Reed Blankenship stepped into an Eagles defense against the Packers on Sunday Night Football and immediately made an impact. His interception on Aaron Rodgers was a tone-setting play for the Eagles in their 10th win of the season.
But Blankenship didn’t just show out against the Packers. In almost every game he played substantial snaps, he looked like a starting NFL safety. He finished with a 75.8 overall PFF grade and a 71.6 coverage grade.
The film reflected the grades behind Blankenship’s performance as well. He seemed to have a great understanding of Johnathan Gannon’s defensive scheme and the coverage rules that come with it. He rarely gave up leverage and almost-never misinterpreted the passing-off of routes, which made up for his lackluster athleticism as a player.
Blankenship’s highlights of the season came against the Titans and 49ers with PFF game grades of 85.9 and 90.9. In these games, Blankenship displayed multiple times his ability to fit the run and make tackles in space from depth.
If the Eagles suspect that Blankenship can continue this level of play into 2023, there’s no reason that they shouldn’t start him to begin next season. Plus, a starting safety only earning $870,000 throughout the 2023 season would be great surplus value for Philadelphia.
Finding two starting safeties over the offseason is a big task for a team that will be cap-handicapped once they pay Hurts and are also historically against using draft capital on safeties. Blankenship at the starting safety spot makes sense.