I know the Philadelphia Eagles are looking for defensive help in this year’s NFL Draft but Stewart Bradley’s return could be the biggest acquisition that the defense will get.
Bradley is a big, athletic and competitive middle linebacker who is coming back from a ACL tear. I know he’s been working hard but doing drills at the Nova Care complex isn’t playing NFL football.
The Eagles have to be patient with him and realize that it’s probably going to take some time before we see the guy who was at the Eagles training camp last year.
Bradley was strongest in pass defense, which is a surprise for a backer his size but an advantage because the NFL is now a passing league.  Can he still move like he did previously?
Number 55 was a three-down middle linebacker, which has become unusual in the NFL because middle backers are taken off the field on third down so the defense can get more speed on the field to guard the pass.
I like the fact that he loves the game and from what I hear, has been busting his butt to get back to the same level he was at before he got hurt.
He did a nice job before of keeping everybody on the defense on the same page.
Bradley is bright and seems to pick up coverages and adjustments very quickly.  I want to see him learn more of the subtleties in pass coverage which could allow him to pick off four or five passes a year.
He’s got to spend more time studying pass routes, so that he recognizes combination routes is able to anticipate what route a receiver is going to run.¬† Bradley was a good pass defender I want to see him become a great one.
Interceptions occur because you anticipate what the offense if going to do before they do it.¬† Bradley and the other young linebackers, Moise Fokou and Akeem Jordan must live in the video room studying what offenses do in certain situations, so they can anticipate what they’re going to do.
That anticipation allows a defender to get in position a split second early and that’s when the turnovers are forced.
I would also like to see Bradley and his teammates make it a practice of tackling the football, which means to pull it out of a ball carriers hands every chance they get.
It should be the practice of the second, third or fourth guy in on the tackle to go after the football.
I want to see if this big fella still has loose hips and ability to change direction like he demonstrated previously.  Before the injury, his size and quickness allowed him to do a good job against both speedy tight ends as well as quick and elusive running backs.
I want to see Bradley catching balls after practice out at Lehigh because he gets his hands on enough passes to lead the league in interceptions by a linebackers.¬† He’s got to start catching them.
I want to see Bradley stress getting turnovers in his own game and also stress it to his teammates.
This former Cornhusker was also a good blitzer.¬† He’s got the arm length, quickness and mindset to beat blockers when he comes.¬† He used to blitz with a reckless abandon but that’s sometimes lost with knee surgeries.
I want to see him get better as a tackler by bending his knees more and focusing on exploding out of his stance to tear the ball carrier’s head off.
I’ve seen the explosion from him at times in the past, but I want to see him be a consistently violent tackler.¬† His aggressive tackling will enhance the effectiveness of the entire defense.
Bradley is a good run defender but he needs to get better. I want to see him be quicker in recognizing blocking patterns then attack them.  I want to see him making tackles in the backfield more often.
Before he caught too many blocks.  His height works against when teams attack him with lead blockers in the running game.  I want him get lower when he takes on big offensive linemen and use his hands more to get rid of them immediately.
He must bend his knees more and drop his shoulders in those situations, so he can get up under blockers.¬† His upper body strength saves him at times, but I don’t want to see him catching blocks.
Don’t let me get you all caught up into all the talk about run defense because NFL games are won and lost in the passing game nowadays.
Bradley was on his way to being a standout player in this league, now I want to see if he can get back on the road after the knee surgery, but I want him to contribute more interceptions, caused fumbles and fumble recoveries.
This young man must realize that he could take the Birds defense up to another level by pushing himself and his teammates.
Interesting to see G back up Stew here. Many people were down on him, in my opinion only because the team website was so high on him. I think and though he was what Gary said he was. Let’s see if anyone questions the most credible aspect that GCOBB brings to the table – the best thing about this site – evaluating LBs.
I’m not worried about Stew. I worry about depth. We saw what happened when he went down last year. When it happened last August, I honestly thought our season was doomed, and it can be argued that I was right.I would love to us draft a LB who can play both SAM and Mike.
Spoken like you’re wanting to get on the field with him 🙂
I’m looking forward to his return because he is a good leader on the field.
He plays with passion and I hope his knee is back.
