March 14, 2018
In something of a surprising move, the Philadelphia Eagles were able to re-sign linebacker Nigel Bradham to a five-year deal. It's a big one, per Adam Schefter of ESPN:
Eagles' LB Nigel Bradham is signing a 5-year, $40 million deal, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2018
When the Kansas City Chiefs agreed to terms with former Cowboys linebacker Anthony Hitchens on a $9 million per year deal on Monday, that set the market for linebackers of similar value. Bradham will receive $1 million less than Hitchens, but still a very nice contract from the Eagles, who somehow found a way to fit him in under the cap.
A quick look at Bradham's numbers during his two years so far in Philly:
| Nigel Bradham | Tackles | Sacks | INT-PBU | FF-FR |
| 2016 | 102 | 2.0 | 1-5 | 2-1 |
| 2017 | 88 | 1.0 | 0-8 | 1-1 |
| TOTAL | 190 | 3.0 | 1-13 | 3-2 |
When Jordan Hicks was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles in 2017, Bradham instantaneously became the most solid and trustworthy linebacker on the roster. He took over Hicks' role of relaying the play calls from Jim Schwartz to the rest of the defense.
"I think one of the unsung stories of this season has been Nigel picking up that communication," said Jim Schwartz the week of the Super Bowl. "Nigel has always been a fiery guy. Sometimes I think he runs about five extra miles trying to get to the pile to make sure he's delivering whatever message he's going to deliver and it brings us a lot of energy, it really does. But that's a tough thing to do when you've got the coach speaking in your ear about, ‘Hey, remind this guy this and we're going to this call, but check it to this if something else is going on’. And he's done a really good job handling all that communication, and it's been fairly seamless."
With the Eagles agreeing to terms with linebacker Corey Nelson a day ago, and the return of Jordan Hicks, the obvious dot-connecting to make here is that the Eagles may already have a trade in place for Mychal Kendricks. Stay tuned.
UPDATE: Eagles confirmed:
The #Eagles have agreed to terms with LB Nigel Bradham on a five-year contract.#FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/FGIPBf5Ak2
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) March 14, 2018
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