Why Howie Roseman and the Eagles drafted Kelee Ringo, Tanner McKee, and Moro Ojomo on Day 3

The Eagles stayed active on the phones throughout the third day of the NFL draft, making four trades and three selections on Saturday.

The first pick came after the Eagles traded a 2024 third-round pick to the Houston Texans for the 105th pick (the third pick in the fourth round) to draft Georgia cornerback Kelee Ringo.

Ringo is a 6-foot-2, 207-pound defensive back with impressive straight-line speed. He ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the NFL scouting combine. His change of direction skills was a concern, which likely caused him to slide into the fourth round despite his pedigree as a major contributor to Georgia’s historically dominant defense.

Ringo started 27 games for the Bulldogs over two seasons and had four interceptions and 19 pass breakups over that time.

During his post-draft news conference, general manager Howie Roseman said Ringo had a high enough grade to justify trading a future third-rounder to get him and noted that he was cleared medically by the team’s doctors.

“Ringo was a guy that stuck out on our board,” Roseman said. “He had a really high grade. He was a guy that we were considering at those picks when we picked in the third round. And then we go through it. ... We had higher grades on him than the pick that we traded. We felt like this was a 20-year-old kid who is a good kid, tremendous physical tools, and we really have an opportunity to develop him. He doesn’t have to come in here and be a superhero. He can learn. We think we have tremendous veterans at that position who can show the way.”

A few hours later, the Eagles traded for former St. Joseph’s Prep star and 2020 second-round pick D’Andre Swift, sending the Detroit Lions a 2025 fifth-round pick and agreeing to a swap of seventh-round picks.

» READ MORE: Eagles bring D’Andre Swift home, trading with the Lions to add an offensive weapon at running back

The Eagles drafted Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee with the 188th pick, which they received from the Houston Texans in a deal brokered on Friday. They then made a series of trades that landed them a 2024 fifth-round pick, sending two late seventh-round picks this year to the Texans for pick No. 191 and then rerouting it to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a future fifth less than an hour later.

McKee, 23, was a two-year starter who played in 23 games during his three-year career for the Cardinal. He served a Latter-day Saints mission in Brazil for 21 months before starting his college career in 2020.

At 6-foot-6, 231 pounds, McKee is a pocket passer with comfortability making quick decisions in a pro-style offense because of his time at Stanford. He isn’t the cleanest stylistic match to Jalen Hurts, but he will have a chance to become the long-term backup behind the Eagles’ franchise quarterback if he develops while sitting behind Hurts and Marcus Mariota next season. Roseman and and head coach Nick Sirianni pushed back on the notion that McKee would be slotted ahead of current third-string quarterback Ian Book, but said they were enticed by McKee’s arm strength and accuracy.

“We think it’s a really important position,” Roseman said. “We had a guy who was highly graded on the board and so we took him. It’s no reflection of anyone else. You can go back to the championship game, the 49ers were playing their fourth-string quarterback. I think, for us, you look at that, these guys are hard to find. If you like one of them, you better take one.”

The Eagles drafted Texas defensive line prospect Moro Ojomo one round later with the 248th pick, their final selection of the day.

At 6-2, 292 pounds with 34 1/2-inch arms, Ojomo projects favorably as an early-down run defender out of the 4i-technique alignment. He was 88th percentile in the vertical jump and 86th in the broad jump, according to mockdraftable.com.

“That’s a guy who has traits in his body,” Roseman said. “Tremendous testing, he’s got position versatility. He was standing out on our board. We were excited to get him in the seventh round.”

The Eagles’ 2023 class consists of seven players and skews considerably toward defense, which makes sense considering the number of key contributors the team lost from last year’s defense in free agency. They added three pass rushers, two defensive backs, a potential starting right guard, and a developmental quarterback.

The Eagles leave this year’s draft with 10 picks coming for next year, including four compensatory picks as a result of players lost in free agency. They have their own first-rounder, the Saints’ second-round pick in addition to their own, a comp pick in the third round, a fifth-rounder from the Bucs, and three additional comp picks expected to be fifth-rounders. They also have two conditional picks, a sixth-round pick swap with the Minnesota Vikings and a fifth-rounder from the Vikings that could become a fourth-rounder if Jalen Reagor catches five or more touchdowns.