The New York Giants made their first big free agency splash on Monday afternoon shortly after the NFL’s legal tampering window opened, agreeing to terms with veteran cornerback James Bradberry.
Here’s a quick look at five things Giants fans should know about their newest cornerback.
A Dave Gettleman draft pick
Bradberry was a second-round pick of the Carolina Panthers in the 2016 NFL Draft, which just happened to be a draft headed by their then GM and current Giants GM, Dave Gettleman.
The selection of Bradberry, who was given jersey No. 24, was a fitting one given that Gettleman was engaged in a public war with Josh Norman at the time. Norman had been designated the team’s franchise player but later had that tag rescinded.
Bradberry came in, replaced Norman and, arguably, has played better than Norman each day of the last four seasons.
Bradberry shut down the very best
There were eight times in which Bradberry shadowed a No. 1 receiver in 2019, and he arguably won all but one of those matchups. In fact, he surrendered just one touchdown and did not allow a 100-game.
Making that all the more impressive is that he did it against the likes of Michael Thomas, Mike Evans, Julio Jones and others.
Thomas did get the best of Bradberry in Week 12, but the corner rebounded by completely shutting him down in Week 17.
Forces quarterbacks to make tough throws
One of the most intriguing aspects of Bradberry’s game is his ability to force quarterbacks into making tough throws into tight windows.
Over his first four seasons, Bradberry has been among the NFL’s best at limiting wide receiver separation, trailing only Casey Heyward and Darius Slay by a very minimal percentile.
Bradberry’s ability to play tight man coverage is going to make defensive coordinator Patrick Graham’s job much, much easier.
PFF lists Bradberry as a “Buyer Beware” player
Despite the very obvious success Bradberry has had throughout his career, particularly in man coverage as we’ve addressed, analytics website Pro Football Focus still views him relatively far down their list.
They had Bradberry listed as the seventh-best cornerback in free agency and tagged him with the dreaded “buyer beware.”
Bradberry is one of the biggest “buyer beware” free agents this year. Bradberry has failed to eclipse a 65.0 coverage grade in each of the last three seasons, and he was 62nd at his position in terms of PFF WAR last year.
We don’t know about you, but we’ll take the ironclad results (see a few slides earlier) over an independent grade any time.
The new No. 1
Make no mistake about it, Bradberry joins the Giants as their new No. 1 cornerback and will take on the role of leader, having to tutor the likes of Sam Beal, DeAndre Baker, Corey Ballentine, Grant Haley and others.
The Giants have invested a substantial amount into the position in recent years and they’re not giving up on those investments, but 2019 proved they need a legitimate No. 1 — especially after parting ways with Janoris Jenkins.
