Eagles bring back James Bradberry on 3-year deal originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles aren’t losing all of their Super Bowl starters on defense.
At least they’re keeping James Bradberry.
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The Eagles and Bradberry on Tuesday agreed to terms that will keep the veteran corner in Philadelphia for three more seasons, league sources confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia. The deal was first reported by ESPN.
The three-year contract is worth $38 million with $20 million in guaranteed money and another $6 million in incentives, a source said. That APY of $12.7M makes Bradberry the 16th highest-paid corner in the NFL, according to OverTheCap.
Bradberry, 29, told NFL reporter Josina Anderson that other teams offered him more money but he still decided to return because of his familiarity with the franchise.
For an Eagles defense that had already lost Javon Hargrave, T.J. Edwards, Marcus Epps and Kyzir White in the first two days of free agency, keeping Bradberry is a huge boost.
Now we’ll see what happens with fellow starting cornerback Darius Slay, whose agent last week was granted permission to seek a trade. Slay is entering the final year of his contract and wants an extension, while the Eagles would very much like to restructure his deal and limit his cap hit in 2023.
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If the Eagles can bring back both of their high-level cornerbacks for 2023, it would go a long way to solidifying their defense. And they still have Avonte Maddox, who is one of the top nickel cornerbacks in the NFL.
We’ll also see what this means for safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, who is still on the open market. The Eagles had been making a push to retain the 25-year-old defensive back but the re-signing of Bradberry could make that tougher.
Bradberry was released by the Giants in May last offseason. By that point, he lost his chance to get a multi-year deal and signed with the Eagles on a one-year deal worth $7.5 million. It was a prove it deal and he proved he can still play at a very high level.
In 2022, Bradberry started every regular season and playoff game. He had 3 interceptions, 44 tackles, 17 pass breakups and 1 touchdown. And even though he was a Pro Bowl snub, he was named as a second-team All-Pro.
At locker cleanout day, he left open the possibility that he'd re-sign with the Eagles.
“I think it will be a combination of winning and money,” Bradberry said in February. “It’s kind of hard to put a percentage on which one is more important. It’s kind of just based on a case-by-case scenario.
“But I do know those two things are the most important to me – being on a good roster, having the ability to get to the playoffs and make a run in the playoffs. But also I don’t want to play for cheap, you know?”
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