Philadelphia Eagles' Reed Blankenship Reveals He Had Surgery For 'Freak Ordeal'

Reed Blankenship reveals he had surgery, but is now one of three Philadelphia Eagles safeties signed for at least two more seasons.

Nov 27, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship (32). / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

PHILADELPHIA – Everyone knew about Sydney Brown’s ACL surgery. Not many knew about Reed Blankenship’s surgery until the Philadelphia Eagles safety revealed he had a procedure done on his troublesome groin.

“Unfortunately, I had to have surgery,” said Blankenship during a Zoom call on Tuesday, one day after signing a one-year contract extension. “It was one of those personal decisions whether or not to do it and felt that was the best decision possible.

“Right now I feel great. I’m 100 percent back to normal. It feels good not being as sore as I was this past season dealing with it. I’m ready to go. I’m really excited to show what I can do.”

Blankenship said the groin injury happened late in the season.

Nov 26, 2023; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship (32). / Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

“It was one of those freak ordeals,” he said. “You extend a little bit in the wrong direction, and something tears a little bit. I ended up having to get it repaired, which I think I needed because they said it was a little chronic and had some stuff going on. It’s not even about how long I played on it, it’s just getting fixed up for the next one.”

Blankenship will be showing what he can do in a new defense, one schemed by veteran defensive coordinator Vic Fangio. It’s still early days with Fangio at the controls, but Blankenship likes what he has heard so far.

“I feel like he’s one of those old school guys that he wants his players to be nitty-gritty and play football for what it means,” he said. “He understands coming to Philly he’s going to have those players and we’re all excited to get this thing going.”

The Eagles safety room is set now for the next couple of seasons after general manager Howie Roseman gave Blankenship an extension that pays him $3.93 million over the next two years fully guaranteed with Pro Bowl and playing time incentives that could be worth up to $1.37M more.

Not bad for an undrafted free agent two years ago who had a base salary of just over $700,000.

Blankenship, 25, was leading the Pro Bowl voting early in the process last year, but injuries, such as the groin injury, but also to his ribs, cost him some snaps in-game when injuries struck and cost him some games.

He is part of an Eagles safety corps that should be together for at least two seasons.

Brown, who’s unavailability to start the season is still to be determined, is on the second year of his four-year rookie deal, and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson just signed a three-year contract in free agency.

Blankenship may be the best tackler on the back end, though. He led the team with 108 of them last year while also leading the team in interceptions with three.

On Monday, he received a performance bonus based on the NFL’s formula of deciding such matters of $923,000, which was the second-highest amount of the 25 eligible players who received performance-based money.

It was also Monday that he received his extension. Since Monday was April Fool’s Day, Blankenship was a bit skeptical at first of the double-shot of good news.

“My agent texted me the (performance) chart and it was on April 1 and I’m like, ‘You gotta be kidding me,’” he said. “This is a joke. I’m just fortunate. I was put in the position to play and I’m not gonna give that up for anything. I’m going to try and play my heart as much as I can, as much as my body can take it.”