Paying It Forward Helped Eagles' Safety Return

PHILADELPHIA - The height of Marcus Epps’ NFL career was the 2022 season when the Wyoming product was the steady hand on the back end of the Philadelphia Eagles’ Super Bowl LVII defense.

By 2024, Reed Blankenship, who was named an Eagles’ captain for the first time earlier this week, had developed into that role for the Lombardi Trophy-winning SB LIX Philadelphia defense.

The start of that transition came when Blankenship was an unheralded, undrafted rookie out of Middle Tennessee State in 2022, when Epps started to pay it forward.

Now 29 and coming off stints in Las Vegas and a spring and summer with New England, Epps was brought back by the Eagles to the practice squad earlier this week, and head coach Nick Sirianni volunteered that Blankenship was a big part in that evaluation.

A Helping Hand

“One thing when we were talking about bringing Marcus back, Reed Blankenship would talk to us about how much Marcus helped him develop as a player and helped learn the scheme,” the Eagles head coach said. “So [Epps is] really sharp, and he's got great leadership qualities and it's awesome that that's the memory Reed has of Marcus.

“That he introduced him into this thing when he was a rookie and Marcus was in his fourth year and he helped him grow.”

Now Sirianni is envisioning Epps teaming with Blankenship to help third-year play Sydney Brown and rookie Drew Mukuba.

“Now with Marcus being here, you get him caught up to speed as quick as possible and then he can help Sydney and Andrew as well as Reed helping those guys grow,” said Sirianni. “I've always really valued my relationship with Marcus and who he is as a person and who he is as a player and really excited to have him back.”

Epps started all 20 games for the Eagles through SB LVII, amassing 94 tackles, six PBUs, and a forced fumble in the regular season while adding 13 more tackles in the postseason.

The performance was good enough to earn Epps a two-year deal with the Raiders. During his first season in Las Vegas, Epps started all 17 games before tearing his ACL in Week 3 last season.

Epps recovered and signed a one-year, $1.4M deal with the Pats before reportedly requesting his release and reuniting with Philadelphia.

Currently, the Eagles only have three players at safety on the 53-man roster -- Blankenship, Brown and Mukuba -- with Epps and Andre' Sam on the practice squad.

The Eagles also have an open spot on the roster after placing OL Willie Lampkin on injured reserve.

"I've always really valued my relationship with Marcus and who he is as a person and who he is as a player," Sirianni said. "Really excited to have him back."

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