Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Preseason football is always exciting, but it can be more heartbreaking in a single breath. Philadelphia Eagles LB Shaun Bradley suffered an Achilles injury in the preseason opener against Baltimore and has now been placed on IR.

Eagles LB Shaun Bradley out for the season

Bradley has been a special teams mainstay in Philadelphia since his arrival back in 2020. The Temple graduate had earned playing time on defense but is best known for his tenacious play on special teams, having played in 68%+ of ST snaps every year. He played in 80% of Philly’s special teams snaps last season and his absence will leave a big void in the unit.

Both T.J Edwards and Kyzir White departed this past offseason, leaving Nakobe Dean, Shaun Bradley, Christian Elliss, and a flurry of new faces to hold the fort. Howie Roseman did add both Myles Jack and Zach Cunningham to the roster recently, which is just as well considering that they along with Nicholas Morrow may be called upon to fill special teams duties.

Adding further insult to injury is the fact that this is the final year of his rookie contract. In an ideal world, the Eagles will sign him next offseason, but it’s a really unfortunate situation for Bradley, who has been nothing but impressive at the NFL level.

With Bradley now on the shelf, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the Eagles place an extra focus on special teams when deciding the final few roster spots.

We’d like to wish Shaun a speedy and full recovery.

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