While it’s great that the Philadelphia Eagles are testing out how NFL All-Pro slot cornerback Cooper DeJean might fare at safety in 2026, another good idea might be to keep DeJean at slot, where he might be the NFL’s best at his position.
To do that, they probably need to add a little more depth at safety. Which is 1 of the reasons why Bleacher Report’s Moe Moton thinks the Eagles should make a move and sign the NFL’s best “bargain bin” free agent with safety Taylor Rapp.
Rapp, 28, won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Rams following the 2021 season and has been a full-time starter for the Buffalo Bills for the last 2 seasons, starting 14 games in 2024 and 6 games in 2025 before a season-ending knee injury.
The Bills released Rapp to save roughly $3 million in salary cap space.
“Taylor Rapp has valuable experience at both safety positions and in the slot,” Moton wrote on July 1. “He played four seasons with the Los Angeles Rams and three with the Buffalo Bills, recording 488 tackles (11 for loss), 31 pass breakups and 12 interceptions. After six mostly healthy, productive pro years, Rapp suffered a season-ending knee injury in October of last year. For the first time in his career, he finished a campaign without an interception or a pass breakup but only allowed a stingy 78.6 passer rating in coverage. Coming off a down year, Rapp is unlikely to sign a multiyear contract, but the battle-tested defensive back may just need a one-year, prove-it deal to show why he’s still a starting-caliber defender.”
Taylor Rapp Starred for Super Bowl Champions
Rapp, 6-foot and 208 pounds, was a 2-time All-Pac-12 pick for the University of Washington, including earning All-American honors in 2018 before the Los Angeles Rams selected him in the 2nd round (No. 61 overall) in the 2019 NFL draft.
His draft stock dropped considerably after he posted a 4.78-second 40-yard dash at Pro Day — insanely slow for an NFL defensive back.
After starting 10 games and racking up 100 tackles as a rookie, Rapp missed 7 games due to injuries in 2020 but bounced back to start all 17 games in 2021 with 94 tackles, 4 interceptions, and 6 pass deflections. He missed the 1st 2 playoff games in concussion protocol but returned to start for the Rams in a 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
Rapp signed a 1-year, $1.7 million “prove-it” deal with the Bills in March 2023 and was rewarded with a 3-year, $10.625 million contract extension 1 year later.
In an interesting twist, if Rapp were to sign with the Eagles, the Bills signed former Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson as his replacement in Buffalo.
Eagles Lost Valued Starter in Free Agency
The Eagles are scrambling a little bit at safety — as evidenced by their DeJean experiment — after losing Reed Blankenship to the Houston Texans in free agency on a 3-year, $24.75 million contract.
“That honestly felt like the first time in my whole career that somebody really wanted me as a player and as a person,” Blankenship told NFL reporter Aaron Wilson after he signed with the Texans.
That sounds like a pretty miserable time for Blankenship in Philadelphia, where he went from an undrafted free agent to one of the standouts on Philadelphia’s defense as a full-time starter for the last 3 seasons. That included a Super Bowl win following the 2024 season.
Blankenship probably dropped his value in the free agent market by several million just by how he played in his final game in an Eagles uniform — a 23-19 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Wild Card Round.
Against the 49ers, Blankenship seemed generally lost on defense and got cooked on a trick play that led to a touchdown pass from wide receiver Jauan Jennings to running back Christian McCaffrey.
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