It took two tries to do so, but the Philadelphia Eagles made it official.
They are hiring former Super Bowl Champion Matt Patricia as their senior defensive assistant.
Patricia was an assistant coach on Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots staff for three of the team’s Super Bowl victories.
Off To An Ominous Start
ESPN’s Eagles reporter Tim McManus noted that the announcement was made on the Eagles’ website and subsequently deleted.
The blurb on Patricia has since been deleted.
— Tim McManus (@Tim_McManus) April 20, 2023
Some fans had interesting theories for why this happened.
One was that Eagles EVP and GM Howie Roseman was checking to see if everyone was paying attention.
Others speculated that the Eagles were rethinking the idea for multiple reasons.
One of those reasons could be the fact that cornerback Darius Slay does not have a good relationship with Patricia.
This dates back to the days when Patricia was the head coach of the Detroit Lions, and Slay played for him.
Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni has indicated that Slay was aware of the decision and is apparently okay with it.
Sirianni was quoted as saying:
“I know it will be a great working relationship.”
The Matt Patricia – Darius Slay Conflict
It is fair to say that Matt Patricia did not have a lot of fans among the players he coached on the Detroit Lions teams from 2018-2020.
Darius Slay could be considered one of the more outspoken critics of Patricia on his way out of Detroit via a trade with the Eagles in 2020.
Here is what Slay told The Detroit News on March 19, 2020.
“Of course I wanted to stay (in Detroit) for a minute, but I already knew how me and Matt Patricia is, that wasn’t going to last long.”
Slay said that one of Patricia’s issues centered around his working out with Richard Sherman and Aqib Talib.
“He told me I had no business working out with Richard Sherman and (Aqib) Talib because I wasn’t elite. Those were the guys that were elite category and I was just good.”
He also said:
“Shoot, I didn’t have that much respect for Matty P, as a person. It was hard for me to play for him. That’s all that was.”
It will be interesting to see how the two mend fences and develop that “great working relationship” that Sirianni predicts will happen.
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