The Philadelphia Eagles greatly improved their secondary when they acquired Darius Slay from the Detroit Lions for late-round draft picks. Slay immediately becomes the top cornerback in the NFC East if not the entire conference, and gives the Eagles a player capable of shutting down the opponent’s No. 1 wide receiver.
NFL.com’s Gil Brandt recently ranked the players traded this offseason and Slay landed just outside the top-5, coming in at No. 7 on the list.
Darius Slay
Philadelphia Eagles · CB
Acquired from: the Lions, in exchange for a 2020 third-round pick and a 2020 fifth-round pick.The Eagles entered the offseason in need of a No. 1 cornerback after none of the seven (!) cornerbacks drafted between 2015 and ’18 proved able to fill that role. Enter Slay, who was handed a three-year, $50 million extension after Philly snagged him in March. Now it will be on the 29-year-old veteran to prove that his sluggish 2019 season was a function of his dissatisfaction with being on a team that didn’t want to give him a new contract — and not a sign that his career is on the downslope.
Slay will be surrounded by athletes, great pass rushers, and a defensive coordinator who coached the Eagles star when he joined the Lions out of Mississippi State. Add in his reunion with Fletcher Cox and his swagger coupled with the Philadelphia atmosphere, and Slay should return to his All-Pro form.
