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When the New York Giants signed veteran cornerback James Bradberry, they knew they were getting a quality defender, but even they couldn’t have foreseen such a dominating start to his Big Blue career.
As the most-experienced corner on the team’s roster, Bradberry has been tasked with locking up against the No. 1 receiver on the opposing team each week. And the results? They’ve been mighty impressive.
Bradberry has surrendered just 12 receptions over four weeks to go along with a league-leading nine passes defensed. He’s also second in the league with a Pro Football Focus grade of 83.0, which trails only Jaire Alexander (90.9) of the Green Bay Packers.
For that reason, it should come as little surprise that Bradberry has been named to the PFF First-Quarter NFL All-Pro Team.
CB JAMES BRADBERRY, NEW YORK GIANTS
During his time in Carolina, James Bradberry faced one of the toughest gauntlets of elite receivers in the league due to the division he was in. Liberated from that nightmare of an assignment, Bradberry is instantly a much better coverage defender. He hasn’t had easy assignments for the first few weeks of this season but has seven pass breakups while allowing just 52.2% of passes thrown into his coverage to be caught. Bradberry’s numbers would be even better were it not for a couple of touchdowns he gave up against the Steelers in the first game of his season.
It’s been a hot start for Bradberry, but things get no easier in terms of matchups. In Week 5, the veteran will be lining up across from wide receivers Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb — two of the most explosive aerial threats in the league through four weeks.
After that it’s Terry McLaurin, Alshon Jeffery, DeSean Jackson and Mike Evans, so we’ll see how well Bradberry fares over the next quarter of the season.
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