Eagles 2024 training camp preview: Safety

Over the last few weeks (basically whenever there wasn't other news to cover), we've been taking a look at every player on the Philadelphia Eagles' roster, and how they fit with the team heading into training camp. Today we'll continue on with the safeties.

Previous training camp previews

The depth chart:

1	2	3
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson	Sydney Brown	Mekhi Garner
Reed Blankenship	Tristin McCollum	Andre' Sam

Avonte Maddox could also factor in at safety for the Eagles this season, but we included him with the slot corners.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson

In August of 2022, the Eagles traded a 2023 fifth-round pick and a 2024 sixth-round pick for Gardner-Johnson and a 2025 seventh-round pick. Gardner-Johnson proceeded to quickly become a fan favorite, leading the NFL in interceptions that season, with six, despite missing five games with a lacerated kidney.

Gardner-Johnson played out the final year of his rookie contract in 2022, and entered free agency hopeful to land a monster contract. Instead, the safety market league-wide was surprisingly soft. The Eagles had strong interest in re-signing Gardner-Johnson early in free agency, however, they pivoted to keeping James Bradberry and Darius Slay in house when Gardner-Johnson turned down the Eagles' offers.

Gardner-Johnson would eventually sign a contract with the Lions that was less than what the Eagles had offered. He suffered a torn pectoral muscle in the Lions' Week 2 loss to the Seahawks, and missed the next 14 games. He returned in January for the Lions' final regular season game, and played well, collecting 4 tackles, an INT and a pass breakup. He also picked off Baker Mayfield in the Lions' divisional round win over the Buccaneers.

The Eagles missed Gardner-Johnson in 2023, as they were depleted at times both at safety and at slot corner. In 2022, Gardner-Johnson played both positions for the Eagles at a high level, and he did so with swagger and confidence, which the Eagles' defense was also missing at times last season.

Howie Roseman was asked at the 2023 owners meetings if the team went out of its way to add players with some swagger this offseason.

"Obviously, we want talent with these guys, but I think that's accurate to say," he acknowledged. "We were looking to regain our swagger mentality back and obviously what happened at the end of the year didn't feel good and wasn't really acceptable for any of us. And so so we wanted to get players who can kind of bring that and have that motivation and mentality."

The moment that stands out to me is when the 49ers walked right through the Eagles' defensive backs drills, and the Eagles let them.

That would have gone down differently if CJGJ were an Eagle last season. There would have been a pre-game fight.

Reed Blankenship

Blankenship was probably the Eagles' most impactful rookie in 2022, collecting 34 tackles, two pass breakups, and one INT. He made the team out of training camp as an undrafted rookie free agent, and began the season as the No. 4 safety. At some point during that season, he leapfrogged K’Von Wallace for the No. 3 safety role, and was called on to start after Chauncey Gardner-Johnson went down with a kidney injury against the Packers. In that Packers game, Blankenship intercepted Aaron Rodgers and made several nice plays in run defense.

With Gardner-Johnson out, Blankenship would start against the Titans, Giants, Cowboys, and Saints, playing well overall in those four games. Upon Gardner-Johnson's return to the lineup, Blankenship still kept a role. Gardner-Johnson started at safety in the base defense but moved to the slot in nickel with Blankenship coming off the bench to play safety.

Entering 2023 training camp, it was believed that Blankenship would be in a three-way competition with Terrell Edmunds and Sydney Brown to start at safety. It became quickly apparent that Blankenship was the team's top guy.

Blankenship had an up and down season. Near the midpoint of the season, he led all NFL safeties in pass breakups, and he was a sure tackler, typically taking good angles to the football and preventing good offensive plays from becoming disasters. However, like many of his teammates on both sides of the ball, he struggled down the stretch.

Blankenship was a home run UDFA signing, and barring any surprises he will start once again in 2024. This will be a big season for him to prove that he can be a long-term starter at safety, as opposed to merely settling in as a role player.

Sydney Brown

Brown was a core special teamer as a rookie in 2023 who only played 335 snaps in the regular defense, despite the team suffering quite a few injuries at safety. He was buried on the depth chart early in the season behind Band-Aids like Justin Evans and Terrell Edmunds, probably for no good reason.

He played 16 snaps the first three weeks of the season before missing three games with a hamstring injury. When he got extended action in games later in the season, it was typically out of position at slot corner, where he was filling in for Avonte Maddox and Bradley Roby, after guys like Mario Goodrich and Josiah Scott proved to be ineffective.

Still, Brown showed promise as a rookie, with his highlight of the season being a 99-yard pick-six against the Cardinals.

Unfortunately, his season ended badly, when he tore an ACL in the regular season finale against the Giants. His availability for Week 1 in 2024 will be in question, and he'll likely start training camp on the PUP list.

Tristin McCollum

McCollum appeared in 3 games for the Eagles in 2023 because of all of their injuries at safety. He has good size, at 6'3, 195 as well as good athletic measurables, and is worth further development.

Mekhi Garner

Garner had a good training camp as an undrafted rookie free agent last year, and he appeared in 3 games as practice squad callup. He played 27 snaps in the regular defense, moving from corner to safety along the way. He's a sleeper to win a roster spot in 2024 with the team short on safety depth.

Andre' Sam

Sam is a 25-year-old prospect who originally enrolled at McNeese State in 2017, transferred to Marshall in 2022, and then to LSU in 2023. He had 85 tackles and 3 INTs for LSU in 2023, and got a Combine invite.