The Philadelphia Eagles entered the 2025 season with hopes that cornerback Kelee Ringo could win the CB2 job over veteran cornerback Adoree’ Jackson.
Ringo spent the first two years of his career playing mostly special teams and starting in a total of five games. However, with the Eagles not bringing back Darius Slay nor Isaiah Rodgers Sr., Ringo had a clear path towards winning the job.
But that didn’t exactly materialize for Ringo.
Instead, the Eagles added Jakorian Bennett into the mix through a trade before the first preseason game. Despite Bennett’s addition to the cornerback room, Philadelphia ultimately settled on Jackson to be the CB2. An outcome that no one expected, but Ringo didn’t do enough in training camp and preseason to earn the job.
Kelee Ringo’s 2025 Season Goes into ‘What-If’ Category for Eagles
With that being said, the decision to go with Jackson didn’t look great at first, as he struggled in Week 1 against Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. However, the veteran defender improved over the next two games before being sidelined by an injury, which gave Ringo another opportunity to prove himself.
Ringo made his first start of the season in Week 4 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he had four combined tackles, a pass deflection, and a fumble recovery. But things started to go south against the Denver Broncos in Week 5.
The Broncos went right at Ringo, who allowed four receptions (seven targets) for 56 yards, but he still had an 83.0 pass rating allowed when targeted. It didn’t get better for Ringo in Week 6 against the New York Giants. He didn’t start as Jackson was back, but still gave up his fair share of yards — 73 on four receptions (five targets).
After that game, Ringo’s snaps on defense started to dip, with Jackson cementing himself as the team’s CB2. Coming out of the Week 9 bye, Ringo played 16 total defensive snaps from Weeks 10 to 17. In the meantime, his special teams snaps were 164 as Ringo established himself as the best gunner on punt return coverage.
Ringo had another chance to start in the Week 18 finale against the Washington Commanders, where he was targeted three times, but only allowed one catch for 14 yards. Despite not getting lit up, the former fourth-round pick didn’t play well as he gave up an absurd rushing TD to Josh Johnson.
Looking ahead to 2026, Ringo could have another chance to make a play for the starting CB2 spot, depending on what the Eagles do in free agency and the draft.
If they draft a rookie CB, it doesn’t eliminate him from the competition technically. However, based on Ringo's performance this past season, the Eagles like Ringo in a reserve role and on special teams.