Darius Slay thinks it was about Week 8 this season when he went to defensive backs coach D.K. McDonald to talk about Kelee Ringo.
“I was like, whenever y’all feel comfortable,” Slay said.
As in, this kid is ready to play.
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And with Slay on the shelf for a little while after having arthroscopic knee surgery last week, Ringo is finally getting the chance. In his first NFL start last week, the 21-year-old cornerback made the most of it.
Ringo last week played 32 snaps against the Seahawks and didn’t allow a catch on the two targets that went his way. After playing just one defensive snap in the first 12 games of his NFL career, Ringo has played 54 the last two weeks.
“I actually went up to my DB coach and was like, I don’t know but I’ve been watching Kelee in practice against A.J. (Brown),” Slay said. “I see his fundamentals and technique was improving each and every day. I was like man, he’s been doing good.”
As a veteran captain, Slay takes it upon himself to help coach the young defensive backs. So he really watches when they run scout team and he saw improvement weekly from Ringo this year while the rookie was facing the Eagles’ star receivers.
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“I watch all the reps of all the guys just because when I’m coaching them, I do want to help them as in what they doing wrong that I see,” Slay said. “So I try to help them the best way I can. So me doing that, I gotta watch what they do. Just watching the plays he was making on A.J., with A.J. being one of the best receivers in this league.
“For a young guy like that, I just told him right now you’re on the scout team, it’s not really truly your responsibility. You’re just out there playing free because you’re not working our defense. But that’s what you got to do when you’re in our defense. He’s taking along with it and he’s doing well.”
The Eagles have a couple of exciting young defensive backs who are playing quite a bit now with Ringo, Eli Ricks and Sydney Brown. The Eagles haven’t been great in the secondary all season and they have some older players in that unit.
So it’s excited to see these younger guys get their chances. It’s far too early to know if these young players are going to be major factors in the future but they definitely have a chance.
Ringo was a fourth-round pick because he was considered to be a raw prospect. But he’s a 205-pound corner who ran a sub 4.40 time in the 40-yard dash. There’s a reason he got some first-round buzz in the pre-draft process and there are reasons to think he has a really high ceiling.
“His time is definitely now,” Slay said. “He needs to continue to keep playing and attack meetings, film, practice. Knowing that, hey, he’s playing consistently. That’s all that really is.”
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