Darius Slay Wants to Finish Career With Eagles

The Kelce brothers, Jason and Travis, aren’t the only ones with a podcast.

Darius Slay has one, too, and on his recent episode of ‘Big Play Slay, on The Volume,’ he addressed the news that broke on Friday that he and his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, have been given permission to seek a trade.

The veteran Eagles cornerback said he did not ask to be traded.

In fact, he wants to finish his career with the Eagles.

“I do want to finish my career as an Eagle but we’ll see,” he said. “We be looking forward to it, man. Got time here. But best believe, I do want to be an Eagle. But if my job requires me to go elsewhere, then I’ll go. …I got a lot of years left in this game and I love this game, man. So, it’s only right for me to finish off strong.”

Slay is entering the final year of his contract and would like an extension.

The Eagles would like to restructure his deal and convert most of his 2023 salary into a signing bonus and add voidable years into the future.

Slay, however, has leverage in that he wants a long-term commitment, meaning the Eagles simply can’t convert his current contract without him agreeing to do it.

Any move by the Eagles, whether it’s a trade or release, wouldn’t be beneficial until after June 1, when the team's salary cap savings would be $17.5 million with $8.6 in dead money. Any move made prior to June 1 would only save the Eagles $3.7M on the cap while forcing them to absorb $22.4M in dead money.

“I know what’s going on,” he said. “I hear the rumors, I hear everything. I see everything all over the globe, all over the internet and I just want my fans to know Slay did not ask to be traded. But this is part of the business. There’s no bad blood against neither one of us, me or (Eagles GM) Howie (Roseman). None of that. We all good, great understanding.

“It’s just the business part of it. A lot of guys go up for trades, you know, they got a lot of money involved in this situation so it’s nothing big, nothing too serious. It’s just part of the business, man.”

Slay is 32, but is coming off a Pro Bowl season, his fifth in 10 seasons in the league. He was also named a team captain by his teammates prior to the Eagles’ Super Bowl season, the first time he has ever held that title.

He started the season strong and was an NFC Defensive Player of the Week in September. The long season took its toll, however, and he didn’t finish as well as he started, though he upped his game and played well in the postseason.

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.