At this time last year, Adoree’ Jackson stood unsigned after the Giants had attempted to go with younger options at cornerback. The team then re-signed Jackson as insurance, but he played a decreased role compared to his prime years.
The Eagles added the former first-round pick much earlier this offseason, signing him to a one-year, $1.76MM deal ($1MM guaranteed). While it appeared Jackson was back as an NFC East insurance option — this time to cover the prospect of Kelee Ringo not showing starter-level form just yet — the third preseason week may be a sign of something more.
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Jackson has worked with the Eagles’ starters during each of the past two practices, per the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Jeff McLane (subscription required). During this time, Ringo has lined up with the defending Super Bowl champions’ second-team defense. Jackson, 30 in September, has 82 starts on his resume. Only five came last season, and he joined Azeez Ojulari in leaving New York for Philadelphia.
Pro Football Focus graded Jackson’s part-time 2024 season well, placing him as a top-40 CB regular. That came after a down 2023, when Jackson was switched to the slot in training camp and then returned to his boundary role in-season. PFF graded Jackson 15th and 31st, respectively, in his first two Giants seasons.
The Eagles signed Jackson after an intended aim to retain Isaiah Rodgers failed; the Vikings signed the 2024 Philly contributor to a two-year, $11MM deal. Jackson did operated as the Giants’ No. 1 corner in 2022, after the team made James Bradberry a cap casualty (paving his road to the Eagles), but did not generate much free agency interest in 2024 or this year. Ringo played behind Rodgers in 2024, seeing 112 snaps.
Jackson or Ringo, in the event the 2023 fourth-rounder can join some of his former Georgia teammates as an Eagles starter, usage also will depend on Cooper DeJean. The fast-emerging defender will be used at multiple positions. Although the slot remains DeJean’s primary role, he has seen time at both safety and outside corner during camp. Vic Fangio said (via McLane) the plan is for DeJean to man the slot in sub-packages, as opposed to a situation where he aligns on the boundary next to another slot player. That makes sense, as it still capitalizes on DeJean’s strengths.
A DeJean-at-safety look would also open a role for a Quinyon Mitchell CB complement, which would give Jackson or Ringo a path to more playing time. The Eagles used a Mitchell-DeJean-Darius Slay CB trio primarily last season, but the team cut both Slay and the injured Bradberry before option bonuses became due this offseason. That set up a Jackson-Ringo battle that is close to wrapping, though the winner will obviously need to maintain solid form to avoid being benched in-season.
Cb 2 and dl depth are the only things I’m worried about with this team.
I actually think our DL is going to be better than last year. I think Hunt is going to be special. He’s gonna be our Zack Baun this year. I’m calling 12 sacks out of him. I’m also betting Ojomo is better than Milton Williams. Carter another year under his belt. JD leaner and more well rounded as a DT. Nolan Smith will take another step. CB2 is my only concern. And I think Bennet will eventually be starting sometime between weeks 3-5. If Jackson can just tackle I dc if he gives up lots of receptions. Just get us through the first 5 weeks with a winning record and then we’ll roll from there
I agree about Hunt but am concerned about the supporting guys like Ojulari and Uche. Uche has looked really good but nobody on the line has really gotten great pressure during the preseason.
Ojomo I think is asking a lot of. Williams was special from day one, uniqueness wise. His combine had him compared to Aaron Donald, and it was obvious that he’d have been an even higher pick had he gone to a bigger school. From the first time he stepped on the field, I was a fan and saw the potential he had as a versatile pass rusher. Ojomo has some BIG shoes to fill.
Yea I’m not worried about hunt. I’m worried about everything behind him on the depth chart. We aren’t as deep as last year. And that kept the starters fresh. I don’t share your optimism at all for Ojomo. I think you’re severely underestimating how good Williams was.
Watch the superbowl again. I’ve watched like 8x haha. But when I watched, Ojomo was actually causing way more issues than Williams was even though a lot of his good plays didn’t get him a stat. He was just fierce man. And don’t forget he’s still super young. He’s still gonna be much better. He went to college at 16 and was drafted at a younger age too. I really think by the end of the year, we’ll all agree he’s as good as Milton Williams. Let me clarify I love Milton too. It was a tough loss but I totally understood it purely cuz of Ojomo. And I really think Jordan Davis is also gonna break out this year. He got leaner towards the end of the season last year and he was great in the playoffs. Can’t wait to see him this lean all season
Over Bennett? This is surprising.
I still hope Ringo improves enough to become a legit #2 starting outside CB.
