Eagles Have Plenty Of Options To Choose From At CB Opposite Darius Slay

PHILADELPHIA - The Eagles’ cornerback room has gone from shaky to “deep” in record time.

That depth is tethered to projection, however. Not only when it comes to highly-touted rookies Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, but also second-year players Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks, as well as a one-time ascending option in Indianapolis, Isaiah Rodgers, who is returning from a season of inactivity due to a gambling suspension.

Because he’s the No. 22 selection in the 2024 NFL Draft and the first CB selected in this year’s draft class, Mitchell starts with a leg up regarding the perceived open starting position opposite Darius Slay.

Veteran James Bradberry remains on the Eagles roster for now after a poor 2023 season. Still, it’s hard to envision a path to a Week 1 role for the veteran with so many young players with upside littering the 90-man offseason group.

New defensive coordinator Vic Fangio gave reporters a quick scouting report regarding Mitchell at his media availability last week.

“He’s obviously got good movement. He’s got good size for a corner,” Fangio said. “He’s going to have to adapt to the NFL game, cover NFL receivers, NFL scheme and the passing game.”

The idea that Alabama and Nick Saban were at least thinking about luring Mitchell to Tuscaloosa in the transfer portal eased tensions over the level of competition the Sunshine State native faced at Toledo because the crown jewel of college football wanted him.

That spin speaks to those who believe in the player's projection, though, because Mitchell stayed loyal to the Toledo football program, perhaps a checkmark in the character category, but one that still leaves him untested for the most part against the best competition at the Triple-A level.

“There’s a lot to learn,” Fangio admitted. “But we think he’s the right guy emotionally and mentally to do that, and hopefully he’ll pay dividends quickly rather than later. But he’s going to be one of the many competing.”

Enter DeJean, the 40th overall pick and a favorite of Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie.

DeJean comes from a Power 5 program at Iowa and has the athletic traits to excel outside yet many teams projected him inside at the college level.

The Eagles’ personnel department evaluated DeJean as an outside CB first and foremost. It’s now Fangip’s responsibility to use his talent bucket the best way he sees fit and the veteran defensive mind has already started the cross-training of DeJean at rookie camp, allowing him to play outside the numbers and in the slot.

“You start them out at a primary position, and then you start giving them the secondary position, and you go from there,” Fangio said when asked by Eagles Today how he likes to handle those who can play multiple positions.

Ringo and Ricks got their feet wet last season as rookies.

Ringo, a highly-touted fourth-round pick, wasn’t great in training camp bit when thrown into the fire late in the season for 233 snaps, most of them from Week 14 through the wild card loss to Tampa Bay, the Georgia product flashed tremendous promise at 6-foot-2 and 207 pounds with the length, speed, and physicality to excel outside.

One thing you can guarantee is that Ringo needs to perform better in practice to earn Fangio’s trust.

Ricks played more than Ringo despite being an undrafted free agent out of Alabama with 316 defensive snaps but many of them (144 to be exact) were out of position in the slot. The Eagles love Ricks’ natural coverage abilities and his frame (6-2, 188) screams outside CB but the run support isn’t there for him to handle more than a subpackage role right now.

That leaves the wild card of Rodgers, who played predominantly outside with the Colts but has a body better suited for the slot (5-10, 170). The assumption that a year off isn’t going to hurt Rodgers is optimistic but assuming he’s not in the mix for playing time as the most experienced option (385 outside reps in 2022 and 486 in 2021) if you remove Bradberry from the equation is specious as well.

The obvious goal is to get Mitchell and DeJean up to speed as quickly as possible with the idea both will be starters by 2025.

That said, Fangio will be afforded the rope to play whomever he thinks is the best option.

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