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James Bradberry could be another Tre’Davious White, or the cheap savior that L.A.’s secondary needs
Cornerback James Bradberry has had at least one interception in every season of his career, with only one exception: Bradberry missed all of 2024 with an Achilles tear. Prior to last year, Bradberry posted 19 interceptions in eight seasons, having spent half of his career with the Panthers and splitting the last four with the Giants and Eagles.
Now 31 and looking to get a second chance, Bradberry is visiting teams like the
Buffalo Bills and seeking redemption. Rather than give up draft assets and millions of dollars in cap space for Jalen Ramsey, should the Rams take a low risk swing on Bradberry and another cheap veteran instead?
It’s worth noting that if and when the
Dolphins trade Ramsey,
they’re interested in signing Bradberry as a replacement. So there is at least one NFL team that believes they’d be better off with Bradberry than Ramsey.
Tre’Davious White 2.0?
The biggest pushback that this article will get is fans bringing up the disastrous tenure of Tre’Davious White in 2024. White also suffered an Achilles injury prior to signing with the Rams, and coincidentally he did it with the Bills (who are interested in Bradberry) while playing against the Dolphins (also interested in Bradberry).
There’s no question that Bradberry’s injury is a concern, otherwise he would have already signed with a team since being released by the Eagles in March, but the upshot is that he won’t cost anything relative to other potential starting cornerbacks.
White, for example,
cost less than $3 million against L.A.’s salary cap.
Bradberry would be even cheaper
There’s a good chance that signing Bradberry would cost even less than signing White, who had a higher profile than this case.
Bradberry is 31, coming off an Achilles injury from August (so he will have had 13 months to recover by Week 1), and he’s probably going to sign a contract with no money guaranteed and largely covered with incentives.
It might cost literally nothing to sign Bradberry.
Bradberry was not bitter when the Eagles released him, saying that he understands it’s just a business:
I think I had a lot of time to reflect and think about how far I came,” Bradberry said via Zach Berman. “I was going into my 9th season, and you realize (when) you look around the locker room and see the young guys, I’ve been around for quite a bit. One, you have to cherish that, the amount of time and stuff you’ve been able to accomplish. And two, it just gave me a little hunger to get back out there and prove yourself again.”
JB Scott recently mentioned Asante Samuel Jr. as another cheaper alternative to Ramsey.
Positional versatility
At this point in his career, Bradberry might be able to help the Rams at safety — another need — and have the versatility to move back and forth on the defense. This was noted by Philadelphia GM
Howie Roseman when he spoke about why the Eagles chose to keep Bradberry on the roster in 2024 despite a season ending injury:
“James always has had really good football instincts,” Roseman said via the team’s official transcript. “When you see him play safety every day here and see his ability to diagnose his football instincts. I think for all of us, that’s a transition, that’s a different position than playing outside corner.
“He’s got a skill set. It’s a long season. We already know that he’s had tremendous success in this league playing outside corner as well. With the goals that we have for this football team, having a veteran player like that on the roster that we know we can rely on when called upon, we felt like was important.”
Bradberry has played in 125 games at cornerback, recorded 19 interceptions, and was second-team All-Pro in 2022.
The Rams look at their roster now and they see Darious Williams, Ahkello Witherspoon, Derion Kendrick, Quentin Lake, Cobie Durant, and Josh Wallace at corenback. They have Kam Curl, Kam Kinchens, Jaylen McCollough, and Tanner Ingle at safety. Perhaps Bradberry could be a backup option anywhere depending on how training camp and the first month of the season plays out.
Whereas Ramsey could be a $20 million gamble to do the same thing at roughly the same age, Bradberry might cost $2 million, require no trade, and is already being considered in Miami as Ramsey’s replacement. The Rams could consider beating them to the punch.
