LISTEN: Eagles CB Kelee Ringo says team filled with 'ballers' who are blessed with a lot of talent

Eagles cornerback Kelee Ringo talks about playing for a national champion at Georgia and a Super Bowl champion in the NFL and having several of his Bulldogs teammates in Philadelphia. He also has high praise for coach Nick Sirianni.

MAADDI: Welcome to On Football, I’m Rob Maaddi. Happy holidays to everyone. We’re down to the final two weeks of the NFL season. So much still left in the air. Playoff spots, home-field advantage, No. 1 seed. We do know that the Kansas City Chiefs aren’t gonna be in the playoffs. They’re not going anywhere. Last week, they were eliminated. They also lost Patrick Mahomes to a torn ACL. And then this week, they announced that they’re leaving Arrowhead Stadium. They’re leaving the state of Missouri and heading to Kansas after the 2031 season. It’s been a rough couple of weeks, been a rough season for Chiefs fans who’ve been accustomed to winning. Our special guest is Philadelphia Eagles cornerback, Kelee Ringo. Stay tuned for that conversation.

A few weeks ago, Steelers fans were chanting: “Fire Mike Tomlin!” Even Ben Roethlisberger and James Harrison we’re joining in the conversation, joining the criticism, saying it’s time for Pittsburgh to move on from their longtime head coach. Well, since then, the Steelers have won three in a row, Aaron Rodgers and the offense are clicking, and Mike Tomlin is on the verge of leading Pittsburgh to an AFC North Championship. That’s 19 straight seasons without a losing record for Mike Tomlin. Does anyone want to fire him anymore? I sure hope not.

Kelee Ringo is a fourth-round pick by the Eagles out of Georgia in 2023. He was part of the Super Bowl Championship team last season, plays an important role on special teams, and is a backup corner in the secondary.

MAADDI: Hey Kelee, welcome to the show, man. You’ve already had a ton of success and you’re young in your career, right. Your last season at Georgia, you win a national championship. Last year, you won the Super Bowl. What’s it like to be part of such successful, great teams?

RINGO: First of all, it’s just a blessing just to be able to play the game of football, you know. But man, having great guys around us, great coaches, you know, it is one of the main things I’ve seen that really helped me be able to win throughout my career. Each team I was on, we really had a standard, you know. Whether that’s tackling the ball, playing together, man, being physical, out there, having a good connection, you know. I mean, and really just really having that grip, you know I mean and just overall playing to the standard of knowing who you are and your coaching staff and players as well, you know. So on each of those teams, man, we knew that if we were to play to that standard that we know that we can play, you know, we know would be pretty good.

MAADDI: And obviously this season, the goal is try to be back to back, right. And it’s hard to do in the NFL. And then we saw the Chiefs try to do it last year. What do you feel about this particular Eagles team that’s special, that allows you guys to maybe have that opportunity to win two in a row?

RINGO: Oh man, it’s no secret, we have a lot of ballers. We have a lotta ballers, a lotta guys that are blessed with a lotta talent, man, and each and every single week we go out there, man, we play our hearts out, man and whether, no matter the outcome, we we have a standard that we hold ourselves to, man. We continue to grow from that, man and just next week, man continue to grow, continue to build, man and man, play together, stay together. It’s the best thing we can do.

MAADDI: You’ve got a lot of teammates on the Eagles that you played with at Georgia and you know like it’s the Philadelphia Bulldogs, right? How much did that kind of help your transition when you come in and there’s guys that are familiar and that you know and what is that bond like now with all of those Bulldogs, all those Georgia guys in Philly?

RINGO: Oh yeah, so some of the other guys, I was going to business with them probably like 2019. So we’re going on almost six years now, knowing each other and just spending time in general. But of course, it’s a little bit different when you’re out there and you’re sweating out there with those guys and conditioning and things like that, man. It’s even beyond football, man, just genuine conversations, things like that, and it goes a long way for sure. And of course when you go through tough times that are going to continue to build you, you know, as a man and also as a player. Connections, man, they go through the roof for sure so yeah it’s nothing but love for those guys all the time

MAADDI: As I told you before we even started, like, I grew up in Philly, I covered the Eagles for two decades plus. I know what that fan base is like. I used to sit in the 700 level at the old Vet before you were even born, man. It’s a special, different kind of fan base. When did you first kind of realize that?

RINGO: I’d probably say 2023 season, immediately. Immediately. It was love, you know? Different type of relationship. That’s the best thing I can say, man. I don’t have much to say about the fans. They show a lot of love, of course, and they’ll tell you about yourself when it’s not going your way. I don’t know how to feel about that in certain situations. I’m the type of person, if I’m, you know what I mean, be with us all the time, you know? Win or loss, win or draw, we go out there each and every single day to go out and put our best foot forward at the end of the day, so. We love them, we appreciate them at the end of the day.

MAADDI: What’s your role like, you know, how have you adjusted to it? You played corner in five games, played a lot, lot of snaps and mainly you’re out there, you’re contributing on special teams, which is such a big part of a team having success in the NFL. So how can you, how have you adjusted to that role?

