NFL Free agency: James Bradberry re-signs with Eagles on three-year, $38 million contract

Defensive back James Bradberry became a household name in February when his defensive holding penalty against JuJu Smith-Schuster on third down in the final two minutes of Super Bowl LVII gave the Kansas City Chiefs a new set of downs. The penalty allowed Kansas City to retain possession and kicked a game-winning field goal with 11 seconds remaining.

Despite the sour ending, Bradberry had a standout year in Philadelphia. He will stay home in Philadelphia this year after signing a three-year deal worth $38 million, including $20 million in guaranteed money, with the Eagles, according to Adam Schefter.

The deal also includes $6 million in incentives to bring the total value of the deal to $44 million.

The 29-year-old defensive back was drafted in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers. He played four years with Carolina, two years with the New York Giants and this past season with the Philadelphia Eagles. He has played in 109 games in his career, starting all but one of them.

His best season was this past one with the Eagles. He was a second-team All-Pro selection.

Bradberry was a four-year starter at Samford after transferring from Arkansas State. He was the No. 2168 overall recruit in the 2011 high school recruiting class, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

More on the 2023 NFL offseason, free agency

The NFL 2023 calendar year is set to begin at 4 p.m. ET on March 15 when contracts running through 2022 will officially run out, making those players free agents. Prior to the beginning of free agency, teams will have a chance to designate one franchise or transition tag player, starting on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. ET and ending on March 7. Beginning March 13 through March 15 teams will be allowed a legal negotiation with players who are set to become unrestricted free agents.

In addition to NFL free agency, the new year also marks the beginning of all trades being made official by the league office. April 21 marks the deadline to sign restricted free agents to offer sheets while April 26 marks the deadline for teams to match restricted free agent offers sheets. 722 players are slated to become free agents in 2023.

More on restricted, exclusive rights free agents

Players with only three years of accredited NFL experience become restricted free agents. Their original team will have the option to apply first-round, second-round, original-round, and right-of-fight-of-first-refusal tenders on players at escalating price tags. The higher the round, the more expensive the tender amount; however, if a separate team does offer a contract and the original team does not match that round pick will be conveyed from the new team to the original team. Right of first refusal only gives a team the option to match or not. If they don’t match, they get nothing in return. An original-round tender would send a draft pick from whatever round the player was drafted back to the original team if they chose not to match. The original team will have five days to match once a player signs an offer sheet from a new team.