The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl for the second time in franchise history this past season. Now, the team will spend the offseason trying to keep its core in place to make another run at the title.
With a roster as good as the Eagles have, it’s hard to keep every contributor around, as evidenced by the team’s reported intention to release cornerback Darius Slay. The team will give Slay a post-June 1 designation and will save just over $4 million against the cap.
In 2024, Slay started in 14 games for the Eagles and collected 49 tackles, one forced fumble, three tackles for loss, and 13 pass deflections. The veteran earned a solid 67.6 Pro Football Focus grade in his 12th season in the league.
Many teams could use a solid veteran cornerback like Slay, and Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports recently identified the most logical landing spots for him.
Sullivan sees a reunion between Slay and the Detroit Lions as a realistic option. Regarding that potential pairing, Sullivan offered the following:
Why not go back to where it all began? If Slay wants to remain with a championship contender, he could head back to Detroit and help get the Lions over the hump. Of course, it’s a different regime than the one he left via trade in 2020, but the Lions certainly could use a veteran like Slay in their secondary. Last season, the club surrendered the third-most passing yards per game in the league (244.0). It’s also worth pointing out that starter Carlton Davis is set to be an unrestricted free agent.
Slay finally got a ring in 2024, and it could be meaningful for the veteran to get another one with the team that drafted him.
As Sullivan pointed out, the Lions’ secondary was the weak link of the team in 2024. Things could get even worse as Carlton Davis, Khalil Dorsey, Kindle Vildor, and Emmanuel Moseley are all headed for free agency and the team is left with Amik Robertson and a pair of young, inexperienced cornerbacks in Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw Jr.
In his prime, Slay was one of the premier corners in the league. The corner has earned six Pro Bowl selections, most recently in 2023, and led the league with eight interceptions in 2017. 2024 was the first season since Slay’s rookie year that he didn’t record an interception.
Over the Cap projects the Lions to have around $51 million in cap space this offseason, so adding Slay would be no problem. Slay would be a solid option for the Lions, while the team could also look to add another defensive back early in the 2025 NFL Draft.
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