RINGO: That’s also another thing that we talked about at Georgia and also coming into Philadelphia previously. Man, whatever your role is, man, embrace it and be the best at it, you know, cause of course it’s a team sport. You need all 11, all 11 out there, all 11 guys out there on the field, you know, and just wanting to contribute, I’m a contributor, you know, I’m just leaning on the guys, you know, man whatever your role is whether you want to grow from that or not, you know what I mean? Of course you’re always going to want to be the best at that, you know, and that’s only gonna excel the team, you know. So having a lot of guys like that that are not selfish in any way, shape, or form that continue to grow overall, whatever they need to do for themselves, you have to be able to help the team. So when you have a lot of guys, like that, it’s really easy to build a connection to play together and play strong.

MAADDI: I was there when Nick Sirianni was first hired and was around for the first couple of seasons of his career. So I know what he’s gone through there in Philadelphia and then to finally win a Super Bowl last year, what that kind of meant to him and his career. What is he like to play for, Keelee, as a head coach?

RINGO: He demands your best all the time. He always tells us you’re never not gonna know what’s expected from you when you leave this building, you know? And there’s, as I said before, there’s always a standard you gotta play to, you know? I mean, I’m playing fast, physical, tough, and having great connection out there, man. And you know, you wouldn’t want any, you wouldn’t want anything other than from a coach than somebody that just wants to bring the best out of you, you know. Whether it’s coaching you hard, paying attention to my new details, that’ll be able to take your game to the next edge, man, so. When you really have a growth mindset and guys around you that have a growth mindset, you know, and that’s just a standard within your program. And it’s, man, the sky’s the limit when you add talent to that as well.

MAADDI: No doubt. What’s it like going up against whenever you get an opportunity to face some of those guys in practice? Whether it’s AJ, whether it’s DeVonta, like there’s a lot of talent, as you mentioned before, on offense. How much does it help your game any time you get that opportunity, whether it in-season, in training camp, to match up against them?

RINGO: It’s no secret, these guys are some of the best in the game at what they do, you know, so. You know, the saying, iron sharpens iron, man. Just continue to grow. Man, so sometimes I ask questions, man, how do you feel about this? What would you, how would you attack this certain leverage or this technique? You know? So man, just bouncing ideas out of different guys’ heads, you know? And just continue to enhance your game the best way that you can, while also competing at the same time, you know? So, I love it.

MAADDI: Kelee, my mom is a two-time breast cancer survivor. I know that your mom is a survivor of triple negative breast cancer, and you honored her by wearing V Foundation-themed cleats for My Cause, My Cleats. Tell me a little bit about that importance of the work that you’re doing to kind of raise awareness for early detection and research.

RINGO: One of the main things that we didn’t really understand when she was, before she was diagnosed, that it could happen to her. So one of my biggest messages is that breast cancer does not discriminate, you know? And we were kind of in denial at the point, you know? So, man, just raising awareness to understand that, man, breast cancer doesn’t discriminate. You should be able to, you should continue to check on your mamograms, you know, continue to, just continue to take care of yourself, you know. Man, you’re not excluded. It can happen to anybody, you know, and God forbid it does to anybody. You’re not able to choose, you know, but man, just the way that you attack it is, and man, we just always want to continue to have faith and we’ll be just fine for sure.

MAADDI: Time for some Pro Picks. 3-1 straight up and against the number last week. Overall, 46-17-1; 39-24-1 against the number. My best bet, Christmas night, Denver, 12-3, at Kansas City, 6-9. The Broncos are 12 1/2-point favorites. The Broncos are playing for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. They had their 11-game winning streak snapped by Jacksonville. They’re going to be angry and ready to go. The Chiefs are down to a third-string quarterback. Denver’s defense can make this one ugly. Broncos, 27-6. For my upset special, which are 12-4 this season, I’m looking at Houston, 10-5, at the Los Angeles Chargers, 11-4. Chargers are a 2-point favorite. C.J. Stroud and the Texans have won 10 of 12. They’re still in the race for first place. Houston’s top-ranked defense. They feel like they’ve got something to prove after a subpar performance in a win over the Raiders. Justin Herbert wasn’t sacked last week for the first time this season, but the Chargers, well, they’re not facing the Cowboys this week. My upset special, 23-20 Texans. Next, I’m looking at the NFL’s version of a toilet bowl in fantasy football leagues. The New York Giants, 2-13, at Las Vegas. The Raiders are 2- 13. The Raiders are 1-point favorites. The winner of this game really is a loser because they’ll lose the No. 1 overall pick. Jaxson Dart had a rough game, probably his worst as a rookie against the Vikings last week. But he is the Giants' quarterback of the future. The Raiders, they need a franchise quarterback. So a loss would be beneficial. Maybe they should bench running back Ashton Jeanty. They won’t. Raiders 23-20. Last, New England 12-3 at the New York Jets who are 3-12. Patriots are 12 1/2-point favorites. The Patriots coming off an impressive win over the Ravens. They still have a shot to secure the AFC’s No. 1 seed. They’re playing to clinch that AFC East title. The Jets are playing for the best possible draft pick which is as usual this time of year. Patriots 30-13. That’s it for this week. Thank you to Kelee Ringo. Thank you for listening to On Football, and thanks to Haya Panjwani for producing this episode. Please check out APNews.com for the full Pro Picks, On Football analysis and more NFL News.