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Injuries plagued the Philadelphia Eagles' secondary this season, leaving three rookies to step up all season long: Eli Ricks, Kelee Ringo and Sydney Brown.
Contrary to what the stat sheet might say, veteran cornerback Darius Slay thinks they did an incredible job in their first NFL season.
"It was all improvement, every one of them," Slay said when asked how the young secondary group fared this year, via CBS Sports' Jeff Kerr. "They all stepped up big in big moments. I appreciate a lot of these guys because the fact is a lot of these guys played a different position that they've never played before.
"Kelee never played dime backer. Eli never played nickel. So these guys, when you stuck them in different positions that they never trained for and still to win 11 games is big. They've got a great future in these two young guys. ... I don't think Syd ever played nickel before. He's just flying around hittin' folks. And he ended up being the boss and doing great things."
Darius Slay with some high praise for Eli Ricks, Kelee Ringo and Sydney Brown this year. #Eagles pic.twitter.com/W1Y5Bqslx9
— Jeff Kerr (@JeffKerrCBS) January 17, 2024
Eli Ricks
Ricks kicked off his rookie season playing a majority of his snaps on special teams.
It wasn't until Week 9 against the Dallas Cowboys that he stepped up big-time on defense and logged a career-high 47 snaps, though he didn't come close to that number of defensive snaps until the Eagles' final two games of the regular season.
He finished his first NFL year playing in 16 games where he logged 18 total tackles and three pass deflections.
Kelee Ringo
Ringo also spent most of the season playing on special teams before earning a role on defense in the Eagles' final six games.
He finished his rookie season registering one sack, one interception and 21 tackles through 17 games.
Sydney Brown
In 14 games this season with six starts, Brown logged 38 tackles, three pass deflections, one interception, and one forced fumble.
His lone interception was returned for a 99-yard touchdown.
An ACL injury kept him from playing in the Eagles' playoff loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He is scheduled to have ACL repair surgery on Jan. 25.
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