He is 33, had knee surgery that cost him the final four games of the regular season, then injured his back in the playoff loss, but Darius Slay returns for at least one more season.
On Jan. 1, he celebrated his 33rd, making him an anomaly now on an Eagles team that is slowly transitioning to an under-30 roster with the retirements of Jason Kelce and Fletcher Cox. Brandon Graham and Lane Johnson are two other key players over that threshold, and both are still important pieces on the team.Should there be some concern that he suffered a pair of injuries in different weeks late in the season after staying healthy throughout most of his 11 years in the NFL? Maybe.
The top 25 list has become an annual affair of SI.com Eagles writer Ed Kracz and John McMullen as the two reporters submit their top 25 lists at the same time so each would be unaffected by the others. No. 1 on the list is awarded 25 points and so on down the list with No. 25 receiving one point. After Week 14, Slay opted to have arthroscopic knee surgery and missed the final four games of a regular season that swirled down the drain with losses in six of the final seven.
Slay returned for the wild-card playoff game in Tampa, but, before the final score – 32-9 Buccaneers – sent the Eagles into an offseason of uncertainty, Slay was carted off with a back injury. While it looked bad, Slay said on the team’s annual clean-out day that he escaped serious injury.
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