Reed Blankenship named the Eagles most underappreciate player

Reed Blankenship went from undrafted free agent to a critical cog in the Eagles retool after agreeing to a one-year contract extension with the team.

Blankenship joined the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State and has played his first two seasons at the NFL’s minimum salary.

NFL.com recently looked at the most underappreciated player on all 32 teams, and Blankenship made the cut for Philadelphia.

How’s this for being underappreciated? You sign a contract extension, and a local media outlet responds with a write-up about how you could still lose your job as a starter this season. That’s not an outlandish proposition. Though Blankenship led the Eagles in tackles (108), finished third on the team in passes defensed (11) and was the fifth-best defensive-graded player in Philly, per PFF, he was also credited with allowing six touchdowns as the nearest defender last season, tied for ninth-most in the NFL, according to NGS. I’m not here to wallow in Blankenship’s shortcomings, however. What I really want is to call out two facts: 1) Blankenship made bank in performance-based pay last season, and 2) He logged an astounding 116 snaps in Week 12 against the Bills, which is the most in a game since 2012. Being able to handle an extraordinary workload on one late-November day obviously isn’t everything, but it is something. Whatever direction Blankenship’s career takes going forward, his promising 2023 makes me comfortable listing him here at this moment.

Blankenship appeared in 15 regular-season games last season, leading the Eagles in interceptions (three), solo tackles (79), and total tackles (113).

The former undrafted free agent is now a vital part of the Eagles’ defense and should team with Sydney Brown and C.J. Gardner-Johnson for years to come.

https://theeagleswire.usatoday.com/2024/06/02/eagles-news-reed-blankenship-most-underappreciate-player-nfl/

I’m not sure why that makes him under appreciated? I think the team like him as they gave him a new contract… but it was only a one year extension at a position the team have lacked consistency. With the moves they’ve made this offseason I think it is fair to say he’s a starter right now but may not be come the end of the year. On the other hand he may well improve again and look like a solid long term piece.

I think it means by fans and he is underappreciated by them..not me but a great majority. I think he's going to have another solid season, better than last year with us having better CB play... to many young guys got thrown to the wolves last year at CB .

I think Blankenship can play and be at least "average starter" material.  At worst, he can be a solid backup.  He's certainly worthy of a spot on the 53, probably for the next several years.

His main competition for the future is Sydney Brown.  CJGJ is here the next 3 seasons so we'll see how Brown stacks up once he's fully healthy....which may really not be until the 2025 season.