The Eagles had an intriguing offseason all over the field, but their biggest addition is probably veteran cornerback Darius Slay, a former All-Pro corner who still ranks among the league's best.
It was a wise move from Eagles GM Howie Roseman, who knows if the Eagles want to repeat as NFC East champs, they'll need to slow down the Cowboys' passing game at least twice a year.
Amari Cooper has been a huge part of Dallas's offense since being traded in 2018, and he's already left his mark on the Eagles: in four matchups with the Birds, Cooper has 25 catches for 422 yards and three touchdowns.
That's where Slay comes in.
Cooper appeared in a recent NFL film session with Kurt Warner and Brian Baldinger, breaking down his release and route techniques. When they broke down a clip of Cooper going against Slay, the Cowboys wideout had nothing but good things to say about the new Eagles corner:
COOPER: Slay is really good, yeah.
BALDINGER: He seems like a good guy to go against.
COOPER: He is.
BALDINGER: He loves the competition. It's a great week of prep for you, because you know you need to be at your best to beat him.
COOPER: Yeah. So I had a stop [route] right here, to the field, and I tried to tell 'em that there are certain routes you can't really run on Slay. Like, he's just gonna cover those routes to perfection. I had it in my head that, hey, if I'm gonna run a stop on him - because you might have to run a stop on him, let's face it - I would rather run it to the boundary, so that it would be a shorter throw. Because he plays the stop so well that, if it's a longer throw, he's gonna have time to react.
Eagles fans everywhere are probably rejoicing at hearing the Cowboys' No. 1 wide receiver say he "can't run" certain routes against the Eagles' No. 1 corner.
NFL
The whole conversation is great, but Cooper talking about Slay begins at the 15:40 mark here:
It'll be fascinating to see what Dallas's offense looks like in 2020, with rookie CeeDee Lamb also in tow. The Eagles will need more than just great coverage from Slay to keep the receicing corps and Dak Prescott in check.
But it's certainly a good start.
The Eagles and Cowboys meet on Nov. 1, Week 8 of the 2020 regular season.
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