I think he ends up there, ultimately. I’d like to see DeJean nail down a permanent position, and I could see a Mitchell/Ringo/DeJean combination happening next year, but Fangio seems to like DeJean as a floater. If that’s the case, and Jackson is the other outside corner (he’s better doing that than working inside, in my opinion), then Ringi’s only starting spot is inside. I think the team would rather use him on the outside, though, so I think that’s ultimately where he ends up.
Ringo just doesn’t have it guys. We fall too much in love with his physical stature and don’t pay attention to all his flaws that are not improving. He’s in year 3 and all the issues he had as a rookie are still there. Terrible open field tackler. Very stiff in the hips. Not overly fast. He has decent instincts with a big build is all he’s good for. His angles are pretty bad. His spacing has always been bad. Even his tracking of the ball can be pretty brutal. I was shocked he was even in the conversation to start, and honestly think it was more of a stunt to get Adoree Jackson to think he had some competition. Ringo is just bad
I think you’re forgetting about how good he’s looked at times. He can be a really good press corner.
I think Bennet will be starting by week 3 at the latest. He got to camp late, and is still learning the defense. DeJean was in a similar spot last year, missed a ton of camp and didn’t earn a start til week 6. Fangio defense is a lot of communication and reps, he just needs a little more time.
You make a good case. The size is attractive, and that’s why he’s good in press. Fangio is doing a lot differently than the Eagles have done in the past, when the corners had to primarily keep things in front of them and tackle well in a lot of coverages. Bradberry was really good at that. Fangio asks a bit more out of them in other areas, and his coverages are pretty complicated compared to many others.
There’s a ton of moving pieces and coverage shifts, and corners might have to be on their own for longer because the safeties could be on the move or simulating pressure or making reads. I don’t remember corners being on islands as much in the prior era. Fangio likes two high looks presnap, but his “fire zones” are closer to cover 1 blitzes a lot of the time, so there’s at least a short period where the corner has to have sticky coverage. Ringo might press in that situation to buy time, but if he gets beat, it gambles even more by having him held up behind the defender with perhaps only a single safety left over the top.
So, you might be right about his slow hips being an issue. Instincts help there, but you need to get into phase quickly when you’re on an island against a big or fast outside receiver. I still see him as a boundary corner style-wise, but if he can’t turn and run and needs safety help shading on his side, he’ll limit what Fangio can do blitzing or shifting coverages with the safeties.
He is good in press as someone else mentioned. And I totally get why we WANTED him to really win this job. He’s got so many awesome physical tools. I’ve just noticed that guys who progress in their career may not do it fully in a linear way, but usually by year 3 it starts to come together. He just seems like he has all the same issues he’s always had which makes me think he might just not be good enough, or maybe he’d be better in a different system (we did see that with Rasul Douglas). I have the same concerns with Sydney brown. His angles, inability to break down at the contact point, and inability to cover have been issues since day 1, but there has been such little improvement in that area to think it will get a whole lot better. I like both players but sometimes you gotta just know when a guy may not get much better.
I like what you said about the Year Three-I’ve sort of noticed the same, with a couple of noticeable exceptions (many of which involved injuries in getting a slow start). There should at least be comfortability in Year Three.
I actually was thinking of Douglas, too, when finding exceptions to the rule, funnily enough.
The thing I like about Sydney is he makes impact plays every game he plays in, and he’s a really hard hitter.
He’s always around the ball and has the potential to just wreck games. I’m just really not sure about his coverage.
I wonder if we’d make Adoree Jackson a safety at some point?
See I feel like Sydney completely whiffs on as many tackles as he makes is my problem. I love his STYLE of play he just misses too much, or takes a bad angle. And his coverage is just brutal at times
Definitely a symptom of a guy who’s always looking to make hard hots rather than sure hits.
Their secondary will take a step back. Gardner Johnson is a dog, and Slay was a bigger part to their success than many want to admit. Those are huge downgrades.
Those of us who aren’t delusional know these things. Slay is one of the best corners the Eagles have ever had and deserves to be in their Ring of Honor one day, and CJGJ was one of the biggest reasons our defense got us to the Superbowl both years he’s been with us.
I like Mukuba though, and we drafted our young corners for a reason. I like McWilliams, too. But I like Bennett more.
Totally agree. I think all the noise about our DL losses clouded the biggest off season loss we had: Slay. We should have let him finish here in Philly
Every dog can find a warm piece of the sidewalk sometime….he stunk….good luck Eagles….
If no one steps up or they are hit with injuries the Eagles have plenty of draft picks to trade with.