Slay

Posted: June 15th, 2023 | Author: | Filed under: Philadelphia Eagles | 2 Comments »

Eric Allen is the best CB in Eagles history. He should be in consideration for the Hall of Fame, but is sadly overlooked. Troy Vincent was great from 1996-2003. Those guys were complete players and star corners. Asante Samuel was a big time playmaker during his four years in Philly. He picked off 23 passes in that time.

This will be Darius Slay’s fourth season with the Eagles. He’s picked off 7 passes, made a pair of Pro Bowls and helped the team get to the Super Bowl. At age 32, we don’t know how much longer he’ll stay in Philly. For now, he remains one of the better corners in the league.

Last year Jonathan Gannon moved Slay around, trying to match him up against certain star receivers. This brought out the best in Slay in some of those games. He was a stud in the team’s win over the Vikings in Week 2.

Slay was up and down for a few weeks later in the season. We’ll see if Sean Desai and DK McDonald can get him to play at a high level for the entire season.

Beyond just being a good player, Slay has developed into a team leader. He was a captain last year and talked about how much that meant to him. He’s embraced being a veteran and helping other players.

Slay almost headed out of town in March. He thought he was going to be released by the Eagles so he worked out a deal with the Ravens. Howie wouldn’t release Slay so the two sides worked out a deal that made sense for both. We’ll get at least one more year of him in midnight green.

If he helps the team get back to the Super Bowl, Slay will carve out his own place in Eagles history.

*****

How will the Eagles replace Slay? Jimmy Bama covered that in a piece on the succession plan for the 30-year old Eagles.

The Eagles used a 2024 third-round pick to draft Kelee Ringo, who will have time to develop in the background as an outside corner behind Slay and Bradberry. Otherwise, Zech McPhearson has been waiting his turn as a backup outside corner the last two seasons, but he’s already halfway through his rookie contract. If Slay and Bradberry are the starters once again in 2024, McPhearson could be a free agent by the time the Eagles need him to play in the regular defense. And then there’s Josh Jobe, who made the team as an undrafted rookie in 2022, as well as some 2023 undrafted guys in Eli Ricks and Mekhi Garner, who also have some talent.

The Eagles have some young players in the pipeline at corner, but for now they’re all question marks.

The only question is how many of McPhearson, Ringo, Jobe, Ricks and Garner will go into the HOF.

*****

Lito Sheppard was great. At his best. Unfortunately, he was wildly inconsistent. But he did give us some great moments.

*****

Walter Thurmond is an interesting player from the past. He only played one season for the Eagles, but it was his best year. He had career highs in tackles, INTs, PDs, sacks, FFs and TFLs. It looked like the Eagles might have found a stud. Thurmond retired after 2015 to pursue a career in the movie business. He’s got some credits at IMDB, but it doesn’t appear that things have gone as he hoped.

Thurmond did have one great moment as an Eagle.

The team signed Rodney McLeod to replace him in 2016. McLeod then helped the Eagles win the Super Bowl in 2017 so things worked out just fine for the guys in green. You do wonder if Thurmond has any regrets.

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2 Comments on “Slay”

  1. 1 The Linc – PFF says the Eagles also have the NFL’s best DL - Balance Sportscast said at 2:03 PM on June 16th, 2023:

    […] Slay – Iggles BlitzSlay was up and down for a few weeks later in the season. We’ll see if Sean Desai and DK McDonald can get him to play at a high level for the entire season. Beyond just being a good player, Slay has developed into a team leader. He was a captain last year and talked about how much that meant to him. He’s embraced being a veteran and helping other players. Slay almost headed out of town in March. He thought he was going to be released by the Eagles so he worked out a deal with the Ravens. Howie wouldn’t release Slay so the two sides worked out a deal that made sense for both. We’ll get at least one more year of him in midnight green. If he helps the team get back to the Super Bowl, Slay will carve out his own place in Eagles history. […]

  2. 2 Eagles News: PFF says Philadelphia also has the NFL’s best defensive line - S.G.E said at 2:32 PM on June 16th, 2023:

    […] Slay – Iggles BlitzSlay was up and down for a few weeks later in the season. We’ll see if Sean Desai and DK McDonald can get him to play at a high level for the entire season. Beyond just being a good player, Slay has developed into a team leader. He was a captain last year and talked about how much that meant to him. He’s embraced being a veteran and helping other players. Slay almost headed out of town in March. He thought he was going to be released by the Eagles so he worked out a deal with the Ravens. Howie wouldn’t release Slay so the two sides worked out a deal that made sense for both. We’ll get at least one more year of him in midnight green. If he helps the team get back to the Super Bowl, Slay will carve out his own place in Eagles history. […]