It’s hard to find legitimate, No. 1, “erasure” cornerbacks at any point in time, which is why the news out of Philadelphia on Wednesday morning was especially noteworthy. The Eagles were intent on releasing Darius Slay when player and team could not agree on a restructuring of the final year of the three-year, $50.05 million contract Slay signed in March, 2020, following his trade from the Detroit Lions.
Nothing but love Philly!! Lets see where we heading next..
— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 15, 2023
The Eagles will split Slay’s cap hit over two seasons with a post-June 1 release, but he’s off the books in a free agent sense as of now.
The #Eagles will designate CB Darius Slay as a post-6/1 release, source says, which would push over $13 million of his cap hit into 2024. He'll count $8 million and change against the 2023 cap.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 15, 2023
That gives 31 other NFL teams the opportunity to avail themselves of a shutdown guy who has done just that against some of the NFL’s best receivers. In the 2022 season, Slay allowed 47 catches on 83 targets for 559 yards, 162 yards after the catch, five touchdowns, three interceptions, nine pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 82.4.
Slay is heading into his 11th NFL season, and that level of experience is something you just have to acquire over time. Slay’s ability to shut down Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings, probably the NFL’s best receiver, in Week 2 of the 2022 season, stands as a prime example of what happens when a cornerback has the athleticism of youth, and the acumen only a veteran can acquire.
Slay had two interceptions and three pass breakups in that game with Jefferson as the target, and all were based on Slay’s understanding of not only his position, but also his understanding of Jefferson’s.
“When you’re a young and talented guy, man, you think everything works,” Slay later explained on the “All Things Covered” podcast with Bryant McFadden and Patrick Peterson. “I’ve played this game so long — I know what you’re gonna do. I know your tendencies, I know what you like the most,” Slay said. “He had a lot of tales for me to steal on film. Young guys don’t see, but I see that because I like to watch film a lot. Every tale I did was truthful.
“The first pass breakup I had, it made me confirm that’s what he does. That early? It’s gonna be a long night for anybody. No matter what type of talent you have or how much better you feel like you are than me, that means I really got your tale on what you do.
“What I watched on film and what I watch how his release is… that’s why I made the plays I did.”
Slay’s first deflection of a Jefferson target came with 7:48 left in the first quarter, and you can see that as soon as Jefferson established his intent to go to the boundary with his release, Slay countered with sticky inside leverage that wasn’t affected by Jefferson’s quick comeback — even when Slay stumbled at the top of the route for a millisecond.
“I’m a guy that just needs to determine whether a guy does an outside release or inside release,” Slay concluded. “From what I watched from Jefferson, he had certain releases that he liked to do. I just knew for a fact that most likely a lot of his routes were inside breaking routes — just because the team does inside breaking routes.
“If you watch the Rams, they do a lot of inside breaking routes. When he takes an inside release, there’s a good chance he’s going to do an inside route. I just knew that off the splits, so I kind of got a little ahead of the game.”
That understanding of tendencies allowed Slay to run Jefferson’s route better than Jefferson did on Slay’s first interception with 10:01 left in the third quarter. Slay basically put himself where Kirk Cousins thought his receiver would be, and Jefferson was the odd man out — quite literally.
Slay’s second interception of the day, which came with 7:16 left in the fourth quarter, came from a similar construct — when Jefferson made it clear he was going outside on the fade ball, Slay knew exactly where he was supposed to be.
So, while Slay’s physical attributes are part of what makes him a special defender, it’s really his football intelligence, clearly based on thousands of reps and hours of tape study, that sets him apart.
And now, another NFL team will be able to get that entire package on its roster.
