Secondary Takes Another Hit with Darius Slay Being Ruled Out Against Arizona

The Eagles will be without their two starting cornerbacks against the Cardinals, not ideal with the WRs challenge they present

This rocky road of receivers the Eagles have faced these past few weeks has taken its toll on the team’s secondary.

Avonte Maddox and Darius Slay won’t be able to make it to the finish line when the Eagles face Kliff Kingsbury’s Air Raid offense, led by the incomparable DeAndre Hopkins, on Sunday.

The unavailability of Maddox was known all week. He hurt his knee in last week’s win over the New Orleans Saints. Slay suffered a concussion and went from being questionable on the Eagles’ injury report on Friday to being ruled out on Sunday.

So, both starting cornerbacks are out. Not ideal. Not ideal, at all.

Maddox and Slay have faced some tough tasks the past month, with Seattle’s D.K. Metcalf, Green Bay’s Davante Adams, and New Orleans’ Michael Thomas. The matchups did not go as planned and Slay was nicked even before the concussion with calf and knee injuries during the rugged stretch.

Hopkins was the last stop on this difficult path of pass-catchers, though Amari Cooper and Terry McLaurin are still looming the next two weeks.

The Eagles will have to now pivot to Plan B or even Plan C, at least for Sunday.

That plan will likely have Jalen Mills move – once again – from safety to cornerback.

With Rodney McLeod lost for the season, Marcus Epps will likely play free safety with rookie K’Von Wallace stepping in at strong safety for Mills.

“One of the things that helped me as a rookie, trying to be patient, and knowing that my time is going to come,” said Wallace on Friday. “With Rodney out, and a lot of situations going on, I’m going to have to step up, I’m going to have to develop, and I have to grow up, and I’m going to have to execute.

“Whatever they need, whatever the game plan is, I’m just going to go out there and do the best I can, whether I play one snap with or without Rod, or every single snap on defense. I’m just going to go out there and do my part, for sure.”

The Eagles promoted safety Blake Countess from the practice squad, a place he has only been since earlier in the week. They also elevated cornerback Jameson Houston from the practice squad.

As for the starting cornerback opposite Mills, it looks like it could be undrafted rookie free agent Michael Jacquet, who was inactive last week with a hamstring injury. He played 21 defensive snaps a week earlier against the Packers.

Kevon Seymour will likely be waiting in the cornerback wings. Seymour had been out of football for two years but made five tackles last week against the Saints once injuries started taking their toll during the game.

With the mixing-and-matching going on in the secondary, the Eagles will need to rely on the defensive line, which is something they have really been doing all season, anyway.

“We can hide some of the issues,” said defensive end Brandon Graham, who has been stuck on seven sacks since Nov. 1. “This week, it’s going to be on us. Every week, it’s on us. It’s how you play in the trenches. You gotta stop the run. You gotta get numbers. You gotta get in the quarterback’s face. You gotta get him off his spot. So, if we do our job, we’ll give ourselves a chance to win that game.”

The odds just got a little longer, though, with Slay out.

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