The Philadelphia Eagles made the difficult decision to part ways with linebacker Nigel Bradham, but head coach Doug Pederson believes the team is in good hands.
While sitting down with Eagles Insider Dave Spadaro, the topic of Bradham’s release and the Eagles’ future at linebacker was brought up.
When asked if linebacker was a position of need, Pederson was vague with his response but gave T.J. Edwards and other young players a vote of confidence.
“It’s all about evaluation. It’s all about, how we can construct our roster and we sometimes we have to make tough decisions. We’ve done this now the last four years, making these types of moves and these types of decisions. We thank Nigel obviously for what he did, he helped us win a championship a couple years ago. He’s been a valuable player for us. I do feel really good about our young players. I thought T.J. Edwards made a big step forward last year, so we’ve got to look at that as well, but everything is in the best interests of the Philadelphia Eagles.”
Since joining Philadelphia in 2016, Bradham has started all 58 regular-season games he played and six postseason games, while constantly showing that he was the Eagles’ most consistent linebacker.
Finances rule the NFL and Bradham who turn 31 in September, has seen his production decline as his cap hit ballooned to $9.8 million if he was on the team in 2020.
The Eagles undrafted free agent from the last offseason, Edwards excelled as a special teams player and was getting significant reps as the Eagles entered the playoffs.
Bradham’s departure could signal the beginning of the T.J. Edwards era in Philadelphia.
Edwards ascension up the depth chart was held up by the struggles that every rookie deals with when attempting to digest Jim Schwartz’s complicated defensive scheme.
With Schwartz being a great teacher and developer of talent, look for Edwards to continue to improve as a player, looking towards a breakout 2020 season.