Will James Bradberry shadow Eagles' DeVonta Smith and shut him down again? 

The Giants loved DeVonta Smith in the draft process.

They love him still.

"To see a rookie, he’s got the robo arm [brace] on, he hurts his ankle and he comes in the next series on Tuesday night, I couldn’t be more impressed with this guy," Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said of the Eagles receiver. "He’s a good football player."

The Giants even like his edginess.

"The emotions he shows in terms of wanting the ball at the end of the game in the last game, I think that’s a good sign for a player," Graham added of Smith’s meltdown as the Giants’ 13-7 victory over the Eagles on Nov. 28 came to an end.

After teammate Jalen Reagor dropped a pass at the goal line on the Eagles’ final chance to win the game, Smith flung his helmet at the bench and appeared to be screaming at coach Nick Sirianni for not getting targeted at all in the team’s final two drives.

"I’ve got a lot of respect for that guy and his toughness," Graham said.

It’s why even as the Giants focus on stopping a running attack that racked up 208 yards against them in the earlier meeting — the one that has accounted for at least 175 yards in each of the past seven games — they’ll be keeping an eye out for Smith and the passing game.

And they may have just the matchup to handle it.

In that Week 12 meeting, the Giants limited Smith to two catches for 22 yards largely because of the play of James Bradberry. It was, by most accounts, Bradberry’s best game of the season.

Early on in the contest, he and Adoree’ Jackson were playing on opposite sides of the field and not locked up on any particular receiver, but when Jackson left the game in the second quarter, the Giants changed that plan and had Bradberry follow Smith.

With Jackson still not back — he was in the team’s COVID protocol this week along with the player who replaced him in that game, Aaron Robinson — the chances are high that the Giants will lean on their top cornerback to again take Smith out of the game.

"I was matched up on him and I felt like I played well against him," Bradberry told Newsday of that earlier meeting.

So does he just go out and try to do it again?

"You look at what you did well against him and you try to reproduce that," he said. "But of course he’s going to study the film and try to combat what didn’t work well against me. So you just want to go out and play and make sure your technique is good."

Even though he "won" their initial meeting, Bradberry remains full of praise for Smith.

"He’s very savvy," he said. "He ran good routes and had good release off the line of scrimmage. Very explosive. Very lean, but I think that’s what helps him run his routes. His body control is really good."

That seems to be the overwhelming opinion of Smith from the Giants.

"That number 6, he’s a heck of a player," Joe Judge said. "He is one of the top players at his position in the league. That’s a lot to say now at a young age, but this guy is really a special type of player."

One the Giants will have to deal with for a very long time.

"We’re obviously going to see him a whole lot," Judge said. "I’m sure they’re going to have a different plan and find a way to match us up and create ways to get him open."

This season has not been as overtly successful for Bradberry as last year, when he was named to the Pro Bowl in his first campaign with the Giants. He remains, however, the Giants’ best option to go against Smith.

"This is the chess match," Graham said. "We’ve got to see what we do. Because the emergence of [ Eagles tight end Dallas] Goedert, it might be what we did with [Kansas City tight end Travis] Kelce. You never know, we might say, ‘Hey, put him over there.’ We’ve just got to play that game within the game and then we’re going to have to adjust."

Graham, though, did note Bradberry’s place in a secondary that is dealing with many issues from injury to COVID to newcomers who have just joined the team this week.

"J.B. is one of our better players," he said.

If he can be the one who keeps Smith from wrecking games against them this season and beyond, he’ll further entrench himself as one of the most valuable pieces on a roster that is certain to be overhauled in the coming months.

And maybe even be the salve to help take the still-irritating sting out of not being able to draft Smith themselves.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.