Darius Slay’s relationship with Matt Patricia was fractured and unsalvageable, and the former Detroit Lions cornerback said that ultimately is what set the stage for his trade Thursday to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Slay, a three-time Pro Bowler, told the Free Press on Thursday that his lack of respect for Patricia stems from an incident that happened in training camp during Patricia’s first season as Lions coach in 2018.
“He told me in front of the whole team, in the team meeting room, showed clips of me in practice getting a ball caught on me or so in practice,” Slay said. “I posted a picture (of a wide receiver on Instagram), and he told me, stop sucking this man’s private. So I’m like, ‘Whoa.’ I’m like, ‘Hold up.’ Where I’m from, that don’t fly. Cause I wouldn’t say that to him. I wouldn’t say to him to stop you know what to Bill Belichick. I wouldn’t do that. That’s just not me as a man. That’s disrespectful to me and so from there on it was done with.”
NFL MOCK DRAFT:How can Lions replace Darius Slay?
OPINION:Todd Gurley isn’t the answer for Tom Brady, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
MORE:Gurley’s release a cruel reminder for NFL running backs
Patricia, whose comment was meant figuratively, responded in a statement emailed to the Free Press by a team spokesperson.
“Over the last two seasons, Darius and I have had multiple conversations in private that I believed were constructive and satisfactory,” the statement read. “My discussions with athletes are confidential and I won’t comment on anything discussed with our players in a team meeting. I appreciate his hard work and wish he and his family all the success in Philadelphia.”
Slay said he was so angry about the incident that former Lions safety Glover Quin, who sat next to him in the meeting room, had to calm him down.
“I ain’t going to say (I was ready to) fight because of the fact that I just really kind of blacked out a little bit and really asked myself, ‘Did this man just say this to me?'” Slay said. “And like I said, with GQ not sitting beside me in a team meeting room, there’s no telling what could have happened, honestly, cause the fact that I couldn’t believe it. And from where I’m from, stuff gets said like that, a lot of stuff happens. … And GQ sat there and was just like, ‘Nah, calm down Slay. Calm down Slay. You know where it’s going.'”