A 180: Darius Slay Expected Back with the Eagles
Hours away from being released due to a contract impasse, Eagles Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay said his goodbyes to the City of Philadelphia and its fans.
Late Wednesday night, however, Slay pulled a Jordan Belfort and confirmed he's not leaving.
“Back like I never left!!! Run it back,” Slay wrote on Twitter.
The Eagles and Slay have now agreed to move forward with an amended contract that gives the organization salary cap relief and no new money to Slay, according to a source.
Howie Roseman and Co. lobbied Slay to stay where he's valued and comfortable as a team leader and captain. The full-court press worked largely because of the strategy to let Slay's agent Drew Rosenhaus gauge the market and seek a potential trade partner.
When the new league year started at 4 p.m. ET and there was no announcement from the organization or Slay's camp regarding the release, it was a signal that negotiations were ongoing with the Eagles lobbying Slay, along with Rosenhaus' reputation for realism.
As good as Slay is as a five-time Pro Bowl cornerback, the league as a whole doesn't like making grand gestures with players on the wrong side of 30, and the pie-in-the-sky belief that an extension with the same money Slay had been making leading up to age 34 or 35 just wasn't going to be there.
In many ways, the Eagles are preparing to copy the M.O. of last offseason with Fletcher Cox when the six-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle was released to clear cap space only to be brought back about 24 hours later with a rebooted deal.
Slay will never get to the transaction wire but the goal was similar, an effort to try to make the CB1 understand how important he is to the organization while setting up a year-by-year template moving forward.
The offensive is going to be a success, with the Eagles gaining salary-cap relief from Slay's ostentatious cap charge of $26.1 million with no new money. In fact, there may be a pay cut when the new deal is filed.
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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
