The Philadelphia Eagles’ final preseason game of 2022 was a big deal for Reed Blankenship. A former West Limestone High School standout, Blankenship was trying to make the Eagles’ 53-player regular-season roster as an undrafted rookie safety from Middle Tennessee.

When Philadelphia concludes its 2023 preseason schedule on Thursday night against the Indianapolis Colts, Blankenship might not even play. He doesn’t need to; he’s penciled into the Eagles’ starting lineup.

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“It’s funny,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said during his Tuesday press conference. “I’m looking at my talk to the team for tomorrow night, and there’s some similarities of tomorrow night’s talk and last year on the third preseason game’s talk. And I’m looking at Reed, because we said, ‘Hey, Reed’s going to play in the third preseason game. What are you going to do tomorrow to take advantage of your opportunity and make this team?’ And looking at his college highlights – we showed some of his college highlights – and we showed his stats – he had like 419 tackles in five years at Middle Tennessee State. And so the reason I say all that is it was exciting to look back at that and see us highlighting like (wide receiver Britain) Covey and Reed and then them going out and taking advantage of their opportunities and making the team.

“But Reed’s always had this play-making ability, going back to the 419 tackles at Middle Tennessee State. And so he just keeps developing. One compliment that you can give a guy in our locker room is: Man, he’s just a good football player. He’s just a good football player, and that’s how I feel about Reed. And he’s continuing to get better. He’s continuing to see everything as a safety and make strides there in his football IQ, so obviously pleased with where he is right now and the growth that he’s had in the past year.”

Blankenship played two defensive snaps in Philadelphia’s first 10 games last season. But when C.J. Gardner-Johnson got hurt against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 27, Blankenship filled the vacancy and intercepted Aaron Rodgers. Blankenship started five more times, including a playoff game, as the Eagles won the NFC championship and played in Super Bowl LVII.

The NFL’s final week of preseason play begins on Thursday night and ends on Sunday night. After that, each NFL team must have its 90-player preseason roster reduced to 53 by 3 p.m. CDT Tuesday.

As with Blankenship last year, the looming reduction leaves hundreds of players hoping to make strong enough final impressions in this week’s games to move to the right side of the roster bubble.

They aren’t all undrafted rookies, as Blankenship was.

Among the players with Alabama football roots who appear to be on the in/out line on roster cuts are Miami Dolphins defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand, Buffalo Bills safety Jared Mayden, Cincinnati Bengals linebacker Jaylen Moody and Las Vegas Raiders wide receiver Cam Sims from Alabama, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Marlon Davidson, Carolina Panthers outside linebacker Eku Leota, Arizona Cardinals linebacker Owen Pappoe and Cleveland Browns wide receiver Anthony Schwartz from Auburn and Panthers running back Spencer Brown and Browns wide receiver Austin Watkins from UAB.

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The Alabama Game of the Week is the Colts-Eagles contest on Thursday night. Nineteen players from Alabama high schools and colleges are on the teams’ active rosters.

The complete Week 3 preseason schedule (with all times Central and point spreads from vegasinsider.com):

Thursday

· Pittsburgh Steelers (-3.5) at Atlanta Falcons, 6:30 p.m. (WBRC, WAFF 3, WSFA 3, WTVY, NFL Network)

· Indianapolis Colts (-3.5) at Philadelphia Eagles, 7 p.m. (Prime Video)

Friday

· Detroit Lions at Carolina Panthers (-2), 7 p.m. (CBS)

· New England Patriots (-2.5) at Tennessee Titans, 7:15 p.m. (WHDF, NFL Network)

· Los Angeles Chargers at San Francisco 49ers (-3), 9 p.m. (NFL Network)

Saturday

· Arizona Cardinals (-1.5) at Minnesota Vikings, noon

· Buffalo Bills (-1.5) at Chicago Bears, noon

· Cleveland Browns at Kansas City Chiefs (-1), noon (NFL Network)

· Seattle Seahawks (-1.5) at Green Bay Packers, noon

· New York Jets (-4) at New York Giants, 5 p.m. (NFL Network)

· Cincinnati Bengals at Washington Commanders (-4.5), 5:05 p.m.

· Baltimore Ravens (-1.5) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 6 p.m. (WFNA, WMBB)

· Miami Dolphins at Jacksonville Jaguars (-4), 6 p.m. (WABM)

· Las Vegas Raiders (-6) at Dallas Cowboys, 7 p.m.

· Los Angeles Rams at Denver Broncos (-3.5), 8 p.m. (NFL Network)

Sunday

· Houston Texans at New Orleans Saints (-2.5), 7 p.m. (FOX)

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.