The Eagles show their confidence in Blankenship

[Eagle60]

Eagles sign Reed Blankenship to one-year contract extension


Philadelphia’s third-year safety is now under contract through 2025.

By Brandon Lee Gowton@BrandonGowton Apr 1, 2024, 3:32pm EDT
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Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
April Fools’ Day has been no joke for Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship.

The good news started when it was revealed that he finished as the second-highest earner in the NFL’s “Performance-Based Pay program.” Blankenship was awarded $923,059, which is more than he made from his $870,000 base salary.

Not too long after that news emerged, the Eagles announced they officially signed Blankenship to a one-year contract extension. He’s now under team control through the 2025 season.

Prior to signing an extension, Blankenship was set to be a restricted free agent after 2024. It’s not yet clear what Blankenship will be paid in 2025 but it’s likely more than the projected RFA tender ... or else he could’ve just waited to be tendered.

Blankenship has been a good find for the Eagles since they signed him as undrafted rookie free agent in 2022. He played his way into a starting safety job last year, logging three interceptions over 15 starts.

It’s fair to point out that Blankenship started the 2023 campaign stronger than he finished; there were some struggles and uneven moments along the way. But Blankenship played through multiple injuries (durability could be a fair critique) and an irrational defensive coordinator change. Not to mention how most of the Eagles’ roster fell off by late in the year.

Moving forward, Blankenship figures to be a starting safety next to C.J. Gardner-Johnson. The Eagles also have Sydney Brown, who will be making his way back from a torn ACL. The team could look to add more safety talent through free agency (still a number of talented options out there, including Vic Fangio-endorser Justin Simmons) and/or the 2024 NFL Draft. So, perhaps Blankenship’s status isn’t set in stone.

Regardless, he’s a good player to have around on the cheap. The Eagles should be happy to have him under contract for at least two more seasons.

[NoDakIggle]

Blakenship was a good pick up. He’ll never be a Dawkins or even Hopkins. At the same time he will never cost a fortune. What he will do is provide a reliable player on the back end.

[Eagle60]

Just my opinion but I doubt that the Eagles will ever get another safety as good as Wes Hopkins was. He was awesome.

[FairOaks]

In thinking about this, Blankenship would basically be a full free agent next year unless we gave him a one-year, $5 million qualifying offer for next season (which would net us a 2nd round pick if someone else poached him). It seems like this deal gives him some of that money now, while overall being a bit of a cost savings to the team over the two years (with incentives, he could get close to that figure).

[NoDakIggle]

FO….. Blakenship got 900k+ in extra cash over his 800k+ salary. I call it rookie playing above your contract money because I don’t know what it is really called. Anyway, how does that extra cash paid out impact the Sal cap. If it does at all. Do the birds have to pony that up or is there some kind of league or NFLPA fund they can tap for the money.

[FairOaks]

FO….. Blakenship got 900k+ in extra cash over his 800k+ salary. I call it rookie playing above your contract money because I don’t know what it is really called. Anyway, how does that extra cash paid out impact the Sal cap. If it does at all. Do the birds have to pony that up or is there some kind of league or NFLPA fund they can tap for the money.

There are performance escalators for players chosen in the second through seventh rounds, which I'm sure he would have qualified for had he been drafted. He was a UDFA though, which means he's not eligible for the escalators. UDFAs have a 3 year contract, and not 4 -- if one has been playing well, he'll get a better contract in year four than the drafted guys, probably. They are restricted free agents, where if a team makes a qualifying offer at a certain level, they get a draft pick back from the other team if they are poached (and have the right to match.) (If no qualifying offer, they are an unrestricted free agent.). There is a first-round tender, which can be pretty high, a second-round tender, and a same-round-as-drafted tender (the lowest amount). For a UDFA, that last tender is mostly meaningless, since the player was not drafted so you get no pick back -- you can match a contract but that's it, with all the poison pill possibilities that other teams can use. In order to make it nearly certain that no other team will offer him a contract, the Eagles would have to offer him the second-round tier, which is just under 5 million this year and probably over it next year.

So, the Eagles were faced with paying him $1 million this year (his scheduled salary) and $5 million next. Instead, they signed him for $4 million over the two years, fully guaranteed, with an additional 1.3 million of incentives. So Blankenship can make most of the money he would have, without the injury risk which could lose him that $5 million. But the Eagles overall save 1 or 2 million. They will have to use a bit more of this year's cap, but the money can only be prorated over these two years so it won't make any real difference in the end. If they push money to next year, then the unused cap this year would just roll over and it would net out the exact same next year. (If they add void years, I guess they could push it out further, particularly if he signs another extension down the road.). The main savings is not paying him $6 million over two years, but instead $4 or $5 depending on how well he plays, so it will help the 2025 cap in the end. (The incentive money actually could end up being on the 2026 cap, if earned in 2025 and counted as "not likely to be earned".).

If he had been a 7th round draft pick, I think he would likely qualify for the first level of performance escalators, which would likely have earned him a $3 million contract for his fourth year (the original round tender). So he's now guaranteed that much, with possibilities of doing better.

[NoDakIggle]

There is an ESPN article headlined about Purdy getting his performance pay based on playing above their contract. It was an extra 390 million or something that they give to players who performed above expectations or contract or something. It listed Blakenship as getting the extra 900k+ for playing above contract salary. I thought it was separate from getting the contract extension.

[FairOaks]

There is an ESPN article headlined about Purdy getting his performance pay based on playing above their contract. It was an extra 390 million or something that they give to players who performed above expectations or contract or something. It listed Blakenship as getting the extra 900k+ for playing above contract salary. I thought it was separate from getting the contract extension.

Interesting, that may be different than what I mentioned above, which is a fourth-year escalator only and I think counts against the salary cap, as the teams have to pay them. I forgot about these bonuses, which I'm not sure count for cap purposes since they may be paid directly from the league. But yeah, looks like Blankenship got the second-most money of anyone -- a UDFA who played 81% of defensive snaps last year. And some special teams.