In Darius Slay, the Eagles have a corner with credentials and confidence: ‘I want the game on me’
Slay will be asked to stabilize a position that has been a glaring weakness. He says he has faced pressure before.
Darius Slay sounded like a guy who was ready to put on the pads, head out onto the field, and solve the Eagles’ long-running cornerback woes right this second.
That can’t happen in early April, and given coronavirus quarantining, it might not happen for quite a while, but it was good to hear a three-time Pro Bowl corner talk about what he thinks he can bring to defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz’s embattled secondary.
On a conference call with reporters Thursday, one of the first questions to Slay was about his reputation for playing tough, man-to-man coverage, matched up against the opponent’s best receiver. The Eagles play a lot of zone coverage, and they haven’t had a corner Schwartz wanted traveling from side to side to shadow an opponent very often.
Slay, traded from the Lions to the Eagles on March 19, said he will do whatever Schwartz needs him to do, but yes, he likes going against the best.
“I love that challenge. I kind of ask for it a lot. … I want the game on me. I want to win the game. If the best way to go about it is me traveling with a guy, then I’ll do it. If the coach sees otherwise, he says, ‘Left or right, Slay, how do you want to do it?’ I just want to do what will help win the game.
“I’ve been doing it the past four or five years, and I’ve been very, very successful at it. If they need me to continue to do it, that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
The Detroit narrative on trading Slay was that he had a down year in 2019, as did the Lions overall, and that he could have been about to decline as he turned 29 at the end of the season.
Slay did not embrace that narrative.
“I had a great year, in my opinion,” said Slay, who thinks he had just two interceptions because he wasn’t targeted as much as in the past. “Other than that, I think I played freaking fantastic. … It was dang sure good enough to make a Pro Bowl third season in a row.”
Pro Football Focus’s stats said Slay’s targets were down only two – from 86 in 2018 to 84 in 2019, both far below his career year in 2017, when Slay was targeted 106 times and intercepted eight passes. PFF also assigned Slay his lowest coverage grade since his rookie season of 2013.
But the 2019 Lions were a 3-12-1 mess; only the Cardinals gave up more than Detroit’s 400.4 yards per game. In the midst of chaos, sometimes it’s hard to parse who is to blame for what.
The Eagles felt confident enough in Slay’s talents to trade third- and fifth-round picks for him, then extend his contract, which could run through 2023 and pay Slay $50 million. There is a team option after the second year, though; the Eagles would carry just $6.5 million in dead cap charges if they decided two years and $26.55 million of Slay was enough.
Schwartz was Detroit’s head coach when the Lions drafted Slay in 2013’s second round, 36th overall, one pick after the Eagles took Zach Ertz. Slay said he talked to the Eagles the night before the draft and thought he would go to one of the two teams, and as soon as the Eagles took Ertz, he got a call from the Lions.
Slay said he remembered Schwartz as “a smart guy for the defense. Very competitive … . He just liked to win. That’s what I know, for sure.”
Slay recalled “a very attacking defense, most likely with the front four,” paired with “a secondary that’s ready to take balls away.”
That last point has been a problem. No Eagle intercepted more than two passes in 2019, and only eight teams finished with fewer than the Eagles’ 11 picks. (Among those teams was Detroit, which tied for the league low, with seven.)
There is going to be pressure on Slay to turn around an Eagles secondary that has bid farewell to its leader and most-consistent performer, safety Malcolm Jenkins. Slay said he faced similar pressure coming out of the draft to the Lions.
“I’ve had a lot of pressure already. … I have fun. It’s not a pressure thing to me, I just like to go out there and play ball. … I’m a very confident guy,” he said.
Slay was the first NFL defender to intercept Carson Wentz, on Oct. 9, 2016. It was a desperation heave, after Slay forced a Ryan Mathews fumble that led to Detroit’s game-winning field goal. He said that he has that ball and will ask Wentz to sign it whenever the team finally convenes.
In Detroit, Slay wore No. 23, which belongs to Eagles safety Rodney McLeod. Slay has decided to wear No. 24, in memory of Kobe Bryant. He recounted meeting Bryant, who complimented him and signed a jersey, leaving him “in shock mode.”
Slay said he idolized Bryant because of the work Bryant put into being the best.
“I put a lot of work into what I do,” Slay added.
The night before the trade, Slay got a call from his former Mississippi State teammate, Fletcher Cox. They’d met as high school players visiting the school in Starkville, Miss.
“He said, ‘I heard we’re trying to get you.’ … He just started explaining to me what to expect from Philly, the fans and from the owner,” Slay said. “He said the fans will go crazy. ‘They’re going to let you know when you’re playing good, and they’ll let you know when you’re playing bad.’ I said, ‘I’m going to look forward to that. I’m going to know if I’m playing bad myself.’ ”