From Undrafted Last Spring to Super Bowl, Reed Blankenship Living "Fever Dream"

The rookie safety didn't get picked, but 10 months later has shown he can be a reliable piece to one of the league's best defenses that will play the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII

PHOENIX – Some players go their entire NFL careers never playing in a Super Bowl, such as legendary Hall of Famers Dick Butkus, Erick Dickerson, and Barry Sanders.

The two combined to play 30 seasons and never made it a Super Bowl. Recently-retired QB Philip Rivers spent 17 years trying to get to one but couldn't.

Then there’s Reed Blankenship. It took the Eagles safety just a handful of months to experience the experience of a lifetime.

The NFL draft came and went at the end of April and Blankenship, a five-year starter at Middle Tennessee State didn’t hear his name called.

Anxious times.

“There was a lot of stress during the draft then after, but my agent was great,” he said during the final media availability with coaches and players on Thursday. “He told me you’re going to be on a team regardless, drafted or undrafted, he said I’ll get you on a team.

“Lucky enough, the Eagles were the best opportunity. I got here, went to work every day, went as hard as I could, asked as many questions as I could, and I guess the rest is history.”

Being an undrafted rookie guarantees next to nothing.

The Eagles signed veteran safety Jaquiski Tartt about six weeks after bringing in Blankenship.

Suddenly, the roster was crowded at safety.

“I was like, geez, I really have to step my game up,” said Blankenship, “but I love football and I think they saw that. I like to give up my body for this, that’s how much I love it.”

The UDFA played well in training camp and stepped up in the preseason.

He made the team; Tartt was released.

Blankenship spent the first four weeks of the regular season as a gameday inactive.

“Obviously, I was playing on scout team and going against Jalen (Hurts), and I feel that helped me a lot,” he said while waiting his turn. “On scout team, I told myself this is your game time situation, so you need to treat this like the most important thing.

"I told myself every week that you have to be ready when your name’s called. You can’t step back at all.”

It was in Week 5 when the Eagles inserted him on special teams. Over the next three weeks, he played 37 snaps on those units. Then came a two-snap run in defense in Week 11.

In Week 12, Blankenship broke out. He ruined a promising Green Bay Packers drive with an interception and played 35 snaps on defense.

Blankenship hasn’t looked back, stepping in when Chauncey Gardner-Johnson suffered a lacerated kidney against the Packers, an injury that forced Gardner-Johnson to miss five weeks.

The rookie made 34 tackles in the final weeks.

Now, he’s here, spending the week in the Eagles' super Super Bowl accommodations, a sprawling hotel on an indian reservation getting ready to play in Super Bowl LVII.

“I guess it’s been a roller coaster and a fever dream at the same time,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed every step of the way. I play with a chip on my shoulder and that chip gets bigger and bigger every day.

“It (being in the Super Bowl) is more like a bucket list thing. It’s obviously hard to even get to this point. There are guys who have been in the league forever and this is their first year. I’m a rookie and this is my first time being in a Super Bowl. I’m glad to be here, I’m excited to be here, and I can’t wait until Sunday.”

Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.