Darius Slay named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 2

For the second week in a row, a Philadelphia Eagles cornerback has been named one of the NFC Players of the Week.

Last week it was Zech McPhearson (perhaps somewhat generously) winning NFC Special Teams Player of the Week.

This time it’s Darius Slay being awarded NFC Defensive Player of the Week for Week 2.

Slay winning this one comes as no surprise. He logged two interceptions and five passes defensed as the Eagles held the Vikings to just seven points in their win over Minnesota on Monday night.

Slay was tasked with guarding arguably the NFL’s very best wide receiver in Justin Jefferson and he shut him down.

Here’s what we wrote about Slay in our weekly W-L-IDK postgame column:

Jefferson was targeted 12 times and only had six receptions for 48 yards (long of 11). 8.0 yards per reception for Jefferson is the second-lowest mark of his career. The only game that went worse for him was when he was at 7.7 in Week 5 of his rookie season.

According to Pro Football Focus, Slay was targeted eight times and was responsible for just two receptions that went for 19 yards. Slay logged two picks and he could’ve had at least one or two more with better hands.

Slay being able to erase an elite receiver like this is kind of a big deal.

Slay has now been named Defensive Player of the Week five times in his career. He leads all defensive backs in this category since 2016. He is the first Eagles defensive back to win a Defensive Player of the Week award in consecutive seasons since Malcolm Jenkins (Week 13, 2015 and Week 16, 2016).

Congrats to Slay on his well-earned recogniton.