Why the Eagles paid tribute to late Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan after Reed Blankenship’s INT in Brazil

It has become the normal chain of events these days in the NFL for a defense: force a turnover, run to the end zone, have some fun.

After Reed Blankenship dived and picked off Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love midway through the third quarter last week in Brazil, the Eagles safety got up from the grass after being downed and started toward the end zone, cornerback Darius Slay by his side.

Players sometimes choreograph these kinds of things, but the Eagles defense had no such plan. Slay, however, had an idea. He told Blankenship as they darted for the end zone to “hit the Quan,” a reference to a dance made popular by Atlanta rapper Rich Homie Quan, who had died one day before the Eagles’ season-opening game in São Paulo. The news of the rapper’s death hit some of the Eagles hard, Slay included. The team’s defense is mostly made up of players from the South, and Rich Homie Quan, born Dequantes Devontay Lamar, was a proud Atlanta artist who was influenced by the dirty south genre of rap.

“Dude, I haven’t hit the Quan in probably years,” Blankenship, a native of Athens, Ala., said he thought after Slay’s suggestion. But there was Blankenship, moving his arms and swaying his hips alongside Slay after the Eagles forced a turnover that led to a go-ahead touchdown.

“It was just spur of the moment,” Blankenship said. “Who knows what I looked like?”

A few of his teammates were happy to judge his moves. Defensive tackle Jalen Carter, a Floridian, didn’t run to the end zone with the rest of the crew. “I’m a big guy, I’m finna save my energy,” Carter said. “When I seen him do it, I was like, man, RIP Rich Homie Quan.” But from afar and in the aftermath, Carter saw enough to give Blankenship a 7 out of 10.

“He was putting his little hips in it,” Carter said jokingly. “He was doing a little extra. But he killed it, though.”

Linebacker Nakobe Dean gave Blankenship a 10 out of 10 “because I was right behind him doing it with him,” he said. Dean, who is from northern Mississippi, grew up listening to Rich Homie Quan, he said. He recalled being in the car with his mother after losing a championship basketball game in middle school and hearing a Boosie song, “Like a Man,” that Rich Homie Quan was featured on. One of the lyrics in the song goes take all my losses like a man ... “That was the first song that played when I got in the car with my mama,” Dean said.

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Carter said he got into Rich Homie Quan’s music through his older brother, who was always playing Rich Homie’s songs. “He had them hits at the right time,” Carter said. “Everybody just remembered him for those hits and stuff he did for Atlanta.”

A fellow Georgian, Slay said Rich Homie Quan was one of his favorite rappers. That the two are similar in age made the news of the rapper’s death hit Slay hard. The cause of death has not been released. The rapper was found unresponsive on his couch by his girlfriend at their southwest Atlanta home, according to various media reports.

“It was just sad,” Slay said. “I just look at myself. I’m 33, and he’s 34. Life can come and go. I’m praying for him and his family.”

As for his teammate’s dance moves, Slay gave Blankenship “a hundred thousand.”

Firefighting nearly was the career path that Eagles tight end Grant Calcaterra found himself in when he briefly retired from football after suffering his third concussion in college. That part of his life is seemingly just delayed. It’ll be waiting for him when his football-playing career ends.

But right now, there are a pair of wildfires hitting close to home for Calcaterra, who grew up in Orange County, California.

The Airport Fire, which as of Friday night had spread over 23,000 acres, is burning near his hometown of Rancho Santa Margarita, where he still resides in the offseason and where his parents still call home. He’s also paying attention to another fire to the northeast near Lake Arrowhead, where his parents have another home.

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For now, Calcaterra said, the Airport Fire seems to be moving east, away from his home.

“It’s definitely scary,” Calcaterra said, “but wildfires are common in our area, and I’m passionate about firefighting and know those guys do a fantastic job, and I have all the confidence in them. But one of these days, we might get hit with one. That’s why you get fire insurance.”

His parents’ home and the area around his home remain outside of the evacuation area, Calcaterra said, but he’s been keeping in contact with friends and neighbors, including one who is a firefighter, to monitor the status.

As for his own firefighting aspirations, Calcaterra said he still sees himself pursuing that path in the future. He didn’t recertify the emergency medical technician license he received in 2020 and eventually will have to go back to study and test for that certification again.

“I’d probably want to do that anyway because I’m so far removed,” he said.

He could end up at a community college in California, where he’d pursue a fire science degree. Or, Calcaterra said, he could obtain his EMT license and test with different departments to try to get into their fire academy.

“Other than having connections, I’m pretty much back at stage one,” Calcaterra said.

Outside of a second cousin who is a firefighter in Missouri, Calcaterra said he has no family connection to the line of work. But he figured it matched up well with his current lifestyle in football.

“I just like the team aspect of it, the camaraderie of it,” he said. “I like to help people.”

The Eagles play in Week 2 against the Atlanta Falcons. Join Eagles beat reporters Olivia Reiner and EJ Smith as they dissect the hottest storylines surrounding the team on Gameday Central, live from Lincoln Financial Field.