One of the most underrated departures from the Philadelphia Eagles this offseason was losing three-year starter Reed Blankenship in the secondary during free agency.
It's left the team with some tough decisions to make at the safety position as they traded Sydney Brown to the Atlanta Falcons and re-signed Marcus Epps, as well as signed J.T. Gray to the team. Eagles general manager Howie Roseman spoke with reporters about his feelings on the safety position at the moment.
"It starts with using our second-round pick on (Andrew) Makuba," Roseman said via The Athletic's Zach Berman. "See a lot of growth from the first to second year, and expect that from him. Really excited about him. I think we have some guys that either we brought back or that we signed that we have confidence in that can play the position. And again, I go back to the original thing. We don't play for a long time. ...And we still have a draft, we still have a lot of players that are available. More players will come available after the draft. ...In some shape or form, we will add at that position."
Howie Roseman opens up about safety position
Mukuba's rookie got off to a kind of rocky start with struggles in pass coverage, but improved as the year went on before breaking his ankle. He should be able to make major strides in Year 2 at the position.
Epps was surprisingly really good in relief of Mukuba as he started the last month of the season. The Eagles were more than happy to bring him back to compete for one of the starting jobs alongside Mukuba.
Gray is more of a special teams ace, so he won't be in competition at safety. Epps' competition will most likely come from a Day 1 or 2 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
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Blankenship was a big loss as a leader in the secondary, and the talent level was, too. If Roseman has shown Eagles fans anything, it's that he can find talent from anywhere.