PHILADELPHIA − The Eagles are adding more to their cornerback room, trading defensive tackle Thomas Booker to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for the third-year CB Jakorian Bennett, according to a league source.
Bennett, 5-foot-11, 195 pounds, was a fourth-round pick out of Maryland by the Raiders in 2023. He started 7 games last season and 11 in his career. He’s predominantly been an outside cornerback in Las Vegas with 712 of his 820 career snaps coming outside the numbers.
That adds another body to the competition playing out at Eagles training where camp where Kelee Ringo, veteran free-agent acquistion Adoree’ Jackson, and perhaps Eli Ricks are fighting for the job opposite of emerging second-year star Quinyon Mitchell.
“It’s close,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said of Ringo vs. Jackson on Monday before practice. “I think both of them are having a good camp, but it’s close and been happy with both of them, and we’ll see.”
Ringo and Jackson have been splitting reps in practice with Ricks making noise to potentially enter the conversation in recent days.
“[Ricks] has made some plays the last few days that were good plays,” said Fangio. “He needs to eliminate the negative ones, too, which I think he’s working hard to do, and I see definite improvement from last year to this year.”
With Thursday’s preseason opener against Cincinnati looming, the first unofficial depth chart of the season was put together by the Eagles’ Communications Department, listing Jackson/Ringo as the starter.
Ironically, Bennett, who will turn 25 later this month, was taken by the Raiders one pick before the Eagles traded up to nab Ringo at No. 104 overall in the 2023 draft.
Booker, a third-year pro out of Stanford, was having a solid summer and even got some first-team reps in 50 fronts, but the Eagles have solid depth on the interior with rookie-round pick Ty Robinson and the rangy Gabe Hall.
The fact that ex-Eagles execs Brandon Hunt and Anthony Patch are now in Las Vegas likely played into the deal as well.
