Darius Slay Soaking in Every Moment of his First Super Bowl
PHOENIX – This is the week Darius Slay was made for, a week for outrageous questions and lots of fun.
It’s Super Bowl week and Slay is a part of it.
It took him 10 years to experience it, but now that he’s here, the Eagles cornerback is loving every minute of it.
“I’m soaking it all in,” he said during the Eagles' availability on Tuesday at their team hotel. “My first time ever being the Super Bowl, so I’m enjoying. I’m not trying to let myself get too high or too low so I’m staying level.”
He said it didn’t really hit him that he was in Super Bowl LVII and getting ready to play the Kansas City Chiefs at State Farm Stadium on Sunday until Monday when the Eagles took the stage on Opening Night.
“It was smooth,” he said. “I had a good time. I enjoyed the media, I enjoyed the atmosphere. Walking on the stage and it didn’t hit me until we got on that stage that we were in the Super Bowl. Seeing everybody, just two teams playing, so yeah, I had a little moment (Monday) night.”
Slay has been enjoying time with his wife and kids, and that is something teammates have noticed.
“I’d let Slay babysit my kids,” said DeVonta Smith, who doesn’t have any kids, yet. “I feel like they have a lot of fun with Slay. If you see Slay talk to his kids, it’s like, you can tell Slay’s a fun dad.”
Darius Slay during the Eagles' Super Bowl LVII availability in Phoenix on Feb. 7, 2023
Ed Kracz/SI Fan Nation Eagles Today
And now he’s even more energized.
Slay had a bit of a slip late in his Pro Bowl season, but the playoffs have rejuvenated him. And now that the Super Bowl is just days away, that sort of adrenaline should help him deal with the Chiefs’ JuJu Smith-Schuster and Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Slay isn’t used to playing February football.
He spent the first seven years of his career in Detroit, where the Lions made the playoffs twice, but never made it past the wildcard round.
“It was just hard,” he said about his time there. “…I’m thankful for the Eagles trading for me, letting me come over here and I’m experiencing my first Super Bowl.”
Asked how he handled it, Slay said it was his job.
“I had fun and always went out there and competed my hardest,” he said. “I gave everything I could to try to bring that team a championship. I see over there right now they’re trying to change that and being a great team. I was trying to do the same as well when I was there.
“At one time we were heading in the right direction in 2014 when we made the playoffs. I think we were 11-5, pretty good. We should’ve kept a lot of them guys. We should’ve kept (Ndamukong) Suh, should’ve kept Nick Fairley there, a lot of guys we were building with.”
Suh is with Slay once again as the two make their final push for a championship. Suh already has one. Slay is looking for his first.
Slay had another suggestion that may have helped push the Lions to a Super Bowl, or at least beyond the wildcard round.
They should have made him a team captain.
Slay was elected by his teammates to be one of the captains this season, and it’s the first time in his career he was honored in such a way.
“I think the ‘C’ on my chest is good luck,” he said. “Since I got the ‘C’ on my chest, I got to the playoffs, got past the first round in the playoffs, and made it to the Super Bowl, so the ‘C’ must be good luck for me. I’m loving it right now.
“They should’ve put the ‘C on me, we’d have been to the Super Bowl.”
Slay was joking. As usual.
“It’s hard to get to the Super Bowl,” said Slay’s running mate on the other side, CB James Bradberry.” It’s hard to get to the playoffs. It’s hard to win in the NFL. This is his 10th year. To me, he’s been a Hall of Fame player up to this point.
“A guy like that deserves to play in a Super Bowl and being in his 10th year I see how hard it is to get here, and that’s probably why he enjoys it and cherishes it so much.”
And having his usual amount of fun along the way.
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Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglesmaven.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
