ALLEN PARK, Mich. _ While most of the Detroit Lions locker room had publicly taken an even-keeled approach to the team's decision to trade starting safety Quandre Diggs this week, cornerback Darius Slay, Diggs' closest friend on the team, had a more visceral reaction, questioning the decision, loyalty in the NFL and his long-term future in Detroit.
"(Crap), it basically say it don't matter who you is," Slay said. "No matter how much you put in, at the end of the day it's a business so that's how I just look at it. Nobody's safe, in my opinion.
"Why wouldn't it surprise me? Just told you he was an alternate Pro Bowler and our team captain. How would it not be surprising? That would be crazy."
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Slay, a two-time Pro Bowler and one the team's best defensive players, said he didn't have any conversations with coach Matt Patricia or general manager Bob Quinn before or after Diggs was traded.
"I ain't talking to neither one of them about that," Slay said. "That's their problem. I'm working. That's all I do. I work. It's not no kind of relationship or nothing like that, just, I'm here. I work here. It's my job. I got to do my job."
Slay decried the lack of loyalty to players, not just in Detroit, but around league, citing Earl Thomas' lengthy contract dispute in Seattle prior to signing with the Baltimore Ravens in free agency this offseason.
Asked if a sudden trade like this makes him question his loyalty to the team, Slay said he didn't know how to answer that question.
With the trade deadline approaching next week, Slay acknowledged there's a possibility even he could be traded. When asked if he preferred to stay in Detroit, he was non-committal.
"I'm saying I'm here to play ball," Slay said. "Like I said, it don't matter if I'm here or not. That's what I want to do, I just want to play ball."
