Reed Blankenship is the Rare Undrafted Polished Product
PHILADELPHIA - Call it the Murfreesboro discount.
A five-year starter in Tuscaloosa or South Bend might cost an NFL team a first-round pick. One from the sixth-largest city in Tennessee cost the Eagles all of $5,000 to sign.
In an era of football where those who play the game for a living have never spent less time playing the game (reps not games for the uninitiated) maybe we should have seen Reed Blankenship coming.
Five years of playing time at Middle Tennessee State provided Philadelphia with a polished product instead of a projection and the 6-foot-1, 203-pound undrafted rookie quickly lapped more heralded players in the secondary to find a spot on the 53-man roster.
The man in charge of that decision, GM Howie Roseman, quickly honed in on Blankenship’s experience at the college level in explaining why the little-known prospect was kept over a former NFL interception leader (Anthony Harris) and a former starter in the Super Bowl (Jaquiski Tartt).
“Reed is an interesting guy. Reed is a five-year starter. You don't see many of those guys going,” Roseman said before head coach Nick Sirianni chimed in “with 419 tackles.”
“It's unbelievable,” Roseman continued. “Reed is one of those guys, he started the last man in that group, and every day we evaluate practice, we evaluate everything he did, and he continued to show up. He had a feel.”
Blankenship talked about his ascension from the last man on the depth chart with SI’s Eagles Today in the locker room before practice on Wednesday.
"It was an everyday thing,” said the 23-year-old Blankenship. “I had to stay uncomfortable every day. You gotta go to work every day. I never thought for one split second that I had a spot solidified."
When Blankenship got first-team reps opposite Marcus Epps for the first time it was a real eye-opener for those observing practice every day.
The look was hardly a guarantee but it was an indication that defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon and secondary coach Dennard Wilson decided it was worth upping the ante and evaluating him against the team’s top offensive players.
"How I look at it as a player, you gotta put as much effort into as you can into everything,” Blankenship said. “When I got my opportunity, I tried to try my best and gave as much effort as I could and hopefully that stood out enough."
It obviously did and Blankenship kept getting additional opportunities.
As a potential rookie reserve, though, the Alabama native also had to catch the eye of special teams coordinator Michael Clay and that’s where the college success was actually a bit of a detriment for Blankenship.
As a key part of the defense with the Blue Raiders, Blankenship rarely got any special teams work.
“I did not play a lot of special teams in college,” said Blankenship, “but I knew coming into the league that special teams is where I'm gonna have to make my money, and I knew that and I'm not snubbing my nose at it at all. It's just one of those things where you gotta work on it. Work on it like you’re a starter on defense.”
Blankenship is already starting to excel in the third phase.
“Honestly, it’s the same thing you know? You gotta be technical about it,” said Blankenship. “You got to know what you’re doing. You’ve got to do your job. Be physical. That’s what special teams is and that’s just the game of football.”
On a team with lofty expectations, Roseman added another one when discussing Blankenship.
“I don't want to put too high expectations on him, but he kind of reminded me of a guy like Quintin Mikell who we had here,” the GM said.”He has physical tools, but he's always around the ball, and credit to him and our coaches for putting him in position to make plays.”
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Sports. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talker Jody McDonald, every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube.com and JAKIBSports.com. You can reach John at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
