Eagles have reason to believe Reed Blankenship can build on his strong debut

During the Eagles Week 12 game against the Packers on Sunday Night Football, C.J. Gardner-Johnson went down with what we later learned to be a lacerated kidney.

Undrafted rookie safety Reed Blankenship stepped up in replace of Gardner-Johnson and to much surprise had a standout performance. Shortly after he entered the game Blankenship became the first ever UDFA to intercept Aaron Rodgers.

On BGN Radio Episode 292, Brandon Lee Gowton expressed why Blankenship’s interception was such a big deal.

“Aaron Rodgers has played over 200 games and attempted like over 7,000 something passes and Reed Blankenship becomes the first [undrafted rookie to intercept him.”

“That reminded me of Malcolm Butler picking off Russell Wilson in the Super Bowl in terms of just exploding to the ball out of nowhere and like holy crap that’s an incredible interception.”

Gowton went on to explain what he’s seen from Blankenship up until this point.

“I thought he showed some good promise early on and I think that’s not like a fluke in terms of what stood out to me so much in training camp wasn’t just the splash plays but it was about him often being in the right place. I thought so often he was at the right place at the right time, he’s such a savvy, smart player.”

Although Blankenship came in clutch with the interception he did still have a few mistakes. On his first play of the game, the Eagles allowed the Packers to score a 11-yard touchdown to take the lead 14-13 and Blankenship also played a role in giving up a long touchdown catch to Christian Watson.

It was reported on Tuesday that C.J. Gardner-Johnson is “out indefinitely.” Gardner-Johnson leads the NFL’s with six interceptions and so that’s a big loss for the Birds. We can only hope that Blankenship will continue to develop and build on his Week 12 performance until Garder-Johnson can return.