Philadelphia Eagles: What’s going on with Nigel Bradham?

Are the Philadelphia Eagles playing games with Nigel Bradham?

This time last year, Nigel Bradham was the Philadelphia Eagles‘ starting weakside linebacker entering the second season of a four-year, $50 million deal he signed in March of 2018.

Boy howdy, what a difference a year can make.

Since having his option declined back in February, Bradham has waited in the wings patiently for his next NFL opportunity, but so far, for whatever reason, it hasn’t come.

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What gives? Sure, Bradham’s 2019 season was easily his worst in recent memory, but you’re telling me no team views him as even a marginal upgrade over their current corps? I mean, there are still a slew of teams around the NFL with a need at linebacker, teams like the Cleveland Browns, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and yes, the Philadelphia Eagles, and yet, somehow Bradham remains on the open market. What gives?

Honestly, beats me.

Bradham is a solid coverage linebacker with above-average size and coast-to-coast athleticism. He can mix it up between the tackles as an interior thumper, has a knack for defensing passes, and has even averaged a sack a season since entering the league in 2012 – which is all the more impressive when you consider he’s been paired up with notorious ‘rusher four’ aficionado Jim Schwartz for five of those eight seasons.

Heck, Bradham even has two years of experience playing inside linebacker in a 3-4 defensive front, first under Mike Petton in 2013 and again under Rex Ryan/Dennis Thurman in 2015.

While some will argue that Bradham isn’t a top-tier linebacker, and rightfully deserves to be passed over for players like Joe Schobert, Cory Littleton, Nick Kwiatkoski, and Christian Kirksey, is he really that much worse than Kamalei Correa, B.J. Goodson, and even Temple’s own Tyler Matakevich? Frankly, I’d rather sign a 30-year-old stopgap who will consistently perform at a professional level than risk eight figures on a 27-year-old linebacker with only a single career start to his name.

Between Jatavis Brown, Davion Taylor, and Shaun Bradley, surely the Eagles added one competent linebacker ready to take over the weakside linebacker spot moving forward, right? Maybe so, but wouldn’t you like to have a little extra insurance in the form of a familiar face with 72 games of experience in your defensive scheme?

And that’s not even accounting for the very real question marks that will remain on the Eagles’ depth chart for the foreseeable future.

Now I like T.J. Edwards as much as the next guy, but is he really that good? Clearly Pro Football Focus thinks so, as he made their 2020 ‘Second-year breakout candidates‘ list back in May, but they also said the Eagles had the best wide receiving corps in the league heading into the 2019 season, so can their projections really be trusted?

Sidebar: I kid, of course, PFF does great work but even still I’d hate to anoint someone as any team’s next great linebacker based on a 112 snap sample size.

*sigh* at what point do the Eagles and Bradham put their differences aside and finally get back together?

Is Nigel Bradham a perfect player? No, but he has four years of experience playing in front of South Philly’s finest – not that it matters this season – a reliable set of skills, and most importantly of all, Jim Schwartz’s trust. While he may eventually have to pass the torch to Jatavis Brown, Davion Taylor, or Temple’s Shaun Bradley, that probably won’t happen this year due to limited reps in practice and an online-only OTA period. For what will all but certainly be a fraction of his initial cap number, what more could the Philadelphia Eagles ask for?