![\"Budda](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-2186860652-e1783857185239.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker. <\/p>\n
The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> have 1 position where there\u2019s still some uncertainty on an otherwise stellar defense.<\/p>\n Of the 2 projected starters, neither Andrew Mukuba<\/a> nor Marcus Epps<\/a> inspires much confidence. Mukuba looked sharp as a rookie in 2025 but suffered a season-ending fractured ankle with 6 games left in the regular season. Epps has been a decent fill-in but should not be a full-time starter.<\/p>\n It also means the Eagles no longer have either of their starting safeties from their Super Bowl-winning team 2 years ago, with C.J. Gardner-Johnson<\/a> now on the Buffalo Bills<\/a> and Reed Blankenship<\/a> on the Houston Texans.<\/p>\n Philly Special\u2019s Anthony DiBonna<\/a> believes those factors are setting the Eagles up for a \u201cbig-time safety trade\u201d sooner rather than later, and putting Arizona Cardinals<\/a> safety and 8-time Pro Bowler Budda Baker<\/a> at the top of the list.<\/p>\n \u201cHowie Roseman is always looking to make a deal and looking from the outside in, it feels like there is still a major void at safety in Philadelphia,\u201d DiBonna wrote. \u201cEven if the Eagles are excited about Cooper DeJean playing safety in their base defense, that will only account for about 20% of their total defensive snaps. While Epps stepped up as a starter late last season, I don\u2019t see how the Eagles are essentially comfortable running it back with the same safety room minus Reed Blankenship.\u201d<\/p>\n Baker has been 1 of the NFL\u2019s best \u2014 and highest-paid \u2014 safeties on 1 of its worst teams for the entirety of his career. He was a 2nd-round pick by the Cardinals<\/a> in 2017 and is also a 4-time NFL<\/a> All-Pro with approximately $89.1 million in career earnings through the end of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n He signed a 3-year, $54 million contract extension with the Cardinals<\/a> before the 2024 season that will pay him $16.1 million in 2026 and $17.8 million in 2027.<\/p>\n Eagles May Have NFL\u2019s Best Cornerback Trio<\/p>\n The Eagles have seen a lot of attention focused on how good their 3 cornerbacks are in 2026 \u2014 perhaps the best trio in the NFL with a pair of NFL All-Pros in Quinyon Mitchell<\/a> and Cooper DeJean<\/a>, along with the addition of Super Bowl champion Riq Woolen<\/a> in free agency.<\/p>\n What\u2019s not gotten as much attention is the void at safety created by the departure of longtime starter Blankenship in free agency and the uncertainty around 2nd-year safety Andrew Mukuba<\/a>, who is returning from a fractured ankle suffered last season.<\/p>\n While Mukuba\u2019s play before his injury lends toward giving him the benefit of the doubt, the idea of Epps or\u00a0Michael Carter<\/a>\u00a0II at the other starting safety spot should give the Eagles pause.<\/p>\n Eagles Probably Should Have Paid Blankenship<\/p>\n You don\u2019t have to be a psychotherapist to understand there\u00a0may have been some hurt feelings<\/a>\u00a0when Blankenship left for the\u00a0Houston Texans<\/a>\u00a0on a 3-year, $24.75 million free-agent contract.<\/p>\n \u201cThat honestly felt like the first time in my whole career, that somebody really wanted me as a player and as a person,\u201d\u00a0Blankenship told NFL reporter Aaron Wilson<\/a>\u00a0after he signed with the Texans.<\/p>\n Blankenship, who went undrafted in 2022, became a full-time starter for the Eagles in his 2nd season and helped them win a Super Bowl following the 2024 season. For the relatively low price the Texans paid for him, you also don\u2019t have to be an NFL general manager to wonder why the Eagles didn\u2019t just pay the man.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tTony Adame<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Washington Commanders, Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos. A veteran sports writer and editor since 2004, his work has been featured at Stadium Talk, Yardbarker, NW Florida Daily News and Pensacola News Journal. More about Tony Adame<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Arizona Cardinals safety Budda Baker. The Philadelphia Eagles have 1 position where there\u2019s still some uncertainty on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":944041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2068],"tags":[25,7,6,242,109,2476],"class_list":["post-944040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia-eagles","tag-eagles","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-philadelphiaeagles"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116910262018612495","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/944041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}