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The Philadelphia Eagles will enter the 2020 NFL season with one of the most improved defenses in the entire NFL.
A huge reason for the Eagles vaulting power rankings can be attributed to Javon Hargrave and the acquisition cornerback Darius Slay. Respected around the league as one of the top cover guys in all of the NFL, Slay arrives in Philadelphia with a point to prove and doubters to quiet.
Pro Football Focus recently ranked all 32 NFL rosters and the Eagles landed in the top-10 at No. 9 on the list. Slay was named the Eagles’ biggest X-factor entering the 2020 NFL season.
X factor for 2020: Darius Slay‘s PFF grade in 2019 doesn’t represent the kind of player that he has been throughout his career. The first thing to note is that he played a difficult role in Detroit, consistently shadowing the opposing team’s best receiver in man coverage. Despite that, Slay came in as the fourth-most valuable cornerback in the NFL in 2014-18 per PFF WAR (wins above replacement), and his 74 forced incompletions over that stretch were the most in the NFL. Expect him to bounce back and give a big boost to that secondary.
Slay and Nickell-Robey Coleman should eliminate the big plays the Eagles have been susceptible to and should provide confidence and swagger that’s been lacking in the Philadelphia secondary.
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