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…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/darius-slay-explains-difference-between-220348925.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-09-13 22:03:48
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