Which undrafted free agents will make an impact in the NFL in 2022?

Middle Tennessee State safety Reed Blankenship

Safety – Reed Blankenship, Middle Tennessee State (Philadelphia Eagles)

Looking at the fact that many people mocked Notre Dame safety Kyle Hamilton to the Eagles in the first round and them not selecting any other player at the position and one of my drafted “crushes” having signed with them as a UDFA, this was a fairly obvious call. Philly lost Rodney McLeod in free agency, they brought back Anthony Harris on a one-year, $2.5 million deal, and the only three other safeties currently on the roster are Marcus Epps, Andre Chachere and Jared Mayden. Epps was on the field for just under half of the defensive snaps, but he’s on the last year of his contract at less than a million bucks, and the other two combined for just 156 total snaps. They also still have K’Von Wallace, who was a fourth-round pick for them in 2020, but he played just 19 and 22 percent of snaps in his two seasons there, and his best role remains as a big nickel. To be honest, if somebody had to be placed alongside Harris today, Blankenship should be chosen. The pure athletic gifts leave things to be desired, which is why he isn't envisioned as somebody with the range to play a lot of single-high or the ability to flip and run with speedy slot receivers, but he has elite football IQ, to process information in coverage, as well as quickly race up the alley against the run. He’s an outstanding tackler, and he has plenty of ball-production to his name. He was just outside of my top ten safeties in the draft ,and while the NFL wasn’t super high on him because he’s a redshirt senior with average testing numbers, this is a great landing spot for a defense that runs a lot of split-safety stuff and where he has a legitimate spot to start games if either Harris or whoever is the other guy in the lineup (probably Epps) gets hurt.