Eagles sign Reed Blankenship to a one-year contract extension

The Eagles signed safety Reed Blankenship to a one-year contract extension on Monday.

Blankenship, an undrafted player who signed as a free agent in 2022 out of Middle Tennessee State, was set to become a restricted free agent next offseason but will remain under contract through 2025 with the new deal. The 25-year-old has become a reliable member of the Eagles’ secondary, earning a full-time starting role last season.

According to an NFL Network report, Blankenship’s new deal will pay him $3.935 million fully guaranteed over the next two years with the potential to earn up to $1.375 million more in incentives, which include bonuses linked to playing-time percentages and Pro Bowl appearances.

Blankenship got called into action in 2022 after C.J. Gardner-Johnson suffered a lacerated kidney and a rib injury in Week 12 against the Green Bay Packers and picked off Aaron Rodgers for his first career interception. He became a full-time starter in 2023 and had three interceptions, 11 pass breakups, and 113 total tackles as one of the few mainstays in a banged-up Eagles secondary.

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Blankenship’s expanded role relative to his draft pedigree led to him being one of the league’s highest earners in performance-based pay figures, which reward players with low salaries who play a high percentage of their team’s snaps. Blankenship played 89% of the Eagles’ defensive snaps last year while making roughly $871,000 according to overthecap.com, and got an additional $923,059 as a result. His payout was the second-highest in the NFL behind Baltimore Ravens guard John Simpson, who received $974,613.

A five-year starter at Middle Tennessee State, Blankenship made the Eagles’ 53-man roster in 2022 after a strong training camp and started out as a special-teams contributor. He made four starts in the regular season and finished with 34 tackles and two pass breakups along with the one interception.

Blankenship will be an unrestricted free agent after the 2025 season, but the extension keeps him from testing the market as a restricted free agent next offseason and avoids the Eagles needing to make him a qualifying offer or tendering him. Along with Gardner-Johnson, a safety/nickel cornerback hybrid, Blankenship figures to spend next season as one of the starting safeties on the back end of new defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s system, which places a bigger premium on the position than the Eagles have in the past.