Eagles

James Bradberry’s Giants Return Quote isn’t a Big Deal

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Feb 8th, 2023 · 9:59 AM EST

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Bob Brookover used to write for the Philadelphia Inquirer before taking a recent buyout. He’s now covering the Giants for NJ.com and tweeted this Tuesday night:

James Bradberry said he’d be open to returning to the Giants and paid big compliment to DB coach Jerome Henderson.

— Bob Brookover (@brookob) February 7, 2023

Some people saw that and did a weird pseudo-freak out thing, like “why is he talking about going back to the Giants during Super Bowl week?”

The actual quote, however, is totally innocuous, and Brookover included it in a story titled “If Giants want Eagles’ James Bradberry back after Super Bowl, he’s open to the idea.“

Here’s the relevant portion:

As special as this season has been for Bradberry, Slay and the Eagles, they all know this could be a one-and-done deal.

The Eagles have some difficult free-agent decisions to make, including and especially Bradberry, and a star quarterback in Jalen Hurts, who will soon eat up a lot of salary-cap space when he signs his next deal.

…

That doesn’t, however, mean that Bradberry has closed the door on a return to the Giants, a much-improved team that will now have more cap space and a need at cornerback.

“I try to be an open-minded guy, so the possibilities are limitless when it comes to free agency and where I end up,” Bradberry said. “It just depends on who wants me. I still have friends (with the Giants) and my DB coach (Jerome Henderson) is still there and he’s a great coach. I miss playing under his tutelage. I can’t make any promises, but I’m open minded.”

That’s basically it. He’s saying he’s “open minded” and liked playing for New York’s DB coach. He’s not saying anything like “yeah I can’t wait to fuck off and go back to the Giants, I hate playing in Philadelphia.” His situation was weird anyway, a product of circumstance that’s largely due to Dave Gettleman leaving Joe Schoen with cap problems upon his exit.

I don’t see anything wrong with this. He’s just being honest. We’re always asking athletes to give us more of that.