Eagles' Darius Slay, Matt Patricia Reach Compromise: 'We Handled It'

PHILADELPHIA - They may never be best friends, but Philadelphia Eagles Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay and senior defensive assistant Matt Patricia have made a serious effort at detente.

The strained relations began in Detroit back in 2018 when Patricia replaced Jim Caldwell as the Lions' head coach.

“He said I wasn’t an elite corner,” Slay told ESPN a few years later. “I was coming off an All-Pro year, eight picks. That told me right there that he didn’t have no respect for me.”

Perhaps it was Patricia's way of pushing Slay even further to reach his potential because it's hard to believe that anyone with the defensive reputation of Patricia would downplay Slay's skills.

Whatever the disconnect, the relationship was broken and ultimately Slay was traded to the Eagles in March 2020 for third- and fifth-round picks. He arrived in Philadelphia as a three-time Pro Bowl selection and has upped that number to five with the Eagles while becoming a team captain and a mentor for younger players.

Despite all the on-field success for Slay, however, he still harbored resentment for Patricia.

“I loved Detroit. Other than the one guy," Slay said back in 2021.

The volatile relationship is why it was so curious that coach Nick Sirianni brought Patricia onto his coaching staff as a senior defensive assistant.

Work was done to repair the bridge with the goal being a common end game involving winning.

Sirianni already knows Slay can help him win and also believes Patricia is a good sounding board for him as both a defensive mind and former head coach.

“He's been an excellent resource for me,” the coach told SI.com’s Eagles Today when discussing Patricia. “You bring guys like that in to do just that, be resources for you, be resources for the defensive coordinator.

"He has a ton of experience.”

Defensive coordinator Sean Desai echoed that sentiment before practice on Friday.

"Matt is a tremendous asset," Desai told SI.com's Eagles Today. "He's got so many years of experience on all sides of the ball and as a head coach, as a coordinator, as a position coach, coaching different position rooms. He's been a tremendous asset I think for me obviously and really for our staff, and we've really integrated it well, and he's able to help a lot of different people and be an assisting role."

For any of that to have happened Slay and Patricia didn't necessarily have to become fast friends but they did need to clear the air.

“We talked about it during the offseason,” Slay said. “[The Eagles] called me, and I was like, ‘It’s cool with me because I want to do what’s best for the organization. I always tell guys, ‘We’re in a rented seat, nobody’s in this seat forever.’ So I said, ‘Y’all got to do what’s best for the organization, and they asked would I be cool with it, and I said yeah."

From there, Slay and Patricia had their personal summit.

“It took a lot for both of us to talk, so we did a great job,” Slay said. “We communicate every day, we talk every day, we’re just trying to build everything going forward because at the end of the day, we want to win. That’s his main goal and that’s my main goal, and we’re going to continue to keep building."

Maturity won out in the end.

“It’s a great understanding," Slay said. "We both talked it out as grown men. He’s a man, I’m a man, so we just handled it. We respect each other enough to put everything aside and let’s move forward and get better.”

Patricia flamed out as the head coach in Detroit after Slay left and rejoined Bill Belichick's staff in New England the past two years where he curiously moved back to the offensive side last season.

Sirianni said he was "fascinated" by the Belichick coaching tree earlier this week. The Eagles play at New England in the season opener on Sept. 10.

Want the latest in breaking news and insider information on the Philadelphia Eagles? Click Here.

Want even more Philadelphia Eagles news? Check out the SI.com team page here

-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen