In his first season (2024) as the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, Vic Fangio helped a group of young players, including cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean, develop into good starters and backups for the NFL’s best defense.
During his second season with the Eagles (2025), Fangio will rely on more young guys after losing five defensive starters and two backups this offseason, creating potential problems. He might not receive great production out of his new starters, including cornerback Kelee Ringo.
Ringo is one of two cornerbacks — the other being veteran Adoree’ Jackson — battling to replace Darius Slay, who was released in March and signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The 22-year-old has only started five games during the first two years of his career (2023-2024), not proving much.
If Ringo plays poorly in his first year as a starter, the Eagles’ defense could regress, hurting the team’s chances of winning back-to-back Super Bowls.
The Eagles could solve that concern by signing former Green Bay Packers cornerback Jaire Alexander, who was released Monday.
Alexander, who has made second-team All-Pro twice, has been of the league’s best cornerbacks since getting drafted in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. But after dealing with injuries in three of the last four years, Alexander’s body could be battered, ruining his ability.
Despite having a concerning injury history (19 games missed in the last two years), the 28-year-old will still command significant money, with so many teams needing to sign a starting cornerback.
Eagles general manager Howie Roseman should at least discuss the idea of signing Alexander even though he comes with a major risk. He would be an upgrade over Ringo and could make Philadelphia’s secondary better than last year’s elite unit.
Still, it’s more likely that Philadelphia goes into the season with Ringo starting and with Jackson as the top backup, or vice versa.
The Eagles probably won’t spend a substantial amount of money on an oft-injured cornerback, but plenty of NFL teams might be willing to do that. The Minnesota Vikings, Los Angeles Rams, among other organizations, could aggressively pursue Alexander to fix their cornerback issues.
Alexander could become the No. 1 CB for those defenses, maintaining his reputation as an elite player, but he might not be considered Philadelphia’s top cornerback since DeJean and Mitchell both demonstrated All-Pro upside last season. If he cares about being in that role still, the Eagles might not be his first choice.
He could also experience more health problems this season, a situation the Eagles could get frustrated with. Fangio might also worry that Alexander’s poor tackling — his 38.5 percent missed-tackle rate was the worst for any cornerback in the NFL last season — will make a tough Eagles’ defense less physical and more sloppy.
DeJean, the Eagles’ star nickelback, can play a large amount of snaps on the outside and would be able to take over for a struggling Ringo. That option makes Alexander less of a priority.
Even though Alexander excels in zone coverage and has great ball skills (12 career interceptions), him being undersized (5-10, 196 pounds) and frequently injured could be too tough for the Eagles to overlook.
Alexander could sign with another team quickly, but it probably won’t be Philadelphia for multiple reasons, including the team’s philosophy of playing young draft picks.
Thank you for relying on us to provide the journalism you can trust. Please consider supporting us with a subscription. Cayden Steele may be reached atCSteele@njadvancemedia.com