When we look around the Philadelphia Eagles defense in 2025, we will see a gathering of perhaps the greatest group of young talent on that side of the ball in NFL history.
On the defensive front, there’s a pair of first round picks in defensive tackles Jordan Davis and NFL All-Pro Jalen Carter. At linebacker, there’s another first round pick in Jihaad Campbell and All-Pro Zack Baun, who just signed a 3-year, $51 million contract.
At the cornerback spots there’s 2024 first round pick Quinyon Mitchell and 2024 second round pick and Super Bowl hero Cooper DeJean — a player who would have gone in the first round in almost any year except the one he was drafted.
Backing all of them up is a player who, for all intents and purposes, shouldn’t be there — fourth-year free safety Reed Blankenship, an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State.
Blankenship has started 15 games each of the last 2 seasons for the Eagles and started all 4 postseason games following the 2024 season on the way to a 40-22 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIX on February 9.
PFF’s Jonathan Macri called Blankenship the “Most Underrated Player” on Philadelphia’s roster headed into 2025.
“On a Super Bowl-winning roster, there will always be some unsung heroes whose contributions might get overlooked, and Blankenship stands out,” Macri wrote on May 14. “As a former undrafted free agent, Blankenship has assumed a locked-in starter over the past two seasons and delivered an 87.2 PFF coverage grade, which ranks eighth among 129 qualifying safeties since 2022.”
From UDFA to Starter for Super Bowl Champions
Blankenship, 6-foot-1 and 203 pounds, only had one Power Four offer coming out of West Limestone High School in Lester, Alabama — from Minnesota — but ended up at Middle Tennessee.
Philadelphia Eagles’ safety Reed Blankenship on having his jersey retired at West Limestone High School:
“This is one of the best accomplishments I’ve ever had.”
Blankenship was a 5-year starter and 5-time All-Conference USA selection at Middle Tennessee — he got an extra year because of the pandemic — and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.55 seconds at Pro Day but still went undrafted.
He made the Eagles as an undrafted free agent in 2022, started 4 games as a rookie and played in a Super Bowl loss to the Chiefs. Blankenship took over as the starting free safety in 2023, when he had a career high 113 tackles to go with 3 interceptions and 11 pass deflections.
In 2024, Blankenship had 78 tackles and a career high 4 tackles along with 6 pass deflections.
Eagles May Have Found Blankenship’s Replacement Already
The Eagles may have already found Blankenship’s replacement — more as a result of his success than any shortcomings.
In a perfect world, Blankenship would be able to stay with the Eagles, but he’s already played out his 3-year, $2.56 million rookie contract and is playing in 2025 on a 1-year, $3.5 million contract extension he signed in April 2024.
That makes Blankenship an unrestricted free agent following this season, when he could very well cash out with a big contract from another team the Eagles won’t be able to match. Definitely not with huge contracts looming for Carter and, not much further down the road, Mitchell and DeJean.
Blankenship’s contract status is likely the main reason the Eagles selected Texas safety Andrew Mukuba in the second round (No. 64 overall) of the 2025 NFL draft — a player who could very well take over the starting free safety spot in 2026.
