Earlier this week, Pittsburgh reporters mobbed cornerback Darius Slay after the reigning Super Bowl champion had practiced for the first time with the Steelers. He was asked about seemingly everything but how he played in the Super Bowl as a 33-year-old at a position that does not slow down for age.
We did learn why he prefers to be called simply Slay. "I'm a Junior," he said. "Everybody called my dad Darius, so I'm Slay. Or, you can call me Junior. But I actually like Slay, though. Slay sounds a lot better."
So, I won't have to continue looking up how many Rs in Darius anymore, but there's more I wanted to learn from Slay. So I grabbed him for a quick one-on-one after Thursday's practice.
Q: Slay, you got a minute?
Slay: "Yeah, what's up?"
Q: I wanted to ask you about the last Super Bowl. How did you play?
Slay: "I think I played damn good. It was fun. No catches. We did a great job."
Q: One of their receivers, the rookie, Worthy, had a big day, didn't he?
Slay: "Yeah he had a big day, but we were up 30 at the time."
Q: But you played well for a 33-year-old at a dangerous position, didn't you?
Slay: "There ain't nothing dangerous about it. It's - shoot - it's competitive. In this game you've just got to be smart. You know, at that position you have to be a smart player and I think I've been a smart player my whole career. That's why I've lasted this long and have been able to play at an elite level for so long because of how smart I've been."
Q: Do you still have your speed?
Slay: "Yeah. The thing is, it's not really too much of a speed thing. If you're a smart player you can beat guys to positions, you can beat them to routes, so I do a great job of understanding how an offense will attack me and I defeat it."
*Q: You talked yesterday about your mentorship of Joey Porter Jr. What can you tell me about Cory Trice?*
Slay: "All of them have the ability to be here a while, so I'm here to help the group continue to get better as a whole. These guys are very great in individual ways. I'm here to help them and keep helping them, because whenever my time's up, it's going to be up. I need to make sure they're ready to go."
Q: When's your time going to be up?
Slay: "I don't know. Honestly, I feel too good (laughs). That's the bad part of it. I want to feel bad so I could go home, but I can't."
JOEY PORTER JR.
Porter followed Slay as a target of the Wednesday mob. Entering his third season, the cornerback wasn't just spewing cliches. These were some of the high points:
* On new position coach Gerald Alexander -- "It's great to have him back in the building. I had him my rookie year so I already have a relationship with him. He was a great mentor to me in the room. The fact we have him back he brings that energy, that juice, that physicality we need as a secondary, so we're all excited to have him back in the building."
* On areas of personal improvement -- "Just cleaning up the little stuff that I watched on tape. When I go back on tape, there's nothing really drastic that sticks out. There's nobody out there beating me by a yard. It's just the little things I need to clean up in my technique. I've been working on that this whole offseason, so I'm really just excited to put that on tape."
* On Slay's personality -- "This is my first day meeting him, but he's a cool dude. I told him I used to watch his tape growing up. A lot of guys don't like when I say that because they feel old, but he's been in this league a long time. He's a great vet. I had some great vets before him. I'm just happy to have him in the building and keep learning from him."
* On Slay's tape -- "He gets the ball (pause). And in the Detroit tape, he was a great man coverage guy. He still is. He's been a savvy vet playing off, which is another thing I want to pick his brain on, just playing everything and being whole as a corner. I'm going to pick his brain a lot."
D'SHAWN JAMISON
While we're doing that cornerback thing today, let me introduce you to a contender - along with seventh-round pick Donte Kent - for the slot position behind Beanie Bishop.
Jamison, who turns 26 next week, played at Texas as a cornerback and kickoff returner. At his 2023 pro day, he measured 5-9 1/4, 184, and ran a 4.51 40. He looks so much quicker, and perhaps his 6.74 3-cone time portended the 22 MPH speed at which he was timed as a blocker during an interception return for Carolina in 2023. The Panthers waived him last August and he spent last season on the Steelers' practice squad.
Q: By the looks of things, you could be the second-team nickel and first-team kick returner. Is that about right?
DJ: "(Laughs) I'm just working my way up and trying to put myself in position to play in the season."
Q: You look quick. Is that why you're getting so many looks?
DJ: Yes.
Q: How did last year go on the practice squad? What's it meant to you now?
DJ: "There's a learning process. I learned to not put myself in that position again. Taking the year off of football, it was a hard experience, watching football instead of being out there playing. I took that as a learning experience and I just focused on certain things and just kept on working."
Q: Were you a slot corner in Carolina?
DJ: "No, I was playing outside. I was playing corner out there. We tried to do the nickel stuff but they just wanted me playing outside."
Q: Is it different here?
DJ: "Yes it's way different here."
Q: They're looking at you to play nickel?
DJ: "Yes, that's all I've done. This is the first time I actually get to focus on being in the technique of nickel and learning the plays. When I was with everybody else, it was like they were trying to see where to put me. The main thing now is playing nickel, so I have the opportunity here to compete for it, which is a great thing."
Q: They're always looking for the next Mike Hilton here. He turned into a good blitzer, like a linebacker. Does that appeal to you?
DJ: "Actually, I had a chance to play like him when he was with the Bengals. Being on the practice squad I played as him, so I got to experience all the things that he did. I watched film on him with the blitzes and stuff, with his timing, and how he played different coverages, and I felt comfortable. I thought if this is how he played, then I'm here for it."
QUICK HITTERS
* Payton Wilson on his weight: "I'm about 242. that's probably the heaviest I've ever been. ... I played at 235, 238 in college, like I played last year, but it's (about) continuing to understand the schematics and getting downhill in the run."
* Zach Frazier on learning the line calls last year as a rookie: "Early on it felt like I was cramming a lot. Definitely towards the end of the season I felt more comfortable with it. But, yeah, in the early part of the season it was a lot."
* Will Howard on rebounding from a poor first day of OTAs: "The first day was a work in progress. I didn't feel great about my first day coming off the field, but it was a good learning experience for me. I wasn't expecting to be perfect on my first day. I'm not going to be perfect. That's the thing: You've got to learn. Especially me being young, you've got to be able to roll with the punches and know that you're going to make some mistakes, especially being a rookie. It's how you learn from it, come back from it, don't get affected by it. The second I mess up and then get in my head and shut down, that's when problems happen. I felt like day one I wasn't really comfortable yet, didn't really know where my feet were, was a little off timing. And then days two and three I've been a lot better."
* Max Hurleman on whether he's as confident as he appears as an undrafted rookie playing multiple positions (RB/WR): "That's a great question. I feel like in order to succeed in this profession you have to have confidence, no matter where you come from or what your goal is or what you look like or what your position is. You have to have that confidence to succeed. So that's a non-negotiable for me."
*(Check out Jim Wexell's OTA notebooks from Days One and Two ... also, check out our informative podcast.)*
Darius Slay excelled in last season's Super Bowl (Photo: Mark J. Rebilas, USA TODAY Sports)