The NFL is a funny place because somebody who is a current rival can become a future teammate. The Pittsburgh Steelers learned that a few times over the past year with Patrick Queen, DeShon Elliott and others. As it would turn out, two of their biggest splash additions to the team this off-season have a history with each other. CB Darius Slay and WR DK Metcalf have gotten into some previous fights on the field. Now, they’ll bring that intensity to the practice field, and eventually, game day.
“I got into it with DK before,” Slay said during his intro press conference via the Steelers’ YouTube. “It’ll be fun, in a good way, but we gonna get after it.”
Here is a fight between Metcalf and Slay from back in 2020. Slay got an unsportsmanlike penalty on this play.
The penalty isn’t great, but you have to love the 6-0, 190-pound cornerback not backing down from a battle with a 6-4, 235-pound receiver.
Slay was actually a central part of an on-field dust up against the Steelers last season. It was a controversial play at the time, with Calvin Austin III getting penalized for what appeared to be Slay throwing punches. Darnell Washington blocked him into next week and Slay retaliated, which somehow resulted in a costly penalty on the Steelers.
He was asked if that is a normal part of his game with emotions flaring on the field and whether things need to be smoothed over with some of his new Steelers teammates.
“I’m really the most easy-going dude, so it’s going to be smooth, man,” Slay said. “It’s just gonna be a smooth transition. It’s just football, it’s just a competitive sport. But we teammates now, so hey, we go jump on other folks.”
There is nothing wrong with the Steelers’ players having a competitive edge with each other at practice. Slay has talked about having beef with Metcalf before on his podcast. Right now, Metcalf and Slay are my early favorite to have the first training camp fight of the year.
