The Eagles are getting some further continuity on the back end of their defense.
On Monday, Reed Blankenship was awarded a one-year extension by the club.
Blankenship would have been playing the 2024 season on the last year of his deal since he was an undrafted free agent and those deals are for three years as opposed to the four-year deals a draft pick gets automatically.
We've signed S Reed Blankenship to a 1-year extension through 2025.@toyota | #FlyEaglesFly pic.twitter.com/chpP0PbOaR
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) April 1, 2024
Because of his UDFA status, he becomes eligible for extensions earlier than players drafted in that same year (players like Jordan Davis and Cam Jurgens would not be eligible to sign extensions until next offseason).
Blankenship took a lot of heat from fans last year despite being a top player.
Blankenship took on a zone coverage while also trying to cover for a starting safety next to him who was, at best, below average and trying to prevent big runs up the middle where it seemed the linebackers couldn’t tackle and they certainly couldn’t defend a pass.
ProFootballFocus had ranked Blankenship as the 20th-best safety in the NFL last season.
He came onto the scene during his rookie year and started for the Eagles in the Super Bowl.
Back with CJ Gardner-Johnson on the back end, he would figure to have more success with additional talent starting beside him once again.
He’s started 25 games for the Eagles since being a standout player in camp out of Middle Tennessee State and making the adjustment to the NFL rather quickly.
In 2023, he recorded 113 tackles, three interceptions, a fumble recovery and 11 defensed passes.
The Eagles safety room outside Blankenship and CJGJ is rather bare given that Sydney Brown is coming off a torn ACL he suffered late last season and would seem unlikely to be healthy until halfway through next season. Tristin McCollum would seemingly be the only other player with NFL experience at the position on the roster right now.
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