Reed Blankenship thought his performance-based bonus was an April Fool's joke
Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship spoke to the media after officially signing a one-year extension on Tuesday. "I'm grateful for the opportunity," Blankenship said. "I want to be in Philly. I want to play for Philly. That speaks more than just getting a contract. I love football, I love these fans and how they cheer […]
Philadelphia Eagles safety Reed Blankenship spoke to the media after officially signing a one-year extension on Tuesday.
"I'm grateful for the opportunity," Blankenship said. "I want to be in Philly. I want to play for Philly. That speaks more than just getting a contract. I love football, I love these fans and how they cheer for us and how they critique us. I love playing here. I want to play here for as long as I can."
Blankenship's new contract keeps him in Philly through 2025.
And according to NFL Network's Mike Garafolo, his extension pays him a fully guaranteed $3.935 million over the next two years and he can earn an additional $1.375 million via playtime and Pro Bowl escalators:
- $375k for 70% playtime
- $625k for 80%
- $875k for 90%
- $500k for Pro Bowl
The former 2022 undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State started 15 of 17 games last fall, recording a team-high 108 total tackles, 11 passes defended, three interceptions, and a fumble recovery.
Blankenship Got Paid on April Fool's Day
It's been a nice offseason for Blankenship so far as he also received an extra $923,059 performance-based bonus for his 2023 playtime on April 1.
"Funny story, my agent actually text me the [performanced-based pay] chart and it was on April 1 so I was like, 'you gotta be kidding me, this is a joke,'" he said. "But, I'm just fortunate I was put in a position to play and I'm not going to give that up for anything. I'm going to try to play my heart out as much as I can. As long as my body can take it."
Performance-based pay has nothing to do with how well a player performed in a season but rather with players on cheap deals who played a high snap count.
Blankenship played 81% of the Eagle's defensive snaps and helped out a ton on special teams, so he was rewarded for it.
With his bonus, he more than doubled his rookie UDFA contract base salary of $870,000.
And now he'll be making much more than that.