Jim Schwartz finally got himself a game-changer on defense, after the Eagles acquired Darius Slay from the Detroit Lions for draft picks.
The Athletic recently profiled the Eagles defensive coordinator, who had been chomping at the bit to land Slay or a player of his caliber since the Eagles hoisted a Lombardi Trophy. After watching opposing offenses gash the Eagles through the air last season, Schwartz finally landed his man.
Schwartz talked to The Athletic about the rare cornerback in Slay, who can follow an opposing No. 1 wide receiver around the formation while taking him completely out of the contest.
“When you acquire a player like Slay, who has that skill set, and can match a receiver, it adds a different layer to it,” Schwartz said. “So now the guys who play nickel are going to need to be able to play outside corner also because every time Slay lines up at the nickel position, it’s just too easy to tell if the only time he’s in there is man-to-man. So, I don’t know that it’s going to be a 100 percent, all-the-time thing. Maybe it’s a particular game, maybe it’s 50 percent of the games, maybe it’s 75 percent of the games that Slay is matching a particular receiver. But you will see that from our defense.”
With slot cornerbacks Nickell Robey-Coleman and Cre’Von LeBlanc on the roster, Schwartz could choose to simply have Slay follow the outside receivers, thus eliminating the opportunity for confusion with the other cornerbacks.
Schwartz also pointed to Slay helping the Eagles force more turnovers while allowing the other cornerbacks to make big plays on the backend.
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