Reed Blankenship to the Rescue at Safety
The Eagles drafted a pair of national champions and an heir apparent they feel would be a worthy replacement for a future Hall of Famer in the premium rounds of the 2022 NFL Draft.
Philadelphia is still waiting for major contributions from Jordan Davis, Nakobe Dean, and Cam Jurgens, however, with each penciled in to have much larger roles come September. Another rookie is in that same category and it's one that the Eagles got a longer look at in his freshman season, the undrafted Reed Blankenship.
While the higher-profile sophomores remain projections, head coach Nick Sirianni spoke about Blankenship like he was a constant at the NFL owners' meetings on Tuesday.
"[There is] no doubt do we have confidence in him. We have confidence in him on a 16-4 team last year to start games," Sirianni said when discussing Blankenship to reporters in Phoenix. "We have a lot of confidence that he can do the same thing this year.”
What drew Philadelphia to Blankenship, 24, was his football IQ, developed as a five-year starter at Middle Tennessee State, the same school that helped turn Kevin Byard from Philly kid to Pro Bowl safety with Tennessee, along with his physicality.
Sirianni again reiterated that the Eagles knew they had a keeper in Blankenship when the pads went on last summer.
“That was the one thing with Reed that you noticed right away, that he was shining when the pads came on in training camp practices that you knew you had to keep him around because you knew he could be really good,” the coach said. “[Former defensive coordinator Jonathan] Gannon and ex-secondary coach Dennard [Wilson] and [assistant secondary coach] D.K. [McDonald], they would always talk about, ‘Hey this guy is gonna be good, he’s gonna be good.’
"And he played well when he was in last year.”
Blankenship was thrust into the lineup when C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffered a lacerated kidney.
After Gardner-Johnson returned and with slot corner Avonte Maddox out, the Eagles decided to use Gardner-Johnson in the slot while rotating Blankenship in at safety, essentially choosing the rookie over veteran lot Josiah Scott.
Blankenship ended up playing 348 defensive snaps, 247 as a centerfielder, and 64 in the box with some occasional work in the slot (32), along with some short-yardage work on the line. He was good enough with that work to grade out as the ninth-best safety in the NFL by Pro Football Focus.
“I think Reed did a nice job last year of playing a lot of meaningful plays and starting games last year,” Sirianni said.
The Eagles need two starters after losing both Marcus Epps and Gardner-Johnson in free agency and Blankenship is expected to be one of them.
The team also signed veterans Terrell Edmunds and Justin Evans to low-risk deals and will bring back K’Von Wallace and Andre Chachere from the 2022 NFC Championship Team.
If Philadelphia was forced to play this weekend the duo at the position would likely be Blankenship and Edmunds, a five-year starter in Pittsburgh. More bodies could be added before Week 1, however, with the draft upcoming and Sirianni noting CJGJ was acquired on Aug. 30 of last year and was starting in Week 1 at Detroit.
“As far as the depth at the safety position, it’s coming together but you’re never a finished product," the coach said.
-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
