S Middle Tennessee State

It’s time to look at a Reed Blankenship scouting report. Blankenship is an intriguing prospect that I wanted to look into more. His name keeps popping up and his status is all over the place. A lot of scouts are really high on this guy, while others are just so-so. Let’s take a deeper look at him and see why there are discrepancies. We will dive into some of his strengths and his weak points and decide where he should be drafted in the end.

Weaknesses

Lets start with the bad stuff because I want to go out on a strong point for this player. One of the concerns many people have is his durability. Can he stay healthy? He suffered a broken leg one season and then an ankle injury kept him out for some games this last season. Overall he has decent size and should be able to hang in there in the NFL. We will see if any team doctors see red flags as the draft nears.

His man coverage skills leave something to be desired.  But not every team will ask him to line up in the slot as a down safety and man up on a WR. My biggest concern with him isn’t something I hear a lot of in scouting circles. I believe he takes bad lines to the ball carrier sometimes. Somehow, he makes up for it and still makes a diving arm tackle. I do wonder if he can get away with that against faster top tier talent. I also don’t see him as a fierce tackler. In fact, I didn’t see any hits from him that will make NFL receivers fear him.

Strengths

When I first started watching his tape, I saw him make a great tip to one-handed interception that he returns 108 yards for a touchdown and I replayed it a few times. It is sincerely one of the best all around plays I’ve ever seen. So that’s not a bad start! He is very instinctual and often seems to know what the play is before the ball is snapped. This allows him to put himself in good position. The bad new is this sometimes leads to him guessing the wrong play. This can lead to him getting beat over the top by play action passes.

It seems like the ball followed him his first three seasons, but he failed to create a turnover this last season. Blankenship is also a capable blitzer out of the slot or as a down safety, maybe in part do to his overall speed. He supposedly ran a 4.46 in high school and may be a little quicker now. His team voted him a 2 time captain, so he should be solid in the locker room and a good teammate. Outside of his ability at safety, the Blue Raiders also had him return punts. Sadly, he rarely gets a chance to return one do to poor punting from opponents. Based on the before mentioned interception return, and his coaches faith in him back there, I believe he could offer some return ability as well.

Reed checks almost all the boxes a team would want in a back up safety. He will be a good locker room player and possible leader while providing depth and versatility on special teams. His nose for the ball and game speed should land him a spot on a team and with good coaching he could develop into a starter.

Projection

I see him as a third or fourth option at safety who could give starters rest as well as a key special teams contributor. Maybe a starter down the road in the right system. He should be drafted in the 5th -6th round. Good team fits would be set at starting safety and needing to add depth and special teams speed. I actually like him to the Bengals or Steelers.