New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry is off to roaring start here in 2020. The former second round pick of the Carolina Panthers who the Giants sign to a three-year, $45 million contract this offseason could be headed to his first Pro Bowl appearance.
Bradberry leads the NFL with six passes defensed after two weeks and is making his presence known on the Giants’ defense. He is currently the second highest ranked corner in the NFL by Pro Football Focus.
Highest-graded CBs through W2:
1. Jaire Alexander – 86.3
2. James Bradberry – 86.0
3. Jaylon Johnson – 80.3
4. Janoris Jenkins – 78.9
5. Fabian Moreau – 75.5 pic.twitter.com/MoeOZxxmpb— PFF (@PFF) September 26, 2020
Bradberry also has one interception and a forced fumble. Giants linebacker Lorenzo Carter was asked what in particular he sees in Bradberry’s game.
“Just his skill set, his ability to match up with the best receivers on the other team and actually matchup with them pretty well. He’s done a good job just coming in, accepting his role and doing well. We just need more of it. You saw he had that great play. He’s had a couple pass break ups. We just need that type of stuff to get where we want.”
New teammate Logan Ryan, who has never played on a losing season in his seven NFL seasons and knows a quality football player when he sees one. He was asked how much he knew about Bradberry before they both came to the Giants.
“No, he didn’t fly under the radar for me. I knew him in Carolina,” said Ryan. “He’s an extremely big corner, great patience, physical. This guy was the number one corner in a division where he matched up with Julio (Jones), he matched up with Mike Evans and (Chris) Godwin, and he matched up with Michael Thomas every week. That’s a tough job to play the number one corner in the NFC South, and he’s done a good job with that. I knew he was a good player. I knew he was a good player studying him, practicing against him, playing against him. He’s just a really good corner, and he’s playing like that. We need him to be that to be good on defense, and that’s what he’s doing. The name of the game at cornerback is consistency. Just doing it week in and week out, and he’s done a good job of that for two weeks. We all need to start playing like him, for him to be consistent and to be solid for us to allow me to move around and do what I do to allow our defense to be our defense. I think it’s building and the chemistry with the guys is building, but I think James has definitely done his job. We just need to translate it to wins.”
And that is coming. The Giants’ defense has been tightening up with each game. It won’t be long until the whole unit gets recognized like Bradberry has.