Darius Slay addresses heavy criticism from Eagles fans originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
In the days since the Eagles’ 33-16 loss to the Buccaneers on Sunday, Darius Slay has been feeling the heat from Eagles fans.
First, he responded after the game by sending out a now-deleted tweet with a list of his career accomplishments — not a good look. Then, he went on the podcast of Cowboys’ star Micah Parsons and talked about one of his teammates.
It’s been a busy few days.
On his Big Play Slay podcast on Tuesday, the Eagles veteran addressed all the drama surrounding him.
First, Slay addressed his being on Parsons’ podcast in general.
“I feel as [if] a lot of Eagles fans are very, very upset about me on the podcast with Micah Parsons. To be honest, I’ve been knowing Micah way before he became a Dallas Cowboy. We trained together when he was coming out as a young guy. We grew a great relationship. When we played the Dallas Cowboys either here or home, we both use each other’s tickets. His family sits by my family, my family sits by his family at his games. We have a great relationship. But I do understand the conflict as with the Eagles and the Cowboys. It’s real beef. It’s real, real beef. And I’m not like a real controversial type of person. I’m kind of cool with everybody. I know y’all don’t like that, I know ya’ll don’t like that because that’s not the Philly style. But how I was raised is, I treat people how I want to be treated. So I just treat people with respect.”
While some Eagles fans might have been upset if Slay had simply been on Parsons’ podcast, there were plenty who were more upset with the content of the episode. In particular, one clip shows Slay and Parsons laughing about Eagles safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. While Slay said plenty of complimentary things about CJGJ, the laughing in this clip rubbed people the wrong way.
You can watch it for yourself:
“Chauncey is my dude,” Slay said. “He’s a great player, great everything. I don’t know why people just took the first 10 seconds of me just smiling and giggling. If he took it personally, I would have told him, ‘Hey, I apologize if I smiled and laughed and you felt any type of offended way about it.’ I would have apologized to him as a man. But from my standpoint, I’m really just a laughing type of guy. I smile all day. Ain’t too much stuff I take serious because the fact that I’m a blessed young man that’s doing a job that he loves to do and having fun. I take my job serious for sure, I like to win. I like to compete at a very high level. But I do enjoy playing this game and I do, do it with a smile on my face. Because I could be doing something totally different in the world but I’m really out here doing something I love to do. I smile at work. That’s what it is.
“And I told Chauncy too if he felt a way about it, he could have hit me up or anything, he needed to do. We talked about it. And, like I said, I would have apologized to him man-to-man, but from my standpoint, all I was saying is, I said, ‘Chauncey is a guy that’s with the energy, he gonna swag, he gonna talk all the trash to you, he gonna do this and do that. And he’s going to bring the energy to the team. That’s what he’s here for.’ He’s the energy kind of guy.”
Slay, 33, said the reason he was laughing was because he and Gardner-Johnson have laughed together about knowing that if they don’t perform they’re going to “get chewed out” by fans and media.
This is the second time Slay and Gardner-Johnson have been teammates. They were on the Super Bowl team together in 2022. After a year in Detroit, Gardner-Johnson signed a three-year deal to return to Philly this offseason.
“If y’all feel like I betrayed a teammate, that would never be the case,” Slay said. “I’m not one of them type of guys to betray a teammate because I would not laugh about soothing that me and him can’t laugh about as well. I would never laugh at anything Chauncey can’t laugh about. Because we done laughed about that situation before. Y’all know how Chauncey is. He’s a hell of a player and he likes to talk his s— and that’s what he does. So he brings a lot of media attention to himself because of who he is as a person. He just active and that’s what he does. I’m the dude that’s just quiet and interact with fans in a different type of way than he do.”
Slay did not try to defend his now-deleted post of his career accomplishments. While everything he said was true, it certainly wasn’t a good look.
“One thing I will take accountability for [is] posting my stats like that,” Slay said. “I should not have did that. But y’all got under my skin a little bit. I’m not going to lie. Y’all got under my skin for the first time. That was kind of big for me right there, man. Because I put a lot of work into this, man. I work my a— off, I train my a— off, I try to be the best role model and leader that I can be. And to get attacked all the time, well not all the time, but for that game I’m like, ‘Gahh, dawg.’ I had a great ball, great catch on me and y’all was just attacking the dude and I got in my feelings a little bit.
“So I apologize, Eagles fans. From the bottom of my heart, that won’t happen again. I do take accountability for my wrongs. That was wrong for me doing that. That was a kind of selfish act a little bit because I never been like that. That wasn’t it. That’s not my character. But, yeah, y’all got under my skin. I’ll admit it. Y’all got under my skin.”
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni on the 94WIP Morning Show on Tuesday called Slay one of the best teammates on the Eagles but also addressed the tweet.
“I think we can all have moments of, hey, you just lost a game, you’re taking some criticism and be upset about it,” Sirianni said. “That’s why it’s so important that you block it out. You block out the criticism. You gotta block out the praise as well. There was praise last week. You just gotta block it out because all that matters is we’re getting better and we love our fans, we love everything that they bring to this team but at times you just have to block out and put your head down and just work. But, like I said for Slay, there’s not a better teammate on this team. He has had a phenomenal career but again we gotta do what we gotta do to make sure that we have a clear mindset, so we’re operating at a high level and not be affected by outside noise.”
In the wake of these two incidents, some Eagles fans have been questioning Slay’s ability as one of the seven captains on the team. This year is Slay’s third time being a captain.
“I done seen the comments,” Slay said. “It’s noticeable, I see it all day. Yes, I turned off my comments on Twitter. I did a lot of stuff, man, because it’s like, ‘Hey, we are human. Y’all can get to us too.’
“So I got to just ignore some of that kind of stuff but for people to say, ‘Take the C off of your chest, Slay, because of this.’ I lead in a different type of way. I’m not a big vocal type of guy like (Jalen) Hurts. Y’all see Hurts all the time, y’all say he got serious face and that. I am the joyful side of the team or the leadership. I’m the guy that’s going to put smiles on your face. If you’re looking like you had a bad day, I’m the one that’s going to try to cheer you up and make your day better. I bring the different type of energy that the team needs.”
Slay’s younger teammates have often talked about his leadership qualities. While Slay isn’t a traditional leader, his teammates are the ones who have voted him a captain the last three years.
Slay is in his 12th NFL season and his fifth with the Eagles, who acquired him in a trade in 2020. Slay wasn’t a Pro Bowler in his first season with the Eagles but has been named to the Pro Bowl team in each of the last three seasons. He is under contract through the 2025 season.
“For real Eagles fans, I do love you,” Slay said. “I do appreciate you, especially the ones that support me. And I’ve been here for five years and I’ve been giving this team my heard and soul, my energy, so I do appreciate all the fans out there. Even the ones that don’t like me, I still appreciate it. Because when I make plays you’re gonna cheer for your boy. So plays will be made and I’ll be looking for the cheers that’s coming very soon.”
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