Darius Slay Talks About Playing Wide Receiver
PHILADELPHIA - If the Eagles didn’t have A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith as their 1-2 punch in the passing game, well, maybe it would be worth a shot to see what Darius Slay and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson could do on the offensive side of the ball.
Gardner-Johnson leads the NFL in interceptions with five heading into Monday night’s game against the Washington Commanders at Lincoln Financial Field.
Slay has three interceptions and 26 in his 10-year career.
Is there another secondary out there right now with three players that have 10-plus interceptions in their careers?
James Bradberry has 18 and Gardner-Johnson has 10.
It was a fun interview session at Slay’s locker earlier this week with him trying to make a case to get some receiver reps, how he believes cornerbacks should be getting paid more than receivers, and why he didn't play receiver when his career was starting out.
“We got hands in the secondary,” said Slay. “We got the best hands on the team. We should be switching over to receiver, too, the whole group. We got hands. We might not be the better route runners, but we got the best hands on the team, the DBs.”
Slay said he tells Brown and Smith every day he has better hands than them.
“I should be on the receiving corps,” he said. “I mean you seen me do it a little bit last year. You never know, you know what I’m saying?
"I ain’t going to say I’m Randy Moss because I ain’t 6-3, but I might be the new short version of Randy Moss. Fast and take the top off of defenses, and Moss folks. I got hands like that.”
Slay isn’t sure there’s anything in the playbook for him, at the moment. And there probably isn’t.
“I ain’t been in the offensive meeting,” he said. “I just go to work. If they are, I hope they come out one day so I can get the ball. I ain’t saying I’m Deion (Sanders), but Deion was on offense. He got the rock. So I might be like, ‘Next up, catch that.’”
Slay said there is a reason he didn’t play receiver in college or change up when he entered the pros.
“I don’t like depending on too many people when it comes down to my job,” he said, “so you play receiver, for all of that to happen, you have to have great protection, and the quarterback gotta be reading his coverage and the right protection. Uh uh, uh uh, uh uh.
“So somebody can miss a block, he gets sacked, and I ran this hard-ass route, and damn I’m open, and he’s sacked. Hello.
“On the DB side, you don’t gotta worry about all of that. I’m just competing. I don’t have to depend on too many people with the receiving part. Too many people. I don’t like depending on too many people.”
One problem Slay has is the disparity in money between what receivers make compared to defensive backs. Slay is scheduled to have a base salary of $17M next year.
“They need to be paying the corners way more money,” he said. “The corners should be getting 30 million dollars, just like receivers, because we gotta cover them. Receivers making 30Ms and all this crazy stuff. We ain’t getting 30Ms. We catch the ball too! We gotta stop them from catching the ball!”
Not that he's complaining too loudly.
"Picks get you paid," he said, "and they got me paid a lot of money. You know what I'm saying? I'm pretty good. I'm good at it."
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.
