The Philadelphia Eagles have a lot of pending free agents, including a few major contributors. In an ideal world, the Eagles would prefer that whichever stars they don’t bring back would leave the conference and land with AFC teams when free agency opens next month.
But that might not be realistic.
ESPN analyst Matt Bowen picked the perfect landing spots for each of the top 50 free agents available this offseason. And he had a couple of Eagles starters fitting in with NFC foes.
Bowen pegged safety Reed Blankenship as a fit with the Arizona Cardinals and linebacker Nakobe Dean as a fit with the Minnesota Vikings. And his reasoning makes sense.
“With safety Jalen Thompson entering free agency, the Cardinals might opt to sign Blankenship to play opposite Budda Baker,” Bowen wrote. “Blankenship was with current Cardinals defensive coordinator Nick Rallis in Philly during his rookie season, and he’s a fit for Arizona’s foundational two-high coverages. Blankenship also brings ball production (nine career interceptions).”
“The Vikings have cap issues heading into free agency, but I really like the fit for Dean in coordinator Brian Flores’ defense,” Bowen wrote. “Dean is the league’s best blitzing linebacker, and he would join a system that led the NFL in blitz rate at 46.8%.”
Dean, despite saying he wants to stay, is not expected to return. The Eagles signaled that would be the case when they drafted first-rounder Jihaad Campbell in 2025.
Blankenship might also cost too much for the Eagles to bring him back. But he would arguably be a bigger loss considering his importance in Vic Fangio’s defense and the lack of a prepared successor behind him.
We’ll see how the Eagles decide to dole out its cap space — and if they lose starters to any NFC counterparts.