If you wanted the Philadelphia Eagles to re-sign LeSean McCoy and/or Nigel Bradham, well, you’re out of luck. The two former Birds are heading to the NFC South.
McCoy is joining Tom Brady on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (for one year at just over $1 million) and Bradham is now a member of the New Orleans Saints.
McCoy was previously linked to the Eagles on multiple occasions. The Eagles were once reportedly expressing interest in him, Carlos Hyde, and Devonta Freeman. The former two are now off the market while the latter remains available. Perhaps Freeman — who had drawn interest from the Bucs — will eventually drop his price to where Philly feels comfortable signing him. Or perhaps the Eagles will just roll with the youth they have behind Miles Sanders in the backfield.
Missing out on McCoy is hardly the end of the world when the 32-year-old was a healthy scratch for the Kansas City Chiefs down the stretch last year. There’s also the reality of adding the weight of Shady’s previous off-field bagagge. Note that the Eagles won’t have to face their all-time leading rusher this season unless they meet the Bucs in the playoffs.
As for Bradham, well, a return to Philly never seemed all too likely. He told NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark that the Eagles were “happy with players they have” when they released him back in February. Bradham’s dismissal cleared up $4.5 million in cap space. Moving on from him wasn’t so crazy of a decision considering he merely had one interception and zero forced fumbles in his last 30 games.
Still, it’s not so fun to know that Bradham will be joining Malcolm Jenkins to play for one of the Eagles’ biggest competitors in the NFC. The best case scenario involves hoping they’re too old and ineffective to contribute. It’s not so fun to root against former starters like that who helped the Eagles win Super Bowl LII. Not to mention that the Eagles are still looking very thin at linebacker.
Both Bradham and Jenkins will return to Philly as members of the Saints when New Orleans comes to the Linc in Week 14.