Giants have plans in case James Bradberry trade doesn’t happen

From the outside looking in, the Kansas City Chiefs seem squarely in the driver’s seat when it comes to a potential trade for New York Giants cornerback James Bradberry. However, earlier this week, Giants general manager Joe Schoen stated that he’s not going to feel backed into a corner (pun intended). In fact, the Giants are open to keeping Bradberry for another year.

Now at this time of year, you have to take anything that anyone says— on the Chiefs or the Giants—with a grain of salt knowing that there are so many smokescreens given and posturing utilized. It’s hard to tell what is true or false these days, so the safe assumption is that everything is a lie. Maybe so.

Right now, the Giants have Bradberry clearly on the team’s trade block. He’s the signing of a former leadership regime on an expensive deal for a team that needs to free up the cap space and move forward with new financial priorities. The trade scenario is the exact sort of cost-cutting measure seen around the league year after year.

The New York Giants look like they’re in a bad spot with James Bradberry, but their GM says they’ve got plans to keep him if needed.

For the Chiefs, a move for Bradberry makes sense given the need for a veteran cornerback. Right now the Chiefs are not only thin on talent at the position, but they’re looking very young entering into another year. That might work out fine but Bradberry would be a welcome addition to the mix. Then again, Bradberry is going to cost a lot of money if a team trades for him and the smarter move would be to wait for the Giants to release him—or at least that’s been the commonly held belief until now.

If Schoen is telling the truth here, then it means a team is going to have to give up something in order to employ Bradberry in their secondary next year. That something isn’t likely to be much at all—perhaps even a late round pick or a swap of picks on Day 3 of the draft, but either way, it also means swallowing the very deal that the Giants are trying to avoid.

The Chiefs have traded away Tyreek Hill and made other moves this offseason in an effort to rid themselves of bad deals, so it’s hard to see them trading for Bradberry without the Giants taking on some of that burden. It makes even more sense to sign him after the Giants release him—assuming they do.

It all comes down to whether or not Schoen is telling the truth or sending a smokescreen. For now, he says Bradberry could be a Giant again in ’22.