Eagles-Cardinals trade could help find a landing spot for James Bradberry

The Arizona Cardinals are entering Year 2 of the Jonathan Gannon experiment, which showed potential in Year 1. In Gannon's final year as the defensive coordinator with the Philadelphia Eagles, one of his best players was James Bradberry, who finished that season with a PFF coverage grade of 80.2.

Unfortunately, Bradberry had a rough year in 2023, finishing with a 54.7 PFF coverage grade and not looking anything like the same lockdown corner he was the year before. With Bradberry's down year and the Eagles maybe wanting to move on from the corner, Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report discussed how a trade with the Cardinals could make sense for all sides.

Ballentine proposed that the Cardinals send a 2025 fifth-round pick in exchange for Bradberry and a 2025 fourth-rounder. He notes that finding a trade partner for Bradberry could be tricky since his contract is, as he says, burdensome.

"Finding a trade partner could be difficult. The team taking on his contract would really be doing the Eagles a solid. Given Bradberry's play and how much it would help the Eagles, it might take an NBA-style trade where the Eagles are essentially paying someone to take him off their roster.
The Cardinals are uniquely qualified to take them up on that. General manager Monti Ossenfort clearly likes working the phones, Gannon has experience coaching him, and they have $22.1 million in cap space."

- Alex Ballentine

Could Cardinals make sense as a landing spot for James Bradberry?

The Cardinals' starting cornerbacks for 2024 are most likely going to be rookie Max Melton, Sean Murphy-Bunting, and Garrett Williams but Bradberry could provide a veteran presence for them. That being said, he is coming off a rough 2023 and it looked like "old age" (unfortunately, 30 is considered old in the NFL) might have caught up to him.

At the same time, however, perhaps a change of scenery could help Bradberry turn back into the player he once was. It doesn't seem likely that that's the case but only surrendering a fifth-round pick could be worth it to find out if Bradberry reuniting with Gannon can fix his issues.