Bleeding Green Nation
Reed Blankenship should want a new contract sooner rather than later and the Eagles should probably get it done.
The NFL “dead zone” is upon us, with very little news likely to surface between now and the start of training camps towards the end of July. Even so, now is the perfect time to take a closer look at the roster and where the Eagles still have some moves to make. Howie Roseman has been busy this offseason, orchestrating a number of large extensions and free agent additions to get this roster in top competitive shape heading into the summer.
Roseman’s success as a cap manager goes hand-in-hand with his success in the NFL Draft, and that means a number of promising young players will soon come up for contract extensions. Reed Blankenship is a great success story for the Eagles, going from 2022 UDFA to plus starter in just two seasons. Now entering the final year of his rookie deal, he’s someone Philadelphia may want to consider extending sooner than later.
Blankenship was signed as a UDFA after surprisingly falling out of the draft, and immediately carved out a rotational and special teams role as a rookie. He would go on to start 15 games in 2023 as a well above-average starter, with particular strength as a coverage player with three interceptions and 11 PDs. Blankenship continued to start in 2024, setting a career high in interceptions (4) and continuing to grow as a run defender.
Let’s take a closer look at a potential extension for Reed Blankenship.
While Reed Blankenship is well-known among Eagles fans (and safety aficionados like myself), the NFL at large doesn’t seem to appreciate his game the same way. I think you could look at Blankenship’s well-rounded game and conclude that he’s worth premier safety money, certainly rivaling someone like Tre’von Moehrig. For reference, Moehrig just signed at $17 million annualy with the Carolina Panthers. While that type of money is possible, I think Blankenship is a bit more under-the-radar and is likely to come in lower.
Instead, I’m looking at two other safeties who also got paid this offseason: Jevon Holland and Cam Bynum. Both are very good players and both got roughly $15 million annually. I think that’s a more reasonable starting point for Blankenship, although his play in 2025 could certainly vault him higher.
Using those contracts as a starting point, here’s my projection for a potential Reed Blankenship extension:
Reed Blankenship projected extension: 3 years, $45M ($15M APY), $22.5M guaranteed including $10M signing bonus
This contract would immediately make Blankenship the tenth-highest paid safety in the NFL at $15 million annually, tied with Bynum and just a hair below Holland at $15.1M APY. His $22.5 million (50%) of guarantees works out to be better than Bynum’s (43.3%) and just a bit behind Holland’s (60.5%).
I think the Eagles would be wise to get this deal done with Blankenship as...
