After a disappointing 2023 season, James Bradberry was considering his future and came to the Eagles with an idea: he wanted to learn to play safety.

Why?

“Why not?” Bradberry said.

The real answer is that the soon-to-be 31-year-old cornerback saw it coming.

“So after the season,” Bradberry said, “obviously I didn’t have the best season. Now that I’m going into my ninth year, I know they signed Isaiah Rodgers as well. Obviously he wasn’t able to come in when I asked him to, but I knew he was probably going to make the team eventually. We had a lot of young guys in the room at corner anyway, I think it was lighter at safety.”

Bradberry handles this difficult situation with class.

After a stellar 2022 season that saw him named a second-team All-Pro, Bradberry’s play declined so much last season that the Eagles used a rotation for their playoff game against the Buccaneers. Bradberry surrendered a 114.3 opposing passer rating last year, by far the worst among the Eagles’ full-time starters.

There was no way the Eagles could do it again with him in 2024, and he knew it.

There was much speculation about Bradberry’s future this offseason, but through the Eagles’ first three days of training camp he was listed as a second-team safety.

“A lot of it is out of my control,” he said of the speculation. “Right now, I have two years left on my contract. I have one year guaranteed. So I try not to think about it too much. I try to enjoy my time with my family. Obviously, I was here for OTAs, just to do my part, whatever the coaches asked me to do. And that was it. I tried not to think about it too much, to be honest.”

After the 2023 season ended, Bradberry already knew that the talented Rodgers would likely be reinstated after a one-year suspension, and because he was playing so poorly, he figured the Eagles would draft cornerbacks. They did, selecting Quinyon Mitchell in the first round and Cooper DeJean in the second. And they already had young corners like Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks on the roster.

So Bradberry took his idea of ​​playing safety to Vic Fangio, who was receptive. He also had a conversation with general manager Howie Roseman. While Bradberry would obviously like to be a starter, he didn’t demand a trade.

“No, I would let Howie handle that,” Bradberry said. “We had a conversation and now I’m still on the team. And as long as I’m on the team, I’m going to try to find my role. If they want to get rid of me, they will.”

Because of the structure of the three-year deal Bradberry signed through the 2023 season, there’s no cap benefit to releasing him. A trade would only free up his $1.21 million base salary in cap space, but it could still be the most palatable conclusion if Roseman can find a partner.

Last week, Fangio warned how difficult it can be for cornerbacks to successfully transition to safety in the NFL. But Bradberry thinks he has the size, he thinks he has the physicality (even though he didn’t show it last year), and he thinks his time in nickel and dime last season made this a bit of a more natural transition.

We will see.

The hardest part of the transition, he said, is communication and knowing the roles of the other players in the middle of the field. Although he played safety for a while in high school, there’s a learning curve in the NFL.

And it’s not like the Eagles have a vacancy at safety.

The Eagles starting safeties are clearly CJ Gardner-Johnson and Reed Blankenship. At some point, 2023 third-round pick Sydney Brown will return from the ACL tear he suffered late this year.

Could Bradberry make the Eagles’ roster as a backup versatile defensive back? Maybe. But he also hasn’t played a single special teams snap in his two years in Philly and hasn’t worked with those units this summer.

“I’m trying to adapt,” Bradberry said. “I’m on the team now, so as far as the team goes, I want to find a role on this team and I feel like if I’m a versatile player, I’ll have a role. Of course I want to start. Where do I start? I don’t know. But I’m working on safety right now to see if I can learn and play and be a valuable asset to the team.”

Blankenship said he thinks Bradberry has the ability to play safety and that he’s enjoyed helping his veteran teammate with the transition. But it’s still a bit of a stretch to see Bradberry on the 53-man roster as the Eagles open their season in Brazil.

As he said several times on Saturday, Bradberry is an Eagle “right now.”

Does he expect to be part of the team in 2024?

“Well, I’m on the team now, so I’m just taking it day by day,” Bradberry said. “In the NFL, you never know. I can get traded, I can’t get traded. I’m just preparing for anything.”

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