New Giant CB took on the best
The Giants made a big free agency splash when they signed former Carolina Panthers cornerback James Bradberry to a three-year, $43.5 million contract to shore up their struggling pass defense. On a per-year average, Bradberry is the fourth-highest paid cornerback in the game, but Giants fans shouldn’t stress over that fact.
Overpaying players is commonplace in free agency and the Giants desperately needed to add talent to their secondary. Bradberry is as battle tested as they come and gives the Giants a corner whot can match up in man coverage against bona fide star receivers.
The NFC South is littered with receiver talent, which might skew the public perception of how good Bradberry is. Bradberry was routinely asked to play man coverage on Julio Jones, Mike Evans, and Michael Thomas with coverage snaps against Chris Godwin and Calvin Ridley sprinkled in.
Just about every cornerback in the league would struggle against those five receivers. Playing multiple games per season against that gauntlet of receiver talent is a tough ask. However, it’s not a bad place to start when it comes to evaluating Bradberry’s skill.
Against Evans, Godwin, Jones, Ridley, and Thomas, Bradberry allowed 27 catches on 43 targets (62.8 completion percentage) for 356 yards, 21 first downs (48.8 first-down percentage), one touchdown, and two interceptions. Those numbers might be alarming, but remember, these are some of the best receivers the NFL has to offer. It’s very easy to make the argument that Jones, Evans, Godwin, and Thomas are the top four receivers in the NFL right now.
Evans gave Bradberry the most trouble, bringing in 12 of his 20 targets against Bradberry for 157 yards and 10 first downs. The Panthers trusted Bradberry to follow Evans all over the field. For comparison, Bradberry had only one target against Godwin in both games.
Bradberry does his best work in press coverage when he can minimize the amount of ground he has to cover before he makes a play. That doesn’t always work against a big-bodied, speedy receiver like Evans who can simply beat defenses over the top on vertical routes. For example, the first reception Bradberry gave up against Evans this year came when Bradberry was in press man coverage and Evans ran by him for a 41-yard gain.
There were also plays in which the Panthers’ defensive playcalling left Bradberry out to dry. While Bradberry is generally effective in press coverage, he doesn’t fare quite as well in offcoverage.
When the Panthers faced offensive formations that had one receiver to one side of the offensive line and three receivers to the other side of the line (3x1 sets), Bradberry almost always played on the single receiver side. There generally isn’t much safety help for the corner in this situation because they have to tend to the side with three receivers first.
The Panthers failed Bradberry a handful of times by asking him to play off-coverage in these situations against the cream of the crop. Evans was able to beat Bradberry for a 17-yard gain in their Week 6 game because of his presnap alignment.
Bradberry was also negatively credited for a first down conversion on a fourth and one, but he really had no chance to stop the play, considering he was giving Evans a 10-yard cushion by design.
There were a few times when Bradberry was able to use his size to beat Evans at the catch point. These mostly occurred on throws to the end zone where Bradberry pinned Evans to the sideline on fade routes and jump balls. Bradberry ended the Panthers’ game in London against Tampa Bay with an interception on a jump ball.
While Bradberry definitely struggled with Evans, he fared a bit better against Jones. Bradberry allowed Jones to catch seven of his 11 targets for 97 yards and five first downs, but a large chunk of that came on a 38-yard pass when Bradberry got beat deep in press coverage.
Once again, the Panthers asked Bradberry to follow Jones around the field for the majority of both games. In those 3x1 sets on which Bradberry was on an island, he fought hard and defended Jones well on a “go” route to the end zone. Being able to stay in front of a receiver with the physical talent of Jones isn’t easy, but the Panthers still trusted Bradberry to do it.
In the instances where zone coverage became an extension of man coverage, Bradberry was effective against Jones. Bradberry is difficult to throw against in compact spaces because of his size and strength. He was able to force deep incompletions in the red zone versus Jones, particularly in the Panthers’ late-season matchup against the Falcons.
Similar to his battles against Evans, there were moments when the Panthers failed Bradberry. Against the Falcons and Buccaneers, Bradberry was left out on an island to dry and often found himself chasing Evans and Jones around the field. It’s a disadvantageous position for any cornerback to be in, but accentuates Bradberry’s lack of elite athleticism when he’s forced to play from behind due to mistakes by the coaching staff or his teammates.
Late in the season, the Panthers’ linebackers became sloppy against play action passes, which often left the middle of the field wide open for easy gains. It’s hard to fault Bradberry for his teammates lapses turning into big gains he had to clean up — whether that changes with the Giants or not can’t be answered yet.