Darius Slay and Matt Patricia have a messy past together. Now they meet again at the Philadelphia Eagles. Can this go well?

You don’t necessarily have to get along with your head coach to perform as an NFL player. But it’s often a hindrance if the chemistry isn’t right.

In the case of Matt Patricia and Darius Slay, it was so bad that the cornerback was traded from the Detroit Lions to the Philadelphia Eagles in March 2020. And for a price, for a third- and fifth-round pick. The tablecloth between the two was hopelessly cut.

Slay said of his ex-coach at the time that he had lost respect for him. Two incidents are said to have caused the rift.

First, Patricia, the Lions’ coach from 2018 to November 2020, had said Slay was not an elite receiver. Later, he allegedly insulted the cornerback in a meeting as well.

Brisant now is that both will meet again with the Eagles. In the spring, the Eagles signed Patricia as a senior defensive assistant.

But this was not over Slay’s head and not without his “permission. “

In the conversation with officials, Slay gave the green light, as he revealed to “NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com,” “I said, ‘You have to do what’s best for the organization,’ and they asked me if I was OK with that, and I said ‘yes.'”

Slay and Patricia: man-to-man talk

The two former squabblers also had a man-to-man talk, according to Slay, and sorted out the issues. “It took a lot for both of us to talk to each other,” Slay said, “and we did a great job. We communicate every day, we try to build everything up because at the end of the day we want to win.” That is the main goal of the two, Slay said.

But can the truce last? Can it work in the long run?

Slay is optimistic.

“We both want to win, he’s here to help me get better, he wants to get better as a coach,” said Slay, who stressed, “We respect each other enough to put everything aside, continue to develop and get better