Darius Slay Doing his Part Trying to Recruit Steven Nelson
Darius Slay is doing his part to help the Eagles fill their most obvious need in advance of training camp which is set to begin on July 27.
Philadelphia's only proven option at outside cornerback took to social media to weigh in on the potential signing of Steven Nelson, the ex-Steelers cornerback who was released in March and is still looking for a new home.
"Aye @Nelson_Island that green will look good on ya," Slay tweeted.
Nelson, 28, quickly replied, “it could all be so simple my man.”
Nelson is trying to get as close to the $8.25 million he was set to make with Pittsburgh this season, according to an NFL source. The ultimate end game will likely be in the $4M or $5M range, however.
From the Eagles' perspective, there is significant interest in Nelson but Philadelphia still has salary-cap issues.
Currently, the team is $4,877,971 under the cap, according to the latest NFLPA numbers, and still needs to fit second-round pick Landon Dickerson into the mix.
Trading or releasing veteran tight end Zach Ertz, which is still expected, would ultimately give the Eagles plenty of room to get everything they want accomplished.
Philadelphia is trying to sell Nelson on the opportunity he would be getting with the Eagles.
While plenty of other teams are interested in a player that has started 53 games in a CB-deficient league, few could offer Nelson such an easy path to playing time which could result in more money come 2022, be it with the Eagles or elsewhere.
For now, players like Avonte Maddox, Mike Jacquet, and rookie Zech McPhearson are set to compete for the outside CB job opposite Slay.
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If Nelson is signed he'll be penciled in with Maddox moving to the slot, a more natural position for him.
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Originally a third-round pick of Kansas City out of Oregon State in 2015, Nelson has started 53 of 67 career regular-season games and has five interceptions.
Last season with the Steelers, Nelson started 15 games and finished with one INT and eight passes defended, grading out as the 36th best CB in the NFL by ProFootballFocus.com.
John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's EagleMaven 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 both PhillyVoice.com and YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Extending the Play" on AM1490 in South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen
Ed Kracz is the publisher of SI.com’s Eagle Maven and co-host of the Eagles Unfiltered Podcast. Check out the latest Eagles news at www.SI.com/NFL/Eagles and please follow him on Twitter: @kracze.
