James Bradberry is still an Eagle; what happens next?

He’s been benched. He’s been demoted. He’s been moved away from the position he's played his entire eight-year NFL career.

A Pro Bowler in 2021, a 2nd-team all-pro in 2022, recipient of a giant new contract in 2023, James Bradberry is now toiling in obscurity for the Eagles as a 2nd-team safety, playing opposite Tristin McCollum.

If you thought the Eagles would have released or traded Bradberry by now after a disastrous 2023 season, join the club.

But Howie Roseman has a certain way of doing things and if there’s no benefit to releasing a player, he won’t do it. As long as there’s even a minuscule chance of trading Bradberry, he may as well hang onto the veteran corner, who turns 31 a week from Sunday.

You know Roseman is keeping his eye on 31 other NFL training camps to see if a team loses a couple corners to injury or finds itself lighter than they thought at the position.

It can’t be easy going from all-pro to backing up a new position in two years. It’s got to be humbling. But you know as long as Bradberry is here he’s going to be a professional.

“He's been great,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said before practice Thursday. “You know, he's eager to learn. He's embraced the possibilities of it. He's been great.”

It’s easy to forget just how good Bradberry was in the 2022 Super Bowl season.

Opposing quarterbacks targeted him 86 times and completed just 39 pases for 382 yards and two touchdowns. Their 51.6 passer rating was 2^nd-lowest of 111 defensive backs who were targeted at least 50 times, with only Seahawks’ rookie Riq Woolen finishing the season with a lower rating (48.7).

Bradberry allowed just 4.4 yards per target, also 2^nd-lowest in the league (behind only another Seahawks defensive back, Ryan Neal, at 3.9). Quarterbacks completed just 45.3 percent of their passes with Bradberry in coverage, again 2^nd-best in the league (behind the Bengals’ Chidobe Awuzie at 38.0 percent).

Last year?

A tad different.

Touchdowns allowed went from two to 11, most in the league. Passer rating went from 51.6 to 114.3 – 99^th-best out of 107 defensive backs with 50 targets. That 4.4 yards per target jumped up to 7.3. Opposing completion percentage climbed from 45.3 to 59.4.

And in the wild-card loss in Tampa, he allowed four completions for 86 yards and a TD on five targets for a 158.3 defensive passer rating – highest possible. He also missed two of five tackles.

Moving from corner to safety isn’t easy and there’s not a long history of corners successfully switching to safety, although some have done it – Charles Woodson, Ronde Barber, Malcolm Jenkins, Devin McCourty.

“The list of guys successfully transitioning from corner to safety is very small, with success,” Fangio said. “There are guys that have done it, but it really wasn't what you want. We'll see if he can do that.

“James has got a good feel for football. Very knowledgeable. So that will help him in that transition. He's still going to play some corner for us, too.”

The reality is that the Eagles are loaded at outside corner – Quinyon Mitchell, Isaiah Rodgers and Kelee Ringo are competing for the starting spot opposite Darius Slay – but very thin at safety, where with Sydney Brown out as he rehabs a torn ACL from January, McCollum and Bradberry are the top backups behind starters Chauncey Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship.

Could the Eagles wind up keeping Bradberry as a backup safety?

One thing that would do is avoid a large chunk of dead money – just north of $15 million – and give Fangio a backup who was an all-pro two years ago.

It’s not like Bradberry is going to cause trouble or be a distraction if he makes the team as a backup. He’s a pro and that’s not in his DNA. And, honestly, the first two days of training camp, he's looked fine at safety. No big plays but no big gaffes either.

It’s safe to assume that if Roseman gets an offer for Bradberry, he’d take it. But with each passing day the unlikely possibility grows that Bradberry could actually be a part of the 2024 Eagles in a new, unfamiliar and surprising role.

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