team record for receiving yards in a season, finishing with 1,496 big ones while equalling the second-highest reception total by a wideout in franchise history. He and Irving Fryar are tied with 88. Only DeVonta Smith has more.

His 95 grabs this season are now a franchise record. Thank goodness for the bye week as he and A.J. have more than earned days off.

Here’s how A.J. enjoyed one of his most recent! Thank our friends over at Whistle for the clip. Bookmark their YouTube channel after giving this one a spin.

Does anyone else want a cheesesteak now? That’s officially the next order of business.

Even more Eagles news: All eyes are on James Bradberry.

Our legends in the making tour concludes with a former rival turned fan favorite, James Bradberry. After unceremoniously being released by the New York Giants, he landed on his feet with the Birds, working alongside Darius Slay to form the best cornerback duo in the NFL.

The 2022-2023 regular season was one of his best. He was named a Pro Bowl alternate and a Second-team All-Pro as a result. Pro Football Focus recently ranked him 16th among the top 50 players set to enter free agency in March. Six of Philly’s stars were on the list. Javon Hargrave (fourth) was the only Eagle that was ranked higher.

Here’s what Brad Spielberger, the writer of this one notated as some of his reasoning for placing Bradberry at 16.

"We wrote earlier this year about potential candidates for extensions before the 2022 season concluded, and Bradberry found himself on that list because of a great start to the year. His 46.0% completion percentage allowed was the fourth-best mark among cornerbacks for the 2022 regular season, and his 19 forced incompletions ranked second.Bradberry is likely best as a No. 2 after years of proving himself as a reliable No. 1, but there should be a huge market for his services nonetheless, as he’s proven to be adaptable, reliable, and available throughout his NFL career. This season marked his fourth consecutive campaign with 1,000-plus snaps."

Regardless of what happens contractually at this season’s end, James Bradberry has earned the respect of Eagles fans forever. Being a part of a championship-winning team would place him in another stratosphere, but his brilliance is no secret.

It would take some doing, but fingers are crossed that Eagles executive vice president/general manager Howie Roseman can wave his magic wand and keep this Bird in the nest. We’ve all gotten a little spoiled. It would be two tons of fun if Philly could figure out a way to keep Bradberry in the convocation for a little while longer.