James Bradberry Cut by Giants After Trade Rumors; Saves $10.1M in Cap Space

James Bradberry was released by the New York Giants.

The Giants tried to find a trade partner for their former No. 1 corner, but he was released instead.

Dan Duggan @DDuggan21

The Giants are releasing CB James Bradberry after failing to find a trade partner, per source. The move will create $10.1M in cap savings while leaving $11.7M in dead money.

(Savings will be $11.5M with $10.4M dead this year and $1.4M dead in 2023 if they make it a June 1 cut)

Bradberry signed a three-year, $43.5 million contract with the Giants in 2020 after four years with the Carolina Panthers. He made the Pro Bowl in his first season.

The Giants are undergoing a rebuild with a new regime.

The team needs to get under the salary cap. The Giants had minus $7 million in effective cap space prior to the Bradberry release, so they had to make drastic moves to get out of the red.

Bradberry was an obvious choice to be traded or released. The Giants are not in a position to compete for a Super Bowl.

Although Bradberry was one of the Giants best defensive players and two years removed from a Pro Bowl appearance, keeping him didn't make sense given his cap hit and the team's rebuilding process.

The Kansas City Chiefs emerged as the primary option after the Giants engaged in trade talks. Nothing materialized.

Ryan Morik gave an update on WFAN Sports Radio last week.

"We're working through that right now. His agents have been great, we've been in constant communication, I've talked to James, it's been very professional throughout the whole process, and we should have some resolution, hopefully, by the end of the week.

"It's unfortunate, because he's a great kid… I've always spoken very highly of the kid. Listen, he's a starting corner in the league. It's just, where we are financially, we still gotta sign our draft picks, we gotta be able to sign our practice squad, and then have replacement costs early in the season."

He thought there would be more trade interest.

"I thought there would be more interest. There were some teams that showed interest pre-draft, and we had a couple of different times there were compensation in place, and the contracts never worked out. Being the fact that we did have good talks with other teams and their agents, had good talks with teams, sometimes, if you're gonna renegotiate a contract and you couldn't come to an agreement, it is what it is."

Bradberry shouldn't have a lot of competition. He amassed 35 pass breakups and seven intercepts over his two years as the Giants top corner, even though his 2021 season wasn't as good as his 2020 Pro Bowl campaign.

The Giants have a huge hole at the corner. It will be up to players like Jackson, Robinson, and Flott to get the job done.