Darius Slay Could be on His Way out of Philly
Darius Slay may have played his last game with the Eagles, provided Drew Rosenhaus can find a new home for his client.
ESPN reported that the Eagles have given Slay and Rosenhaus permission to seek a trade, though the Eagles are still hopeful of finding a way to keep the five-time Pro Bowl cornerback.
It only makes sense that the Eagles are trying to find a way to minimize Slay’s salary cap charge, which sits at $26.3 million.
Free agency begins March 15 at 4 p.m., with a legal tampering period allowed beginning Sunday.
This could simply be part of the negotiating ploy because Slay recently expressed an interest in returning to Philly. the presumption is it wasn't his idea to ask for a trade, based on recent social media comments.
“I love Philly, man,” he said. “I plan on staying in Philly, but if it don’t happen, I know I got one more year left here. I want an extension with the Eagles. I love the Eagles. They took another chance on me trading for me, and I panned out of course.”
The Eagles restructured the contract of kicker Jake Elliott on Friday morning, a move that will save them $2.5M on the cap.
Per overthecap.com, the Eagles had just over $4M to spend to remain under the cap, but that number will move closer to $8M with the Elliott restructure.
The kicker was going to have a $5.8M cap charge prior to the restructure.
Slay, whose teammates named him a captain last year, could return on a new deal or a reworked contract if he doesn’t find a trade partner. Another option would be to release Slay with a post-June 1 designation. In the scenario, the Eagles would save $17.5M and have to absorb $8.5M in dead money.
If released prior to that, the numbers aren’t as friendly with a cap savings of just $3.7M and a dead-money hit of $22.7M.
By moving on from Slay, the Eagles could try to keep James Bradberry, who is two years younger and was a second-team Associated Press All-Pro this past season.
In order to do so, however, something on Slay will have to come together quickly.
The Eagles are also expected to save money under the salary cap by converting some of Lane Johnson’s money into a signing bonus, a move that could save an estimated $10M.
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Fan Nation Eagles Today and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles or www.eaglestoday.com and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
