Former Eagles linebacker Nigel Bradham has found a new home, agreeing to a one-year deal with the New Orleans Saints, according to ESPN.
Bradham, 30, spent his last four seasons in Philadelphia and was a big part of the Eagles’ first-ever Super Bowl championship.
The Eagles decided to move on from Bradham this offseason when they declined his option in a move that saved them $4.5 million in cap space. Bradham then took to Twitter to say goodbye to Eagles fans.
Without Bradham and without Kamu Grugier-Hill, who signed as a free agent in Miami this offseason, the Eagles will be incredibly young at linebacker this season. They don’t have a linebacker over 26 years old.
Nathan Gerry, T.J. Edwards, Duke Riley, Alex Singleton, Jatavis Brown, Davion Taylor and Shaun Bradley make up the linebacking corps on the current roster. Those young players will be fighting for jobs and playing time at training camp this summer.
Back in 2016, the Eagles brought in Bradham in large part because of his relationship with Jim Schwartz and his experience in Schwartz’s defense. Schwartz was the defensive coordinator in Buffalo, where Bradham started his career, during the 2014 season.
Bradham ended up playing more games for the Eagles than he did for the Bills. When his career’s over, he’ll probably be best known for his time with the Eagles.
NFL
“I enjoy Philly, man, the city, the atmosphere, everything this team does, organization-wise, what we believe in,” Bradham said after the season was over. “Just being resilient. I really feel like it matches my play style. Just tough mentally and physically, battle through anything, not backing down from anything. Those type of characteristics, I feel like I have a lot of them. Being put in any situation at any position, things like that. When you’re in those situations, it’s a nice place to be, to call home.”
In Philadelphia, Bradham played and started 58 regular season games and six playoff games, including the three in the 2017 Super Bowl season. In Super Bowl LII, Bradham had 7 tackles and a QB hit.
In the four years since Schwartz took over as Eagles DC, Bradham leads the team in combined tackles:
Nigel Bradham: 348
Malcolm Jenkins: 326
Rodney McLeod: 223
Jalen Mills: 209
Jordan Hicks: 204
Bradham led the Eagles in tackles in three of his four seasons in Philadelphia, but had a down year in 2019 as he fought through some injuries. As good as he was at times on the field, he also had a couple off-the-field incidents and was suspended for the first game of the 2018 season.
In New Orleans, he’ll be reunited with Jenkins, who signed with the Saints this offseason.
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