The Pittsburgh Steelers have signed CB Darius Slay, formerly of the Super Bowl Champion Philadelphia Eagles. Today’s goal is to see if the seasoned veteran’s play in coverage has trailed off from a stats perspective, and what it could mean for the Steel City in 2025.
First, let’s look at targets and Pro Football Focus (PFF) coverage grades:
Here we see that Slay was well above the mean in both, unlike 2024 Steelers qualifiers. He was targeted 87 times (T-17th most), and graded 13th best in coverage (75.5). Those marks are out of 88 qualifying corners last season (min. 350 coverage snaps). So far, it appears that Slay was a plus contributor to one the best defenses in the NFL.
Joey Porter Jr. had the only other above the mean result, being targeted an above average 79 times (31st). All Steelers qualifiers had well below average grades, including the departed Donte Jackson, who Slay will hopefully be an upgrade over.
Next, let’s dive into production. Here are catch rates allowed and forced incompletions:
Once again, Slay lands well above 2024 Pittsburgh CBs, and most of the league. His 17 forced incompletions tied for the most in the NFL, along with a stellar 51.7 catch rate allowed that ranked third-best last year. Being top three in both is quite impressive, and an awesome fact that illustrates his play hasn’t deteriorated (knocks on wood).
This includes the second most pass breakups in the NFL, making life for opposing wide receivers more difficult than most at his position. For comparison, Porter had eight forced incompletions, around league-average. Jackson had the best completion rate allowed of 2024 Steelers, but was unable to force incompletions.
A hope for Slay in 2025 will hopefully be cashing in on interceptions, with just one in the regular/postseason. Jackson had five INTs, ranking fourth in the NFL last year. This would be icing on the cake for Slay, who was clearly the better coverage corner otherwise.
One more important stat I looked at was tackling. Here are coverage tackles and missed tackle rates:
Once again, Slay lands above the mean in both. His 49 coverage tackles tied for 14th with a few players, including Porter. Seeing all three current Steelers land on the top right is encouraging, after enduring the missed tackles from Pittsburgh’s defense last year.
This included Jackson, who lands on the extreme lower left of the visual, one of the worst quality/quantity tacklers in 2024. While lower opportunities didn’t qualify him, Cory Trice Jr. also was a positive in this regard, with no missed tackles in coverage last season.
So, the Steelers have refreshingly added a seasoned veteran to the cornerback room. Despite his years, Slay’s coverage play has been aging like fine wine. This aligns with our Alex Kozora’s recent Darius Slay Film Room, encouragingly. Father time is undefeated, but Pittsburgh just added a player who will hopefully defy it once again and upgrade Pittsburgh’s coverage defense in 2025.
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