Darius Slay is having arguably the best season of his career but that didn’t help him in All-Pro voting.
The Eagles’ 31-year-old lockdown cornerback received just 1 of 50 All-Pro votes this year.
Trevon Diggs from Dallas led the voting with 33, followed by Jalen Ramsey from the Rams with 32. Those were the first-teamers. The second team at corner this year is occupied by J.C. Jackson from New England and A.J. Terrell from Atlanta.
With our All Access Daily newsletter, stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Philadelphia sports teams!
SIGN UP HERE Here’s the way the 50 votes broke down:
Trevon Diggs: 33
Jalen Ramsey: 32
J.C. Jackson: 25
NFL
A.J. Terrell: 8
Darius Slay: 1
Marshon Lattimore: 1
The Eagles’ only first-team All-Pro was Jason Kelce, who made the team for the fourth time in his career. Lane Johnson was a second-teamer. Slay was the only other Eagles player to receive a vote.
Slay last month was named to his fourth Pro Bowl team and his first as a member of the Eagles. His only All-Pro season came back in 2017 with the Lions; he had 8 interceptions and 26 pass breakups that year.
While Slay’s numbers this season might not be as impressive, he’s played at a very high level. And he still has 3 interceptions, 9 pass breakups and 3 touchdowns.
Earlier this season, Slay said that despite being in Year 9, he still felt like an underrated cornerback in the NFL.
“Yeah, that’s for sure,” Slay said in late October. “I feel like a lot of stuff comes with popularity, who the media likes the most, who the media talks about the most. But if you look at my film, I’ve been doing in and out, I’ve been doing everything I need to do. I’ve been in a defense where man was every play, no help, doing what I had to do, locking up guys. Being in a zone defense and man defense, getting all the picks.
“I’ve done everything that a corner needs to do and I’ve been doing it at a long time. A lot of coaches pay attention to it. I get a lot of respect after the games when I go to coaches, talk to them. It’s the outworld, the fans, the media that just don’t know what’s going on because I’m not on TV a lot.”
Subscribe to the Eagle Eye podcast
Apple Podcasts | Google Play | Spotify | Stitcher | Art19 | Watch on YouTube
According to ProFootballFocus, Slay has been targeted 72 times this season. He’s given up just 44 catches for 459 yards and 3 touchdowns. He is PFF’s fourth-highest rated cornerback in coverage this season.
While Diggs (who got the most votes this year) had 11 interceptions, he also gave up the most yards in coverage of any corner in the NFL this season. Diggs was targeted 96 times and gave up 55 catches for 1,016 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Slay this season became the Eagles’ first Pro Bowl cornerback since Asante Samuel over a decade ago. He’s been their best player on that side of the ball for most of the season.
“His football character is extremely high, and he is a team-first guy,” Eagles DC Jonathan Gannon said earlier this week. “His skillset allows us to do some things with him that helps the defense.
“He's willing to play whatever style we want him to play to be successful for that week. It's been an unbelievable year with him, being around him, as all of our guys. But he really has been a joy to be around. Just from the football character standpoint of one of your premium players being team-first.”