Eagles top cornerback Darius Slay underwent arthroscopic knee surgery earlier this week and will miss some time, head coach Nick Sirianni confirmed on Saturday morning.
The Eagles do not plan on putting Slay on Injured Reserve, which indicates they expect him back within the next four games. But Slay will miss some time, starting with Monday night’s game in Seattle.
How long do the Eagles expect Slay to be out?
“We’ll see,” Sirianni said.
Slay, 32, has been dealing with this knee injury for a while. He missed the first two days of practice last week but returned on Friday and was able to tough it out and play against the Cowboys on Sunday night in Dallas. The hope is that by having surgery this week, Slay will be healthy as the Eagles enter the playoffs.
While Slay will turn 33 on Jan. 1, he has played at a pretty high level this season and has clearly been the Eagles’ best cornerback. In 12 games this season, Slay has 2 interceptions and 14 pass breakups. He’s held opposing quarterbacks to a passer rating of 80.2 and 7.0 yards per attempt.
Sirianni said he did know about Slay’s surgery and status early enough in the week to prepare for his absence in this game.
The Eagles have some options to replace Slay in Kelee Ringo, Josh Jobe and Eli Ricks. Last week, we saw Ringo play 22 defensive snaps and it appeared that he was ahead of Jobe on the depth chart at outside cornerback.
Ringo, the fourth-round pick from Georgia, has spent most of the season on the bench defensively but has been a key special teamer. Behind the scenes, the Eagles have been impressed with Ringo’s growth in practice.
This is a tough week to be without Slay. The Seahawks have lost four in a row but boast a strong trio of receivers with D.K. Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and rookie Jaxon Smith-Njigba.