Philadelphia Eagles: Darius Slay is not the next Maxwell or Asomugha

The Philadelphia Eagles don’t have to worry, Darius Slay won’t follow Nnamdi Asomugha or Byron Maxwell‘s paths.

Philadelphia Eagles fans can finally rejoice. The organization has obtained a top-flight cornerback in what seems to be a very long time coming.

After Philadelphia ultimately struck out on the free-agent signings of Nnamdi Asomugha and Byron Maxwell, the acquisition of Darius Slay from the Detroit Lions will not fall along those same lines.

The Eagles made Slay the highest-paid cornerback in the NFL by agreeing to an extension after the trade, which cost the team their 2019 third and fifth-round picks. The celebratory reactions towards the deal were deserving. Slay has been a shutdown cornerback in this league, and by executing the trade, the Eagles fill a massive number CB1 sized hole in their secondary once and for all.

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Philadelphia zeroed in on acquiring Slay when ex-Dallas Cowboys cornerback, Byron Jones, spurned the team in free agency and landed with the Miami Dolphins. Jones reportedly desired to leave the NFC East with this free-agent decision, but Howie Roseman wasted little time pivoting to Plan B, who many would argue was better than Plan A.

But one narrative has swirled since Roseman brought Slay aboard: Was his down season in 2019 due to regression or something else?

Slay missed two games last year, but only because he was dealing with a nagging hamstring injury that saw him under the blue tent more than he would like in 2019. A cornerback playing on a bum hamstring is never a recipe for success, especially when given the assignments the three-time Pro Bowler faced in the NFC North.

Slay may have had a down season for his standards, but the defensive back was dominant in off-coverage last season. He saw a good chunk of his man defense snaps here, and was simply dominant in those scenarios. Press coverage, however, is where Slay stumbled. The cornerback saw 162 snaps in press coverage while allowing 346 receiving yards.

The Lions’ defense was downright dreadful in 2019. Their pass defense was the worst in the NFL, allowing 284.4 yards per game while also having barely any pass-rush production with 28 sacks (second-lowest in the league). Detroit’s defensive shortcomings play a major factor in Slay’s down season.

Jim Schwartz is better suited than Matt Patricia to utilize Slay to the fullest of his abilities. Schwartz was head coach of the Lions when the team selected Slay in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft. The Eagles defensive coordinator knows what he’s getting in his new defensive back, but his coverage philosophies are what Slay needs.

Through 17 weeks of the 2019 NFL season, the Eagles played zone coverage 58 percent of their defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. The high-volume of zone coverage usage resulted in the ever-changing lineup of Eagles cornerbacks to allow the league’s fifth-lowest completion percentage (59.4 percent). Philadelphia’s defensive backs also forced the most incompletions (58) in the NFL.

Since 2014, Slay has the most forced incompletions in the NFL with 85 since 2014, so he should fit in just fine.

Over the last three seasons under Schwartz’s lead, the Eagles rank in the middle of the pack in man and zone concept utilization. That mix of coverages bodes well for Slay’s bounce-back season. As explained above, Slay performed better in zone coverage in 2019. However, the lingering hamstring injury he suffered in Week 3 persisted all season and would hinder the three-time Pro Bowler’s production in press coverage.

Since his hiring in 2018, no team played more pure man coverage than Patricia’s Lions, which forced Slay to face the third-most targets in single coverage over the past two seasons with 134. As noted earlier in the article, the lack of pass-rush for the Lions put Slay at a considerable disadvantage in man-to-man situations, especially on a bad hamstring.

Slay’s age is under the microscope even though the cornerback just turned 29 in January. Extending a veteran cornerback coming off a down season, while suffering through a hamstring injury may not exactly scream success. However, there was a specific moment this past season, in the Lions’ Week 1 tie against the Arizona Cardinals, that showed early in 2019 how much Slay has left to offer.

Tasked with playing an NFL-high 58 coverage snaps, the Pro Bowl cornerback only allowed one reception for six yards that came on a third-and-16. Cardinals quarterback, Kyler Murray, avoided Slay’s side of the field, only targeting him four times with a quarterback rating of 39.6 on 59 dropbacks.

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Given Jim Schwartz’s mixes of coverages (instead of being regulated to one specific concept) a clean bill of health, and a defensive coach with an understanding of the player, Darius Slay is poised to have a bounce-back season with the Philadelphia Eagles this fall, while proving once and for all that he’s definitely not the next Nnamdi Asomugha or Byron Maxwell.

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