Eagles’ Darius Slay opens up about his reunion with former Lions head coach Matt Patricia
Eagles CB Darius Slay and former Lions head coach Matt Patricia didn’t have a great relationship with one another back in Detroit, to say the least.
Slay has been pretty vocal about his stance on Patricia ever since Detroit shipped the All-Pro corner to Philadelphia in 2020. When Patricia was named the Eagles’ senior defensive assistant in April, the hire was met with a lot of skepticism. Mostly due to his past relationship with the Eagles star defensive back.
Philly’s No. 1 corner hasn’t said much about it, until now. During a charity golf event for former Lions teammate Calvin Johnson on Monday, Slay told reporters his relationship with Patricia has been “cordial” since he joined the coaching staff.
“It’s another day at the office,” Slay said Monday, via Jenna Malinowski of the Detroit Free Press. “We both got the same goal, just going out there to compete and win a championship, so that’s the main focus.”
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The NFL is a business at the end of the day. Winning a Super Bowl doesn’t require complete admiration for one another in the locker room. But it certainly helps.
Slay obviously doesn’t need to be buddy-buddy with Patricia. As long as they’re both on the same page and the team keeps winning, everything should go swimmingly.
But, what happens if the team doesn’t win and they go on a skid this upcoming season?
When the Eagles were searching for a new defensive coordinator to replace Jonathan Gannon this offseason, Slay openly vouched for former defensive backs coach Denard Wilson to get the gig. Wilson and the team decided to mutually part ways after the Sean Desai hire. Then, Patricia joined the staff in April.
After Slay’s positional coach essentially got dismissed from the team, they went out and hired a guy Slay openly dislikes. Slay might not ever say it, but that probably rubbed him the wrong way. We’re all human.
Slay’s relationship with Philly is – for the lack of a better term – kind of weird at the moment.
He almost signed with the Baltimore Ravens before the Eagles ponied up and gave him a new contract. The fanbase and local media did a complete 180 on him during his brief stint as a free agent, painting Slay as a washed up DB who’s best days are behind him. Then he resigned and all of that rhetoric just got brushed under the rug.
Slay isn’t afraid to speak his mind, even if it causes a stir. I just hope all of this stuff doesn’t boil over into Slay causing a potential divide in the locker room. That’s the worst case scenario here. With the veteran leadership the Eagles have, I don’t see it happening, but we can’t deny that it’s possible.
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Mandatory Credit: ESPN
