Why Reed Blankenship’s exit from the Eagles shouldn’t be surprising
Blankenship was a favorite among fans and in the locker room, but the Birds had some tough decisions and the safety's 2025 play was far from flawless.
Reed Blankenship was a remarkable success story for the Eagles. He went from an undrafted free agent to a three-year starter. He was a captain on defense and helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl.
But that doesn’t mean the Eagles needed to spend more than $8 million per season over the next three years to keep him around. Both of these things can be true: That’s not an exorbitant price for a starting safety considering that the salary cap keeps going up; and Blankenship may not be worth that price and term.
There tends to be some myopia attached to players like Blankenship who were unequivocally huge success stories from a scouting and development perspective. Never mind the fact that he became a leader and started a podcast with Cooper DeJean. But the on-the-field production from Blankenship overall has been fairly average, and in 2025 in particular he had a down year.
Pro Football Focus grades aren’t gospel, but they paint a pretty concerning picture for Blankenship from a pass coverage perspective. Blankenship’s pass coverage grade was the worst among 91 NFL safeties. And while his run defense was a much more respectable 30th, the pass numbers made him the 89th-rated safety in the NFL.
The average annual salary ($8.25 million) the Texans paid Blankenship ranks 25th at his position. The Eagles obviously decided they could get a better bang for their buck.
Letting Blankenship walk for that number also lines up with how the Eagles have been constructing their roster. They have a team with a balance of big contracts and players on rookie or low-cost deals. It leaves little room for the middle class, and Blankenship would fit squarely in that middle class.
“I think it starts with difference-making players,” Howie Roseman said in a session with Eagles beat reporters before the scouting combine. “When you have an opportunity to keep difference-making players, you don’t want to let those guys leave.”
The Eagles have a handful of players on their defense that they don’t want to let leave. They started by signing Jordan Davis to an extension and have their eyes on re-upping Jalen Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, and DeJean. That’s without mentioning the $51 million deal they signed Zack Baun to last year.
The defense is going to start getting more expensive, and it’s clear the Eagles’ calculus didn’t include paying Blankenship that number.
That doesn’t mean they’re in a good spot at safety as of right now, and the full picture of Blankenship’s exit can’t really be analyzed until we know who his replacement is next to Drew Mukuba. That player might not be on the roster right now, considering that the internal options are Sydney Brown, Andre’ Sam, and nickel Michael Carter II.
Could they re-sign free agent Marcus Epps, who started next to Blankenship down the stretch, and draft a player to develop? Time will tell.