Eagles Darius Slay Gives Entertaining Answer When Asked If Rookie Was Ready For Debut

Slay will enter his 12th NFL season, and likes hat he has seen from the Eagles' first-round pick.

Eagles rookie CB Quinyon Mitchell / Ed Kracz/Eagles on SI

PHILADELPHIA – Vic Fangio is known for telling it like it is, but the Eagles defensive coordinator doesn’t offer the high-quality entertainment value Darius Slay delivers.

The Eagles veteran cornerback was asked if rookie first-round pick Quinyon Mitchell is ready to go in Friday night’s season opener against the Green Bay Packer in Sau Paolo, Brazil. Slay could have played it straight, given a bland answer, and moved on to the next question while continuing to get dressed for Monday’s practice.

Instead, he offered this: “He's been ready since he stepped out of the momma. Since he came outta momma he’s been ready.”

But wait, there’s more.

Slay turned to Mitchell, who was getting practice-ready in the locker next to Slay’s, and said: “How ’bout it, Q?”

Mitchell, who, at 23, is 10 years younger than Slay, turned obliviously toward the veteran and said, “What?”

To which Slay responded: “Ain’t it, Q, you been ready since you came out your momma?”

All kidding aside, the Eagles are hoping Slay is right.

Fangio answered a question about whether or not Mitchell is a guy who will be on the field for every play against the Packers and if he is ready to handle that type of responsibility.

“Yes and yes,” Fangio said.

That kind of confidence isn’t easily built for a wily, old-school coach like Fangio, and that isn’t lost on the soft-spoken and understated rookie.

“It means a lot,” said Mitchell. “It just means I’ve been working hard and stuff like that. And I just gotta keep my foot on the gas pedal. “I feel really ready. I feel like I’m preparing myself, and the coaches are preparing me, so I feel really good.”

A part of his game Mitchell won’t deviate from is the trash talk he exhibited this summer, unafraid to call some of A.J. Brown’s routes trash and never backing away from the challenge of going one-on-one against him and DeVonta Smith all training camp long.

“Yeah, I’ll be doing some trash talking, in a quiet way, but still talking trash,” he said.

Mitchell has shown the ability to play inside and out at cornerback and expect to see him do just that against the Packers. He never played inside, at the slot cornerback spot, before spring’s OTAs.

At Toledo, he was always on the outside, and he played it well enough to not only give the Eagles confidence in using him there, but to be the first cornerback taken this past spring’s draft, with Philly selecting him 22nd overall.

“He’s already destined for it, so it’s a great opportunity for him, definitely,” said Slay. “I’m just (bummed) that his first game can’t be experienced in the Linc because it’s a home game, but we’re going to spend it in Brazil and we’re going to have a good time with it.”

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