Super Bowl champion defends Eagles signing of Darius Slay, reactions

Pro Football Focus gave new Eagles cornerback Darius Slay some low marks in 2019, and one of the NFL’s best vehemently disagrees.

The questions about this one will exist from now until the start of the 2020 regular season. Was landing Darius Slay better for the Philadelphia Eagles than bringing Byron Jones into the nest? Fans are debating the move. The stat gurus over at Pro Football Focus have their questions about Slay’s ability. One of his colleagues, a Super Bowl champion vehemently disagrees with their grading system.

We all love stats and numbers. It’s the reason that we all play fantasy football and subscribe to PFF. Even if you’re frustrated by the statements of the latter from time to time, you have to admit that it’s always interesting to see where they sit on things.

Following the Eagles trade with the Detroit Lions for Slay and the subsequent extension that followed, PFF woke everyone up with a tweet from their social media profile. In it, they referenced the fact that Slay had “an overage grade of 77+ in four of the past five seasons”.

What was eye-catching was the fact that said tweet also listed Slay as the 83rd-best cornerback in their rankings engine. Ladies and gentlemen, that just isn’t true. Slay’s a playmaker and a three-time Pro Bowl nod (2017-2019) who’s racked up 19 career interceptions since 2013. That includes a league-high of eight in 2017, and the Twitterverse had no issue with informing the world of PFF’s gross error. Here are a couple of reactionary posts.

Here’s another from a Super Bowl champion, Tyrann Mathieu of the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s apparently in disagreement with PFF’s analysis. Philly’s new corner didn’t have any issues with joining the discussion. Take a look.

https://twitter.com/_bigplayslay23/status/1240630623066259468

You have to love the padlock on that response. Sure, by now, you’ve all heard the discussion somewhere around 20 times. Philly ignored the highly-touted Byron Jones because the asking price was too high, but there were no issues with adding Slay, who they gave more money to. Slay is also two years older.

In all honesty, none of that is a major issue. Philly’s gotten the guy that’s the better playmaker, and as of right now, Philly’s secondary is a lot better than it was 24 hours ago. The 83rd-best cover guy in the NFL? No sane fan or member of the media would agree with that. PFF continues to be a nice read, but they missed the mark wit their analysis on this one. Just ask NJ.com’s, Mike Kaye.

We can all close the case on this one and move along. Philly’s faith in the executive vice president and general manager Howie Roseman has been restored slightly (for now).