The Eagles expect to have Darius Slay back from his four-game absence when they take the field in Tampa against the Buccaneers in the wild card round.
But what does that mean for Kelee Ringo and Eli Ricks?
Well, de facto defensive coordinator Matt Patricia didn’t rule out the possibility of finding ways to keep getting the young rookies some playing time in the playoffs.
“Certainly, we can get into that situation and then we’re obviously excited to get [Slay] out there in play,” Patricia said.
“And then we’ll just try to get everybody else in a situation depending on whether it’s down and distance or personnel package or something like that, area of the field, where we think those guys that we have now seen, those young guys we have now seen, if we think they can help us in that situation and try to get them on the field when we can. Sure.”
The Eagles used a fourth-round pick on Ringo, 21, out of Georgia and signed Ricks, 22, as a priority free agent out of Alabama when the draft concluded. Ricks got his opportunity to play defense pretty early in the year and ended up playing 301 snaps (26%) in the regular season, playing both outside cornerback and in the slot.
Ringo played 199 snaps (17%) in the regular season but 198 of them came within the last five weeks. He started at outside corner during Slay’s four-game absence after having arthroscopic surgery on his knee.
