The Philadelphia Eagles felt so confident about safety Reed Blankenship’s impact on the franchise’s Super Bowl championship season, that they traded away stalwart veteran safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans earlier this offseason.
Blankenship, 26, made major strides in his second season, posting 78 total tackles with a career-high four interceptions with one fumble recovery as an instrumental piece of the Eagles’ defense that powered a Super Bowl championship in 2024.
This season, with the arrival of incoming rookie Andrew Makuba, Blankenship could take on an expanded role as the elder statesman in the position room.
Reed Blankenship Named Philadelphia Eagles’ Most ‘Underreted’ Player
Pro Football Focus analyst Jonathon Macri put together a list of each team’s most underrated player, ahead of the 2025 season, including Blankenship getting the nod for the Eagles.
“On a Super Bowl-winning roster,” Macri writes for PFF. “there will always be some unsung heroes whose contributions might get overlooked, and Blankenship stands out.
“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.”
There is little question that Blankenship has outplayed his status as a former undrafted free agent, and could potentially wind up as the Eagles’ top safety this fall.
How Philadelphia really views Blankenship will never be clearer than whether the Eagles decide to make a significant run at signing veteran safety Justin Simmons to drop into the secondary alongside the likes of Blankenship, Makuba, and second-year safety Sydney Brown.
For now, at least, Blankenship looks on track to be one of the Eagles’ starting safeties and could see his value to the defense increase in 2025.
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