Eagles’ new-look safety room ‘continuing to mesh’ during OTAs

Over the last couple of decades, the Eagles have received some stellar performances at safety. Notable players in recent memory include Brian Dawkins, Malcolm Jenkins, Quintin Mikell, and Rodney McLeod. This past season, Marcus Epps and C.J. Gardner-Johnson patrolled the back end of the defense, and both players earned new contracts elsewhere in free agency.

With Epps and Gardner-Johnson gone, the Eagles rolled out their next hopeful pairing on Day 2 of organized team activities Thursday afternoon at the NovaCare Complex.

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Veteran Terrell Edmunds and second-year pro Reed Blankenship served as the team’s starting safeties throughout the practice. Edmunds, a 2018 first-round pick, signed as a free agent after spending the first five seasons of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Blankenship returns and steps into a larger role after he served as a depth piece, with a handful of spot starts, during his rookie season.

With the start of training camp less than two months away, Edmunds and Blankenship are hoping to jell quickly in the final stage of the offseason program.

“I’m continuing to mesh with my teammates, familiarize myself with everyone, and compete,” Edmunds said. “We’ve got a long ways to go, but we’re still working and trying to come all together.

“You’re learning new faces, new names, new calls. But everything is coming together well. We’ve got a great group of guys in the DB room.”

Despite being penciled in as a starter, Blankenship is taking the same approach he used a year ago when he touched down in Philadelphia as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State. Blankenship starred during training camp practices and preseason games last season, earning himself a spot on the 53-man roster.

“I don’t feel like I’ve arrived yet,” the 24-year-old Blankenship said. “I’m still staying humble, staying hungry. And that’s going to last throughout my career.”

Aside from adding Edmunds, the Eagles signed safety Justin Evans in free agency and drafted Sydney Brown in the third round of this year’s draft. Evans and K’Von Wallace worked with the second unit Thursday, while Brown rotated in during the seven-on-seven sessions.

» READ MORE: Eagles draft pick Sydney Brown impressed the team with his versatility at safety

Edmunds said he’s most focused on improving his situational awareness with his new team. Blankenship insists he’s tapped into another level with his ability to anticipate and react.

“I think situational football wins and loses games,” Edmunds said, “those small plays of the game that mean so much to the game. Those third-, fourth-down stops that make them punt rather than them getting a first down or kicking a field goal. Those small things that can really get us off the field; it’s what can really have us win or lose the game.”

Added Blankenship: “[Defensive coordinator Sean Desai] talks about being palpable. He wants people who watch us on TV, to feel us. We want to be violent — that’s our top goal right now. That’s how you play football. It’s a violent sport. You run and hit. That’s what I’ve been doing since I was little.”

The Edmunds-Blankenship pairing shouldn’t get too comfortable, though, especially with Brown on the prowl. Brown flashed on multiple instances with the reserves; he possesses a sideline-to-sideline motor, and he appears to exert maximum effort on each rep.

“Man, he’s a hard worker,” Edmunds said of Brown. “He doesn’t say too much. He’s always smiling. But you just know that he wants it. He’s a guy that goes out there and gives 110 percent. He’s willing to learn. He just loves football; you can tell. You notice that he’s going to be a guy who’s going to be in this league for a while.”

The Eagles are incorporating new personnel on the back end, although they also retained one of the league’s top cornerback duos in veterans James Bradberry and Darius Slay. In 2022, the Eagles ranked No. 1 in the NFL in pass defense (179.8 passing yards allowed per game) and No. 2 in overall defense (301.5).

OTAs are considered voluntary, but it should be viewed as a positive that Slay, 32, and Bradberry, a 2022 All-Pro selection, were both in attendance. That continuity is bound to help ease hurdles for a secondary dealing with turnover.

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“Change is a part of life and the game,” said recently-promoted defensive backs coach D.K. McDonald. “It’s a great opportunity for a lot of these guys. That’s the fun thing. Now there’s some things that haven’t changed. We’ve still got Slay, Bradberry — those guys are leaders, those guys are captains. So they keep the room going in the right direction.

“Now it’s an opportunity for those other guys to step up. Reed played some last year; he did a tremendous job when he had a chance to step in. Terrell has played a lot in this league, too. I think Sydney is very talented. We have a lot of guys we can go to and they can compete every day. That’s a hallmark of this organization, that we get to compete. That’s what camp is going to be about. We’ll see who can step up.”