The Philadelphia Eagles will be looking for their No. 2 cornerback this offseason, and rising third-year cornerback Kelee Ringo could be their guy opposite Quinyon Mitchell.
Over his first two NFL seasons, Ringo has primarily contributed to special teams, logging 645 snaps. His opportunities at cornerback have been limited, with only five regular-season starts, four of which came during his rookie year.
However, with the departures of veterans Darius Slay and Isaiah Rodgers, Ringo is now a leading candidate to secure a starting cornerback position in 2025.
While he has limited experience taking real in-game defensive snaps, Ringo feels more ready than ever now that the game has slowed down a bit for him.
“The game is slowing down a lot more, for sure,” Ringo said. “When the game slows down, you can play a lot faster.”
The game slowing down has also given Ringo a chance to look at other positions to truly understand the game and his role.
“Diving into playbook and learning other positions that aren’t even mine just to know where my help is,” he added. “You understand your position and what the guy next to you is doing, you can play much faster.”
Ringo’s path to landing the starting role won’t be an easy one, though, after the Eagles added experienced veteran Adoree Jackson in free agency this past March. Jackson, entering his ninth NFL season, brings a wealth of experience from his previous tenures with the Tennessee Titans and New York Giants
It does, however, help that Ringo previously had great mentors to learn from over the last two years in Slay, Rodgers, Avonte Maddox, and James Bradberry.
With all three of those vets now gone, Jackson is in Philly to fill that role. And despite his readiness to start immediately, Jackson has embraced a mentorship role, especially with Ringo, his locker mate, whom he sees a ton of potential.
“What stands out most about Kelee is that he’s a freak of nature,” said Jackson. “Just his (in)tangibles of being that tall, being able to have speed, his movement … one of the coolest things is that he’s my locker mate, so to be able to talk to him, he’s a funny dude. Good people.”