Darius Slay explains the difference between his rookie year and Quinyon Mitchell’s originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Quinyon Mitchell is already way ahead of Darius Slay.
Because Slay got benched in his first NFL game as a rookie 2nd-round pick of the Lions back in 2013.
“I got benched,” Slay said with a laugh before practice Friday.
“He didn’t get benched.”
Slay made his NFL debut with the Lions in 2013 at Ford Field. On Friday night, he played in his 171st career game while Mitchell made his NFL debut across from him.
“I been a rook before,” Slay said. “I played Minnesota my rookie year and, shoot, I got thrown at about like 10 times. They want to see what you got here. They want to see why he got drafted this high.
“Q, he stood up and made the plays that he made and the year keeps going, they’re just going to die down with trying it like that.”
Mitchell was the first Eagles defensive rookie to start on opening day since linebacker Mychal Kendricks and slot corner Brandon Boykin in 2012 and the first outside corner since Eric Allen in 1989.
The Packers went after him early and often but Mitchell was up for the challenge.
“Slay and my coach told me they’re going to come after me the first drive and pretty much the whole game,” Mitchell said. “Just be ready and be alert for any situation. Just compete.”
None of his teammates were surprised. They’ve seen it all summer.
“Q played really good,” Avonte Maddox said. “He was balling. He kept making plays, and I’m surprised they kept going his way, but he was making them. He definitely did good out there.
“It wasn’t anything new to us. We’ve been seeing it all camp. And we already knew what he was about. Probably new to them but it was old to us. We knew he was going to be ready since he stepped in here. We already knew he was a great player.”
Among 33 NFL cornerbacks who were targeted at least five times in Week 1, Mitchell’s 66.9 defensive passer rating was 8th-best, and he allowed just six yards after the catch, 7th-best of those 33 corners.
“I felt like I had a solid game,” Mitchell said. “Just got to clean up some mistakes. It’s just a learning experience for me.”
The big challenge Monday night in the Eagles’ home opener will be Drake London, the former top-10 pick out of USC. At 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, London is a big, strong, physical specimen who had nearly 1,800 yards in 2022 and 2023, his first two NFL seasons.
Another week, another challenge for the 23-year-old from Toledo.
Slay has no doubt Mitchell is up for any challenge he faces as he sets out on his NFL career.
“He’s going to continue prospering and getting better each and every day,” the six-time Pro Bowl corner said. “For sure, my goal is to make sure I keep teaching him everything I know, give him pointers about everything and make sure he reaches that potential.
“He’s going to continue to keep working. That’s one thing about Q is that he’s a hard working guy that’s willing to listen and that’s willing to perform at a high level.”
By any measure, it was an impressive debut for Mitchell in São Paulo.
According to analytics available on Stathead, Mitchell was targeted nine times and allowed four completions for 60 yards, or 6.7 yards per target, with a defensive passer rating of 66.9. That 66.9 figure is 4th-lowest on record (since 2018) of 28 rookie corners in their first career game.
Mitchell’s 44.4 percent completion percentage – four completions on nine attempts – is 4th-best on record by a rookie.
We don’t have analytics for Slay’s NFL debut more than a decade ago – they hadn’t been invented yet – but he said Friday he remembers every play from the 2013 season, including the one that got him benched by Lions head coach Jim Schwartz, who four years later helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl ring as defensive coordinator.
“I had Swartz as my head coach at the time and I gave up a dig-and-go and he got mad, like, ‘Slay, you should have been on top,’ and he benched me. Which is cool. And I had a great game, honestly, too. I had a PBU, a forced fumble. It was a clutch moment.”
Slay said he was covering Jerome Simpson on the play that got him benched, a seven-yard completion from Christian Ponder to Jerome Simpson on a 3rd-and-6 late in the third quarter. Slay said he remembers every play from his rookie year. And the way it’s going, Mitchell is going to make a lot of people remember the plays he makes his rookie year as well.
