Bradley tore his ACL in a scrimmage last night and is done for the season. This is a blow to the Eagles defense as Bradley emerged as a solid playmaker in 2008 (although he dropped a lot of INT opportunities). With Brian Dawkins in Denver now, Bradley was also emerging as the vocal leader of the Eagles defense. Look for Omar Gaither and Joe Mays to battle for the starting role. Mays is probably the better player, but Gaither has experience as a starter at MLB and WLB.

That is bad news for the eagles and Stewart. I've had the chance to watch Stewart for four years while he was at Nebraska and it was nice to see him doing well with the Eagles. Here is to a speedy and full recovery.

Looks like Mays is getting the early shot to replace Bradley. He's undersized at MLB, but he's a very physical and instinctual player. They drafted him late in the 2008 NFL Draft out of North Dakota State (he was one of those "who?" draft picks), but he really stood out in camp/preseason last year before getting relegated to the bench in favor of Bradley.

The Eagles also brought in Matt Wilhelm to add depth/competition at the position.

The biggest loss may be Bradley's leadership on the defense. With the defense losing Jim Johnson and the departure of Brian Dawkins, the unit was sorely in need of direction. Sheldon Brown has always taken on a bit of a leadership role, but his contract dispute and impending departure have taken that away. The only other guy who seems like he can step in as the defensive leader is Quintin Mikell.

JW isn't Omar Gaither much better at 'Will' than 'Mike?'

Bradley will be missed. From what I saw of him last year he was really turning into a beast.

Gaither actually played fairly well at MLB when he stepped in as a rookie to finish out the year in 2006. And in 2007, he seemed to regress at the position as the season went on. He just isn't physical enough at that position. He didn't play all that well at Will in 2008 -- he seemed tentative and was replaced mid-season by Akeem Jordan (undrafted 2nd-year player from JMU). So I think he's better suited to play Will than Mike, but he performed better at Mike.

May be a moot point now as Joe Mays has been handed the starting role at MLB already.

So how will this effect the Eagles D? Speciffically it seems that this is now a smaller lighter but possibly faster LB corps is that correct

The D is definitely smaller (or, I should say shorter) now. Bradley was no slouch in the speed department though. Mays appears to be a bit more stout against the run and a bit more instinctual (think a poor man's Sam Mills), but it looks like Gaither will get the call at MLB as part of the nickel package as he's a better athlete and able to drop into coverage with more effectiveness. Honestly, I think the biggest loss will be the leadership that Bradley was bringing on and off the field for a team that really seems to be feeling the loss of Jim Johnson and Brian Dawkins.