Darius Slay discusses the Eagles hiring Matt Patricia

When Darius Slay was traded by the Lions to the Eagles, there was a lot of bad blood between the cornerback and his former head coach Matt Patricia. While it looked like they had both gone their separate ways in the years since, their paths crossed again this offseason when the Eagles wanted to bring Patricia in as a consultant.

Head coach Nick Sirianni spoke in the spring about the hire, and acknowledged that they asked Slay before making the move.

Slay confirmed at training camp on Friday, saying they called him during the offseason when they thought about bringing Patricia aboard, and the CB said that it was okay with him because he wants whatever is best for the organization. He always says that players are renting seats, so ultimately he was in favor of whatever the best move for the team was.

“Me and him talked it, as a man-to-man. We got a great understanding, both want to win. He’s here to help me get better, and he wants to get better as a coach, so we’re in good hands right now. It took a lot for both of us to talk, so we did a great job. We communicate everyday, we talk everyday, so 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, that’s my main goal, so we’ll continue to keep building.”

Slay went on to say that they sat down man-to-man and respected each other enough to put everything to the side to move forward and get better.

It seems like Slay’s team-first mentality will have a lot of benefits for guys on the coaching staff and on the field. Eagles’ defensive coordinator Sean Desai spoke to reporters on Friday and said that having Patricia as a resource has been a tremendous asset.

“Matt’s a tremendous asset. I mean, 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. So, he’s been a tremendous asset. I think for me, obviously, and really for our staff. We’ve really integrated it well, and he’s able to help a lot of different people.”

Patricia obviously has a lot to offer the team, but the fact that they were able to avoid a big locker room issue with Slay is probably the most important part.