‘It took a lot for us to talk:' How Slay and Patricia found a way to settle differences
‘It took a lot for us to talk:' How Slay and Patricia found a way to settle differences originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
A truce between Darius Slay and Matt Patricia would have seemed unimaginable not that long ago.
It was the summer of 2018. Lions cornerback Slay had already made two Pro Bowls, had been named 1st-team all-pro and led the NFL in interceptions playing for head coach Jim Caldwell.
But after the 2017 season, long-time Bill Belichick assistant Matt Patricia replaced Caldwell, and it didn’t take long for Slay and Patricia to find themselves at odds.
“He said I wasn’t an elite corner,” Slay told ESPN a couple years later. “I was coming off an all-pro year, eight picks. That told me right there that he didn’t have no respect for me.”
Slay and Patricia co-existed for two years until the Lions traded Slay to the Eagles in March 2020 for 3rd- and 5th-round picks. Slay signed a three-year, $50 million contract the next day and he's made his fourth and fifth Pro Bowl teams since arriving in Philly.
During his first few years with the Eagles, Slay often dropped little digs at Patricia.
Asked in 2021 about his days in Detroit, Slay said, “I loved Detroit. Other than one guy.”
And that was that until April 20, when Nick Sirianni hired Patricia as a senior defensive assistant.
Back together again.
Slay and Patricia are both now in Eagles training camp, and Slay said Friday the two worked through their differences earlier this offseason.
“We talked about it during the offseason,” he said. “They called me, and I was like, ‘It’s cool with me because I want to do what’s best for the organization. I always tell guys, ‘We’re in a rented seat, nobody’s in this seat forever.’ So I said, ‘Y’all got to do what’s best for the organization, and they asked would I be cool with it, and I said yeah.
“Me and him talked man to man. We’ve got a great understanding. We both want to win, he’s here to help me get better, he wants to get better as a coach, so we’re in good hands right now.”
Slay’s career has gone much better than Patricia’s since they left Detroit.
After getting fired by the Lions 11 games into the 2020 season, Patricia rejoined Belichick. After winning three Super Bowls in his first stint in New England, Patricia was part of two post-Brady Patriots teams that didn’t win a playoff game.
The Eagles haven’t made Patricia available to speak to the media since he was hired in April, but Slay said the two are in a good place now as the Eagles begin preparing to defend their NFC title.
“It took a lot for both of us to talk, so we did a great job,” he said. “We communicate every day, we talk every day, 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 and that’s my main goal, and we’re going to continue to keep building.
“It’s a great understanding. We both talked it out as grown men. He’s a man, I’m a man, so we just handled it. We respect each other enough to put everything aside and let’s move forward and get better.”
