{"id":785970,"date":"2026-07-08T01:47:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:47:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785970\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:47:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:47:08","slug":"former-eagles-cb-darius-slay-ranks-quinyon-mitchell-among-nfls-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785970\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Eagles CB Darius Slay ranks Quinyon Mitchell among NFL\u2019s best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Updated July 7, 2026, 8:58 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

Darius Slay spent years as one of the NFL\u2019s premier cornerbacks,<\/a> and he is already bringing strong opinions to national television. The former Philadelphia Eagles cornerback appeared on ESPN\u2019s NFL Live for the second straight day<\/a> and named his top five cornerbacks in the league entering the 2026 season. Slay\u2019s list mostly aligned with the league-wide consensus,<\/a> but it also included a major show of respect for one of his former teams.<\/p>\n

Slay ranked Denver Broncos star Patrick Surtain Jr. as the NFL\u2019s top cornerback, followed by Houston Texans standout Derek Stingley Jr. at No. 2 and New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez at No. 3. At No. 4, Slay selected Eagles<\/a> cornerback Quinyon Mitchell, placing him inside the top five. Los Angeles Rams cornerback Trent McDuffie rounded out Slay\u2019s list at No. 5.<\/p>\n

That is significant because ESPN\u2019s own poll<\/a> of executives, coaches, and scouts had a similar top group but placed Mitchell just outside the top five. In Jeremy Fowler\u2019s ranking, Surtain, Stingley, and Gonzalez held the top three spots, while Devon Witherspoon ranked No. 4, McDuffie ranked No. 5, and Mitchell landed at No. 6. More than 70 league executives, coaches, and scouts contributed to ESPN\u2019s positional voting process.<\/p>\n

Slay\u2019s ranking is significant because he understands the position and has a history with Mitchell. Before transitioning into media, Slay was a six-time Pro Bowl cornerback and one of Philadelphia\u2019s most respected veterans. He watched Mitchell\u2019s early development up close and knows how quickly the young corner became one of the Eagles\u2019 most important defensive players. Mitchell\u2019s rise has been one of the biggest reasons Philadelphia\u2019s secondary has transformed into one of the NFL\u2019s deepest groups. He has the speed, patience, competitiveness, and coverage instincts to match up with top receivers, and his performance has already earned national attention.<\/p>\n

The difference between No. 4 and No. 6 may not seem dramatic, but for Mitchell, it reflects how quickly his reputation has grown. League evaluators already view him as one of the best corners in football. Slay went one step further by placing him firmly inside the top five. For the Eagles, that is another reminder of how valuable Mitchell has become. Philadelphia has stars across the roster, but having a true shutdown-level corner on a rookie contract gives Vic Fangio\u2019s defense one of the league\u2019s most important advantages.<\/p>\n

Expert NFL picks: Exclusive betting insights only at USA TODAY.<\/a><\/p>\n

Slay\u2019s list also reinforces a larger point. The NFL\u2019s cornerback hierarchy is crowded, and cracking the top five requires more than promise. Surtain, Stingley, Gonzalez, Witherspoon, and McDuffie are all viewed as elite talents, and Mitchell is already in that conversation. That says plenty about where Mitchell stands entering 2026.<\/p>\n

It also says plenty about what Slay thinks of the Eagles\u2019 young cornerback.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Updated July 7, 2026, 8:58 p.m. ET Darius Slay spent years as one of the NFL\u2019s premier cornerbacks,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[202558,64,63,593,356578,85,266574,266575,203469,371118,269743,363839,366842,203148,203146,203142,203149,202563,371117,203499,370978,203139,202561],"class_list":["post-785970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-accessfree","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sourceeagles-wire","tag-sports","tag-sstssportsnfleagles","tag-sstsneagles","tag-tagamerican-football","tag-tagchristian-gonzalez","tag-tagdarius-slay","tag-tagderek-stingley-jr","tag-tagdevon-witherspoon","tag-tagespn-inc","tag-tagnational-sports","tag-tagnfl","tag-tagnfl-hub","tag-tagoverall-positive","tag-tagpatrick-surtain-ii","tag-tagphiladelphia-eagles","tag-tagquinyon-mitchell","tag-tagsports-news","tag-typestory"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}