Eagles’ James Bradberry aims to eliminate his old team
Millions will watch on national television when the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles square off in the NFC playoffs on Saturday night. But for Eagles cornerback James Bradberry, the game will be like park ball.
“I know those guys over there, I know some coaches over there, so it’s kind of like playing, like, back in little league,” Bradberry said. “When you was on a little-league team and you might be playing a team from across the city and you got some friends over there.”
· BENGALS TO PLAY WITHOUT ANOTHER OFFENSIVE LINEMAN ON SUNDAY
· AARON RODGERS IN NO. 12 FOR JETS? JOE NAMATH HOPES IT HAPPENS
· CAN JALEN HURTS END 40-YEAR PLAYOFF DROUGHT FOR ALABAMA QUARTERBACKS?
The former Pleasant Grove High School and Samford star is in his first season with Philadelphia. Bradberry played the previous two seasons with the Giants.
“I think it’s ironic, you know?” Bradberry said. “Of course, it’s probably a cool story. But I’m just trying to go out there and win a football game.”
Bradberry signed with Philadelphia as a free agent on May 18 after New York released him 10 days earlier for salary-cap considerations. Bradberry had a season left on a three-year, $45 million contract. The Eagles added the cornerback for a one-year, $7.25 million contract.
Bradberry said “it’d definitely be pretty sweet” to eliminate the Giants, but mainly because not doing so would end Philadelphia’s season.
“Of course, it’s my old team,” Bradberry said. “I know some guys over there. But at this point, it’s win or go home. I’m trying to win.”
While Bradberry knows the Giants pretty well, at this point, that could be said about just about any Philadelphia player and vice versa for anyone on New York’s roster. That’s because the teams are squaring off for the third time in six weeks.
In NFC East games during the regular season, the Eagles defeated the Giants 48-22 on Dec. 11 and 22-16 on Jan. 8.
“We know each other pretty well, so it should make for a good game,” Bradberry said. “I remember in 2017, we played the Saints three times, and we lost all three times, so that year it didn’t feel good to play a team three times.”
RELATED: DIVISIONAL PLAYOFFS SCHEDULE
Bradberry was in his second NFL season with the Carolina Panthers at that time. Bradberry spent his first four seasons with Carolina after entering the NFL as the second-highest draft pick ever taken from Samford.
Bradberry left the Panthers for the Giants in free agency in 2020 and earned Pro Bowl recognition in his first season with New York.
This season, Bradberry finished fourth in the voting for the AP All-Pro team among cornerbacks to earn a spot on the second team.
Opposing quarterbacks have posted a passing-efficiency rating of 51.6 when throwing to receivers covered by Bradberry, the second-lowest in the NFL behind the 48.7 of Seattle Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen.
The 45.3 percent completion rate against Bradberry is the lowest in the league among full-time players, and no other player who faced as many passes as Bradberry yielded less than a 50 percent completion rate.
The Giants and Eagles will meet at 7:15 p.m. CST Saturday at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. FOX will televise the game.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.