I’m looking forward to his return because there’s nothing but crap behind him. Let’s face it. But excuse my ignorance, road to stardom? I know he was improving but let’s not get carried away. He was a solid young talent but he did nothing special. We had problems covering TEs, screens and short passing routes when he was in their as well. Of course, it’s good to get him back because he can keep the defense together and provide some leadership, but once again let’s not get carried away. I’m hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.
Scorp, having the talent to stay on the field for 3 downs is something special. G said it, and pretty much every analyst said it. He’s one guy. Gocong was very often covering TEs, and Bradley can’t play all 3LB spots at once.
I don’t expect Bradley to return to form until next year, if he stays healthy.
Scorp, I hear ya, but based on what we’ve had at LB during the Reid era, Bradley was on the road to stardom (at least in Philly).
And again – the eagles were one of the best teams in the league at covering TEs last year – we held many of the best TEs in the league to under their season averages (Gates from San Deigo for example) -Winslow from and Tampa was the notable exception – go look it up. The point you miss scorp is that the QBs and OCs new from the players they had on the field if it was a run oriented D or a pass oriented D, Dallas for example was very good at explointing this with run draws. Go back to SB 2004 – the adjustment the Pats made at halftime was to put in pass packages to get Trotter off the field, and then they ran, or run packages to exploit Trotter in coverage. With Bradley, Gaithier, Jordan and (cross finger and hope) Foukia or whoever comes in at SLB, you won’t have to do that. And not sure why you think Bradley was NOT on the road to stardon – see if you can search some of Peter King from SIs articles about Bradley during the 9-6-1 season. He had an eye opening year, did very well and it was anticipated he would compete for a pro bowl spot before he got hurt last year. And the comment about ‘crap’ behind him, remember that HIS back up also ended up on the IR. Big difference in pass coverage with gaithier and Bradley as the LBs in the nickel package as well. As for the screens, the Eagles did fairly against RB screens until Jordan got hurt (notice that’s 3 LBs hurt), it was WR screens that killed them – now, maybe a bigger faster MLB helps. The short passing routes – not sure about that, but I think that was more of a scheme thing then LBs not being able to cover. So i guess bottom line is that in my opinion, Bradley has the chance to re-solidify the middle of the D, help get better against the run (sideline to sideline, bcause regardless of what the rest of you people write, Bunkley and Patterson stuff the run in the middle), and the pass by not allowing Os to dictate what D package LBs are on the field, and he is a big, fast player to help with some of the issues you perceive as issues (how could he hurt right?)
Drummer, I hear you but being the best LB that Reid drafted isn’t really saying much in my opinion. I’m not with the hype. I’ll wait til people perform and give them their props. I don’t pay attention to all the hype about ANY player. And Bradley was a nice LB the year before last, but nothing to be wowed over. He’s just better than everyone else on the team but like I said, that ain’t saying much.
Schiller, I hear you too, but like I said, I’m not wowed by him. That’s just my opinion. Yes he can stay on the field for 3 downs but he still wasn’t a big playmaker. He was a solid player. Nothing more and nothing less. He’s on the road to stardom when he’s forcing fumbles and becomes a real force against the run. Until then, solid play doesn’t make you a star (see Sheldon Brown).
Bradley will come back strong and people will see just how big of an impact he has on this defense.
But they need to address overall LB depth. We saw how injuries there hugely impacted the defense last year. Although I like Joe Mays’ headbusting, he can’t be relied on and Gaither is coming off an injury also. I think they’ll add someone in the draft. Would like it to be an MLB but might be a WILL player and then they’ll rely on Gaither for depth at MLB.
Just because Stew is the best LB on the Team doesn’t mean he’s a Pro-Bowl Caliber LB..
He is simply the best one on the Eagles roster, .I would rank him as a good all-around LB, not great, but by no means a liability… If Eagles can draft a S Weatherspoon or a J Hughes to play beside him or get a true MLB like R McClain or S Lee, B Spikes and then slide Stew back to OLB. I think he and the Defense would be improved.
Stewart Bradley is a good player and I don’t understand why he is getting killed by some fans. He wears 55 not 5 so there is no reason to trash him. I hope we get 2 or 3 guys in the draft that are at least as good as 55 was before the injury. If he comes back 100%, which is possible given the injury occurred before game 1 of the preseason, we will already be ahead of where we were last year.
I would love for us to get a young clone of Ray Lewis but I’ll bet there are 32 General Managers that feel the same way.