Eagles fans got their latest update on Darius Slay on Wednesday as reports surfaced that the corner would be released.
Slay himself confirmed the news.
The news may be shocking to some, but was not entirely unexpected.
It was just under a week ago that the team granted his agent permission to seek a trade. The many reports indicated that Slay was not willing to take a pay cut and the team was absolutely not going to let the 32-year old veteran take up over 11% of the team’s cap space and a large chunk of it in 2024, as well.
The return of James Bradberry on Tuesday meant a move on Slay was coming and I wrote that in the article yesterday afternoon.
The move will lead to significant dead money against the cap (estimated $22.4 million) and would save the team $3.7 million. The move may also be designated as a post-June 1 move, which would leave only $8.6 million in dead money for 2023 (pushing the rest into 2024) and granting the team a huge $17.5 million in cap space for the coming season – money they could allocate to the younger Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
Slay played his third season in Philadelphia in 2022, and registered three interceptions and 14 pass deflections. The aging veteran last recorded on of his big plays in week 6, with his last 14 games coming without such a splash play.
Slay could return to the Eagles as a free agent if he so chose to do so, similar to what Fletcher Cox wound up doing last season.
Surprisingly, the market for Slay must not be all too great considering his agent apparently couldn’t find a team willing to trade anything the Eagles valued for the veteran.
Other trades for aging corners this offseason (like Jalen Ramsey and Stephon Gilmore) have indicated a low valuation for the position right now.
