January 09, 2024
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Darius Slay has missed the Eagles' last four games. What can be expected of him if he returns for the team's Wild Card playoff matchup in Tampa?
The Eagles' defense has been torched under the "leadership" of Matt Patricia over the last several weeks. The Birds have also been missing the best member of their secondary during that span in Darius Slay. Slay, 33, who was a Pro Bowler in each of the last two seasons for the Eagles, has missed the team's last four games.
Slay underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in the lead-up to the Eagles' Week 15 matchup with the Seahawks. He hasn't seen the field since, but was a limited participant in Eagles' practice last Wednesday and Thursday, a sign that he could potentially be ready to go for the Eagles' Monday Night Football playoff matchup with the Buccaneers.
The Eagles are dealing with a rash of injuries at the moment. Jalen Hurts suffered a dislocated finger on his throwing hand on Sunday at the Meadowlands and it's reasonable to expect that could affect his play. A.J. Brown left that game against the Giants with a knee injury. DeVonta Smith missed the regular season finale, too.
Things have been silent on the Slay injury front, but, again, even practicing in a limited capacity last week is a positive development. To gain more insight into what his surgery would've entailed and the recovery period, PhillyVoice spoke with Dr. Dinesh Dhanaraj, an orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine at St. Mary Medical Center, about Slay's injury.
"Nine times out of 10, it's usually what's called a partial meniscectomy where you just shave off a part of a meniscus that's torn and causing irritation," Dr. Dhanaraj said regarding the surgery.
What about the timeline for this?
"If he's had arthroscopic knee surgery and he's back in four weeks, he's probably a partial meniscectomy or a debridement procedure," Dr. Dhanaraj continued. "Four to six weeks. People can play on that. I've had patients, athletes, who get back to full level of contact sports, including football, at four to six weeks. Going into the procedure being a conditioned athlete, obviously, helps and the recovery's a lot faster, but that's not unheard of. You can play pretty much at full speed and full strength after a partial meniscectomy, arthroscopic debridement procedure that quickly."
The Eagles' secondary has been in shambles, particularly as of late in Slay's absence. James Bradberry has taken a tremendous step down in his second year in Philadelphia. Young corners are being thrust into positions they're not quite cut out for yet. The safety spot is allowing chunk play after chunk play in the middle. With Baker Mayfield playing the best football of his career and the prospect of Mike Evans ready to torch these defensive backs, the Eagles are in desperate need of Slay's services on Monday even if that means he's not 100 percent.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and guest authors and do not reflect any official policy or position of any NFL team or a team's athletic physicians.
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