The New England Patriots signed Malcolm Butler, who is trying to make a comeback and at this point of his career, is a number two. They drafted Jack Jones but it's going to take some time to see if he's an outside corner on the pro level. Everyone else is either an inside guy or a depth guy. Since the Giants released James Bradberry, should the Patriots sign him.
The cap may be an issue.
I know there are some who don't believe the cap is real but Miguel Benzan a.k.a. 'Pats Cap' currently has the Patriots at $765,014 in free cap space. That means either someone needs to be traded, cut, or have their contract played with in order to sign him. Who are the Patriots going to cut? Stidham and Harry are names that come to mind but that's probably not going to be enough? What does that mean? It means that unless players are willing to help the team, a fan favorite may be cut. Not saying it's going to happen but it's a possibility. On top of that, there are teams that are expexted to drive up the price.
Is he a skill fit?
Zach Cox of NESN doesn't think Bradberry is a fit. The Patriots like man corners and Cox says that's not Bradberry. If Cox is right, that could chase the Patriots away from him.
Cox wrote, "Skill set-wise, Bradberry’s doesn’t exactly align with what the Patriots typically target in their cornerbacks, as he’s known more for his prowess in zone coverage (top-10 PFF grade in each of the past two seasons) than in man. But the traditionally man-heavy Pats have gravitated more toward zone looks in recent years."
But wait a minute, Phil Perry of NBC sports contradicts what Zach Cox wrote. Perry says that Bradberry is a man corner.
Phil Perry tweeted, “The Patriots may not be a top-three man-to-man defense in 2022, as they’ve been in recent years but they definitely still value corners who can play man. That’s their type. Bradberry would make a lot of sense in Foxboro, but he should have plenty of interest on the open market.”
Why is he a consideration?
The Patriots lost Gilmore and J.C. Jackson. The Patriots have Butler who can fill in for the time being but they really don't have another guy who's at least a number two on the outside. I know someone is about to say Jalen Mills but if the Patriots viewed him as the outside guy, they wouldn't of used Myles Bryant on the outside so much in 2021. That's not a knock on Mills who is a valuable piece in the secondary.
The 58th corner overall in the league according to PFF, James Bradberry is 6'1" 215 pounds give or take. He's the ideal size for an outside corner. Bradberry had 47 tackles, 17 passes defended, 4 interceptions, one he fumbled on and recovered. And he recovered one more. Bradberry was targeted 117 times and allowed a catch 61.7% of the time according to pro football reference, for 848 yards and 8 touchdowns. Bradberry also played on 14% of the Giants special teams snaps. He was also ranked 61st in yards per seperation with an average of 1.8 according to player profiler.
Overall thoughts:
I think the asking price is going to put the Patriots out of it. Sure Bradberry played for Joe Judge but with how he didn't want to play for a longer contract in Houston causing them to pull out of a trade with the Giants, I doubt he's going to do the Patriots a solid. If the Patriots could find a way to bring him in, he should be the corner the Patriots needed on the other side of Butler for at least the 2022 season. Which would allow the Patriots a year to bring along Jack Jones. It's not out of the realm of possibility but I will say it's highly improbable.
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