James Bradberry: 'I couldn't really say I blame myself' for landing on COVID-19 list
Giants' James Bradberry (24) intercepts a pass against Philadelphia Eagles' John Hightower (82) during the first half of an NFL football game, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020, in Philadelphia. Credit: AP/Derik Hamilton
Giants cornerback James Bradberry said it was "definitely weird" watching Sunday’s loss to the Browns from his couch, but said it wasn’t his fault that he wound up on reserve/COVID-19 after he was in close contact with his chiropractor who tested positive.
"I couldn’t really say I blame myself," the Pro Bowler said on Wednesday, making his first public remarks since he was sidelined beginning last week. "It’s just a predicament because of COVID. It was an uncontrollable accident that happened."
That’s not necessarily how Joe Judge saw it when it happened, labeling it "a mistake."
"That’s obviously something that we try to avoid," Judge said of using professionals outside the team’s testing sphere last week. "If someone is external, I don’t care if it’s a chiropractor or a dentist, a barber, whoever you need contact with, get them in our system. We’ll get them tested, we’ll make sure you’re safe, make sure we make all the right decisions."
Judge said that he did not consider Bradberry’s decision to be "anything malicious to hurt the team" and also called it "unfortunate." He and Bradberry both said that Bradberry thought this chiropractor, who Bradberry has been seeing all season, worked for and was being tested by the Jets since he worked with players from that organization.
"I knew he was with the Jets, so I knew he was getting tested every day," Bradberry said, even though that wasn’t the case. "I didn’t really see it as a problem."
Neither did his teammates, apparently. Safety Logan Ryan said on Sunday he did not hold Bradberry responsible for missing the game, which turned out to be a huge personnel loss that factored heavily in a very big team loss to the Browns. Still, Ryan said on Wednesday that the pandemic has changed many routines when it comes to physical care.
"Guys can’t really get massages or anything because we might get COVID," he said. "I mean, I’m 15 weeks with no massage, so I don’t think anyone’s too healthy at this point of the year."
Bradberry, it seems, wasn’t subscribing to that level of caution.
"I was just really disappointed that I wasn’t able to go out there," he said of the Browns game.
Bradberry never did test positive for COVID-19. He will be back on the field for the Giants on Sunday against the Ravens.
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.
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