Philadelphia Eagles: Let’s make a play for Lions cornerback Darius Slay
If the Philadelphia Eagles want to make a play for a marquee ballhawk, Detroit Lions’ cornerback Darius Slay is the perfect trade deadline target.
After suffering through some of the worst cornerback play of any team in recent memory, the Philadelphia Eagles‘ secondary actually turned in a promising performance in Week 8 against the Buffalo Bills.
In the first game where starters Ronald Darby and Jalen Mills shared the field since December of 2018, the Eagles held the Bills’ hot-‘n-cold offensive assault to 155 passing yards – 253 total yards from scrimmage – en route to a 31-13 road win.
But just because the Eagles secondary has bounced back considerably under the guise of some semblance of health, that doesn’t mean the team couldn’t benefit from a trade for a marquee star.
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With Jalen Ramsey, Marcus Peters, and Gareon Conley off the board and Patrick Peterson off the block, there aren’t a whole lot of options left to bolster a secondary that isn’t a marginal upgrade like the New York Jets‘ Trumaine Johnson – well, at least there wasn’t before the final Sunday in October.
That’s right, with the playoff picture becoming more and more apparent with each passing week, teams have started to target unnecessary, aging pieced on rebuilding teams in the hopes of getting that final piece for a playoff push.
According to Adam Schefter, the most intriguing name to pop up over the weekend has to be Darius Slay of the Detroit Lions.
A 2013 second-round pick who lit it up for two seasons at Mississippi State and followed it up with a blazing fast 4.36 40 at the combine, Slay has entrenched himself as one of the best, most complete cornerbacks in all of football; and by that, I mean Slay is one of the few cornerbacks in the NFL who can play press-man convincingly and shadow opposing receivers for an entire outing.
Not to jump too far ahead, but if the Eagles were to trade for Slay, he would be the lone shutdown cornerback in the NFC East – above marquee players like Byron Jones, Janoris Jenkins, and Josh Norman.
But Slay isn’t just good at bodying opposing receivers and making it hard for them to catch the ball. No, Slay likes to moonlight as a ball catcher himself.
Since his first season as a legitimate starter (2014), Slay has picked off 18 balls on 94 passes defensed, high watermarked by an insane 2017 season where he picked off eight passes and defensed 18 more.
Just for context, the Eagles haven’t had a cornerback pick off eight passes in a single season this decade, with the most recent player to do so being Asante Samuel all the way back in 2009.
He technically had nine, but still, Slay’s feat is nothing short of impressive.
While Slay or the team hasn’t expressed any desire to get a deal done publicly, the seventh-year vet clearly isn’t too happy with his current organization, as he tweeted the following after the Lions’ front office traded away captain Quandre Diggs to the Seattle Seahawks for a fifth-round pick – a move that all but punted on contending this season in the brutal NFC North.
With this season lost and a desperate need for young talent to fill out Matt Patricia‘s New England West scheme, could the Lions be willing to part with a 28-year-old shutdown corner who also happens to be their best player?
Sure, they pulled off a very similar move last October when they traded Golden Tate to the Eagles.
Granted, Slay may actually cost more than the third-rounder Howie Roseman surrendered almost a year to the day ago for some instant offense, but that doesn’t mean the deal should be considered any less valid. Slay can play, Slay can cover, and at only $10 million next season, Slay will likely cost less to retain than Darby – especially when you consider that the Lions will foot the remaining $2.9 million of his signing bonus.
With Slay in the fray, the Eagles would have the player they initially envisioned when they traded for Darby in the first place (and drafted Sidney Jones, but that mess is a topic for another article) and would be able to run the same scheme even more effectively with Mills slotted in at the two, and some combination of Avonte Maddox, Cre’Von LeBlanc, (maybe) Craig James, and (probably not) Rasul Douglas playing the nickel.
Could you imagine Jim Schwartz – or let’s be honest, whoever is coaching the Eagles’ defense in 2020 – having the ability to shadow top receivers with a competent foil? Or adding a fearless defender capable of forcing turnovers while possessing the recovery speed to, well, recover if things go south?
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While any potential move may look like a desperate attempt to save the 2019 season on paper, trading a high draft pick to acquire a player of Darius Slay’s caliber is the exact kind of move the Philadelphia Eagles should make at the trade deadline, as players with his size, speed, and scheme flexibility don’t become available every day.