What's Going On With Eagles' James Bradberry?

The veteran is still a longshot to be with the Eagles for Week 1 in Brazil.

Eagles cornerback James Bradberry / Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA - Over 22 percent of the Eagles’ 90-man roster set to enter training camp next week plays defensive back, a mind-numbing number tied to the team’s freefall from the No. 1 passing defense in the NFL in the 2022 Super Bowl season to No. 31 in the sequel.

Injuries, the loss of starting safeties C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps in free agency and the failure of many veterans to buy into what Sean Desai was selling all contributed to that end game.

Veteran cornerback James Bradberry was the mirror of the first to nearly-worst flip-flop, regressing from second-team All-Pro to a career-worst season in the historic collapse.

The assumption remains that Bradberry will not be on the Eagles roster on Sept. 6 in Sao Paulo, Brazil against the Green Bay Packers. 

Many also thought Bradberry wouldn’t make it to mandatory minicamp and now he’s set to report Tuesday for training camp as GM Howie Roseman continues to kick the can down the road with Bradberry in the hopes of getting something in return for ninth-year pro in a CB deficient league. 

The overcorrection with bodies at the position by Roseman is to make sure attrition won’t be a major contributor to any potential negative storylines to this.

The outside is loaded with young players with upside joining Darius Slay, a group that includes top-40 picks Quinyon Mitchell (No. 22 overall) and Cooper DeJean (40), as well as spring star Isaiah Rodgers and ascending second-year players Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks.

Bradberry is no longer in that mix and of the 20 DBs set to report on Tuesday, he remains the most surprising. 

After accumulating so much young talent at outside CB, head coach Nick Sirianni announced a move to safety for Bradberry in the spring where the Eagles don’t have as much depth.

Bradberry sees the writing on the wall and skipped voluntary work but did show for mandatory minicamp where he injured an oblique before anyone could get a look at him playing safety.

It’s a game of chicken with Roseman not wanting to release Bradberry for nothing in return vs. a league that believes eventually the Eagles' GM will have to cut him.

As long as Bradberry remains, though, there is a small path to him remaining on the Eagles for the start of the season. That scenario is not a good one for the organization and something that would mean the young CBs had a poor summer and the projected backup safeties behind the returning Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship are not up to snuff.

In those instances, Bradberry could provide a backup who can in theory play all over the secondary, albeit at an expensive rate and not helping on special teams.

Not sure any of that is worth waiting for a conditional late-round pick somewhere down the road but that’s the path Roseman is on.

Highly regarded defensive coordinator Vic Fangio is also a wild card as the kind of coach with the reputation and cachet to play who he wants. By carrying Bradberry into camp, Roseman is at least risking Fangio deciding Bradberry gives him the best chance to win against Jordan Love in Week 1.

The odds remain heavily against Bradberry remaining in Philadelphia, though, and if the can hits the brick wall at the cutdown to 53, Roseman will likely have to cut bait or risk the younger players getting their development slowed down.. 

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