Eagles camp opens with a wake-up call for Kelee Ringo

USA Today

4 days ago

Day 1 of Eagles training camp practice was a rough one for veteran DB Kelee Ringo.
Since March, it has been billed as one of the top training camp battles to monitor during the Philadelphia Eagles' summer. Who will win the starting cornerback job across the formation from Quinyon Mitchell? Darius Slay is gone. So is Isaiah Rodgers and Avonte Maddox. That makes guys like Reed Blankenship and Sydney Brown the elder statesmen.
Mitchell impressed as a rookie. He and Cooper DeJean were finalists for the NFL's Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. They'll both start. DeJean will handle slot duty, which begs the question. Who will handle starting duties at the other outside position?
The front-runners are Adoree' Jackson and Kelee Ringo. Jackson comes to Philadelphia after a four-year run with the rival New York Giants. The latter enters year three, hoping to finally crack the Eagles' starting lineup.
Day 1 of Eagles camp offers some early adversity for Kelee Ringo
It's okay to be a tad rusty when training camp begins. Heck, those are the types of kinks that camp is supposed to work out, but everyone wants to put their best foot forward. Unfortunately, most of the Kelee Ringo mentions have come for negative reasons.
NJ.com's Cayden Steele offered a detailed explanation of some tough sledding at practice. Here's what was provided on the topic of conversation.
"Toward the end of the Eagles' first training camp practice on Wednesday, cornerback Kelee Ringo expressed his frustration by smacking his hands together. He was in good position on wide receiver Terrace Marshall Jr. near the left sideline, but he couldn't knock it away from Marshall's hands and gave up his third big catch of the day."
While it's great to hear that Terrace Marshall has put on a show, someone has to be on the other end of those highlight-reel moments. Unfortunately for Mr. Ringo, he provided a couple of the assists.
"During the team's first seven-on-seven session, Marshall ran past Ringo down the right sideline and snagged quarterback Tanner McKee's accurate deep ball for a touchdown, the first play Ringo allowed. On the second big catch, Ringo had tight coverage on A.J. Brown, but he lost the rep when quarterback Jalen Hurts placed the back-shoulder ball out of his reach. Nine-year veteran Adoree' Jackson subbing in for Ringo afterwards was notable, and it will be interesting to see who starts tomorrow."
Losing on a rep to A.J. Brown is hardly a cause for concern. It has happened to many of the game's greats. It is, however, interesting that we're discussing lost reps vs. Terrace Marshall, who, at best, will be the fourth or fifth wide receiver on Philly's depth chart... and that's if he's fortunate enough to win a roster spot.
All of this is hardly cause for concern. Again, it's day one of camp. The expectation is that Ringo will settle in.
As Steele puts it, he was never "egregiously beaten on his three losses". This allows him to fine-tune some things and sharpen his skills. This is the best shot he has had at winning a starter's role since his arrival, and no one expects a tough start to make him crumble under some adversity.