Eagles All-Pro Sends Strong Message to Front Office Ahead of Contract Talks

[time2rock]

Eagles All-Pro Sends Strong Message to Front Office Ahead of Contract Talks

• 
• By Mike Greger

• Updated Feb 15, 2023 at 9:28pm

 Getty

Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, never afraid to make a big splash, has signed two big name defensive tackles in a span of just over 24 hours.

It’s been a wild week for James Bradberry who found himself at the center of a Twitter feud between the Chiefs and Eagles through no fault of his own. The All-Pro cornerback was absorbing unprovoked blows over a controversial defensive holding call in Super Bowl LVII. Blah, blah, blah.

Everyone is sick of hearing about a ticky-tack call in the biggest game of the year. It wasn’t the reason why Philadelphia lost. They blew a 10-point halftime lead. They had plenty of chances to close it out. They didn’t.

Now the calendar turns to the offseason and free agency, which boasts a boatload of unknowns for the Eagles. General manager Howie Roseman has to make a decision on several expiring contracts, including a big one on Bradberry.

The one-time Pro Bowler outplayed the one-year, $7.25 million contract he inked with the Eagles in 2022. Bradberry should have a ton of suitors on the open market, and the former second-round pick from the 2016 NFL draft expects a windfall. It doesn’t sound like he’s interested in any hometown discount as he weighs the importance of cashing in versus playing on a competitive roster.

"It’s kind of hard to put a percentage on which one is more important,” Bradberry told reporters. "It’s kind of just based on a case-by-case scenario, you know? But I do know those two things are probably the most important to me … being on a good roster, 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?”

We know. And now Roseman knows. Bradberry admitted that the two sides hadn’t broached the topic of a new contract during the regular season.

"Nah, I haven’t at all,” Bradberry said when asked if he and Roseman had chatted. "I think that was kind of by choice. I don’t know what they got planning on over there, and I really didn’t want to ask about it because I wanted my mind on football. Hopefully, we’ll be in contact soon.”

Bradberry Loved His Teammates, Energy of Eagles Fans

While the final decision may come down to money, don’t count out the allure of a championship contender with the best fans in football swaying Bradberry. The 29-year-old cornerback was quick to admit that playing in arguably the best secondary in the NFL – alongside Darius Slay, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Avonte Maddox, Marcus Epps – might play a factor. That, and the opportunity to return and play in front of the rowdies in midnight green at Lincoln Financial Field.

"I just enjoyed playing here because we were winning and whatnot,” Bradberry said. "Everything was going so smoothly for us, of course we had some losses here and there, we lost the Super Bowl, but overall, I felt like we had a really good season. I loved the fan support, the energy they brought to the games. I really loved the team that we had, the back seven, we jelled well in the short time we had together.”

Epps and Gardner-Johnson are free agents, too, so it’ll be interesting to see how much dough the Eagles invest in the secondary. Either way, Bradberry won’t use location as a reason not to sign somewhere. The Alabama native has adjusted to the cold weather. Besides, football players are on the road a lot.

"I think it’ll be a combination of wining and money,” Bradberry said. "Location is what it is. No matter where I go, at some pint it’s going to be cold, so I’m not really worried about location for the most part.”

Refs Missed Hands-to-the-Face Penalty on Chiefs

Rewind the tape, please. The referees in Super Bowl LVII missed an illegal hands-to-the-face call against Chiefs tackle Orlando Brown. The 340-pounder can be seen shoving his hands into the facemask of Eagles defensive end Josh Sweat on the same play they flagged James Bradberry for defensive holding.

Worse yet, Brown’s infraction happened before the pass intended for JuJu Smith-Schuster even left Patrick Mahomes’ arm. So, let that sit.

https://heavy.com/sports/philadelphia-eagles/james-bradberry-not-cheap/

[jsdarkstar]

The Refs missed a helmet to helmet tackle on Devante Smith. They missed the facemask penalty on the Hurts Fumble. They missed a PI call. And blew the Devante Smith catch. It was called a catch on the field. There was no overwhelming evidence to overturn that call. He maintained control of the ball all the way through. Yeah part of the ball touched the ground but his hand was underneath the ball. they also didn't call several holding penalties especially on the big run by the Chiefs. 

Blown calls, and non calls. The Refs sucked. 

[Eldereagle1]

Game was shaved. Convince me otherwise.

[birdman#12]

The inconsistency of NFL refs is ridiculously obvious and it flies in the face of the tiresome "get the call right" nonsense.  The speed of the game and the NFL's movement towards a more "entertaining" game by installing these defensive backfield ticky tack calls and overprotection of the QB, has led to everybody looking around for a flag when something good happens defensively. 

They've changed the game under the false cover of "player protection" nonsense.  These changes are detrimental to the game, IMO. And, unfortunately, it played out in the super bowl with a call that never should have been made.

Just because the eagles made mistakes and didn't take advantage of some opportunities can also be said about KC.  But KC got the benefit of a terrible call with 2 minutes left in the game.  When the super bowl is tied with 2 minutes left, it should take a mugging for a flag to be thrown.  But we all better get used to refs doing this kind of nonsense from now on.

[UK_EaglesFan89]

I think there's a real chance he's going to be back. I think Howie will really try and get a deal done. Bradberry had a good year, a really good year in fact and we know Howie doesn't like to draft CB early. If he can bring Bradberry back that puts the problem off for at least another year. 

[time2rock]

3 minutes ago, UK_EaglesFan89 said:

I think there's a real chance he's going to be back. I think Howie will really try and get a deal done. Bradberry had a good year, a really good year in fact and we know Howie doesn't like to draft CB early. If he can bring Bradberry back that puts the problem off for at least another year. 

Have to believe Bradberry will be looking for a multi year deal.  I'd love to sign him to a 3-4 year deal - he's 3 years younger than Slay who is entering the final year of his current contract and whose play slipped fairly significantly from the first half of the year to the 2nd.  I'm concerned however that his 2023 cap hit of $26M will make him a prime candidate to restructure (adding more years which I think would be a mistake not just because of the drop in play but because he already has close to $14M in prorated bonus money spread over 3 void years).   Slay is going to be a tough one to figure out and get right.  

[UK_EaglesFan89]

15 hours ago, time2rock said:

Have to believe Bradberry will be looking for a multi year deal.  I'd love to sign him to a 3-4 year deal - he's 3 years younger than Slay who is entering the final year of his current contract and whose play slipped fairly significantly from the first half of the year to the 2nd.  I'm concerned however that his 2023 cap hit of $26M will make him a prime candidate to restructure (adding more years which I think would be a mistake not just because of the drop in play but because he already has close to $14M in prorated bonus money spread over 3 void years).   Slay is going to be a tough one to figure out and get right.  

Yeah i mean look Slay is going to still be here because they are going to have to restructure him. I think I'd prefer to keep Bradberry due to age and I think actually overall performance last year.