Player: Kelee Ringo
School: Georgia
Measurables:
- Height: 6’2”(NFL Combine)
- Weight: 207(NFL Combine)
- 40: 4.36(NFL Combine)
- 10 Yard Split: 1.54(NFL Combine)
- Bench: DNP
- Vertical Jump: 33.5”(NFL Combine)
- Broad Jump: 10’2”(NFL Combine)
- 3 Cone: DNP
- 20 Yard Shuttle: DNP
- Other Notes: Ringo ran a really good 40 for a CB of his size. The rest of the athletic testing was okay. I thought Ringo had an okay Combine, but I wasn’t in love in the same way other people were. I was hoping he would look much smoother and “cleaner” in the positional drills and I saw a lot of the same that I saw on tape.
Graded Position Specific Traits:
- Man Coverage: 8/10
- Zone Coverage: 6.5/10
- Field Vision: 8/10
- Tackling: 5.25/10
- Run Support: 5/10
- Range: 5.5/10
Prospect Grade: 38.25/60; 63.8%- Starter with potential to be above average starter(to me this is more so his floor than his ceiling)
Projected Draft Day: Mid Round 1- Super Early Round 2
Player Comparison: Tariq Woolen
Player Summary:
Kelee Ringo is an extremely difficult prospect to get a read on and put a grade on. His tape is pretty inconsistent and the good isn’t at the level people talk about him at. As a Georgia fan, it sucks to say this because I do really like Ringo, but I would argue that he was the third best CB on his own team. Ringo seems like he is starting to fall down draft boards, and honestly I can understand why.
Let’s start with the positives. Ringo is a really strong man corner. He’s really good when he can get in your face and hands on. He also reads the field really well, probably the best of any of the CBs I’ve watched so far. RAW! Ringo in my eyes is still an extremely raw prospect who under the right coaching could absolutely take off and be a ridiculously good player in the pros. Teams I think of when I think Ringo: Patriots, Ravens, Seahawks, Giants.
Now onto the issues. 95% of the time Ringo’s first step is backwards, specifically in zone. I don’t know if he’s afraid to get beat or something but he’s always pedaling it feels like. He drops so deep sometimes too, like just as deep if not deeper than the safeties sometimes. This is part of the reason his run support grade is average. I can’t tell if he’s so deep that he’s just slow getting to the play or if he’s not reading run fast enough. Ringo’s tackling also looked much worse than last season, and I don’t know what changed
Another issue is that Ringo has a tendency to open his hips early. Most times he’s not even opening his hips fully, but it’s enough to slow him down just enough to lose on some routes. Ringo’s footwork is unbelievably rough. His ability to change direction and break on a route is bad, it’s so slow. He needs to learn to plant and break. There were so many times where he could’ve made a play and his lack of ability to break on the play cost him. He’s not precise on his breaks either. There were several times where he’d be matched on a WR running an in or out route and instead of planting and covering he would round out the route, which gave the receiver just enough separation. This is part of the reason Ringo’s range grade is so average. The other reason is that he shows inconsistent speed on tape. For as much as I’ve heard about Ringo’s speed this offseason so far, there are times where I’m like there’s just no way.
Ringo was targeted way more than I would’ve thought for someone who’s supposed to be a top corner prospect this year. In the Tennessee game, Cedric Tillman gave him issues. I know it was overshadowed by Georgia winning that game pretty handily, but man did Ringo struggle. He also struggled badly in the second half of the LSU game. Malik Nabers torched Ringo multiple times.
The last note I have for Ringo is that Zach and I have recently heard whisperings of people wanting to move him to safety. I mean I guess with how well Ringo reads the field and his supposed speed he has(I’m hoping he runs at the combine), I guess Ringo could theoretically move to safety, but personally I would probably keep him at cornerback. I think he has the man coverage skills of a CB along with a solid size speed combination. I don’t think he has the tackling ability or the level of physicality needed to play safety. Anything is possible, but I think Ringo just needs to go to a team who’s known for developing corners and let them work on the technical parts of his game, particularly footwork.