Longtime Eagles cornerback Darius Slay is considering retirement and won’t report to the Bills, who were awarded his rights on waivers on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Could that re-open the door for Slay to wind up back with the Eagles? It’s possible, depending on whether the Bills decide to keep him on a reserve-did not report list, where he wouldn’t count against their 53-man roster, or release him.
Slay, who turns 35 on New Year’s Day, made three Pro Bowls in six seasons with the Eagles and has made a total of six, including during his seven seasons with the Lions.
After the Eagles released him on March 3, he signed a one-year, $10 million deal with the Steelers. But after playing in 10 games, he was a healthy inactive for their game this past Sunday against the Bills and was released on Tuesday.
“Slay is honored that a first-class organization like the Bills claimed him,” agent Drew Rosenhaus told ESPN. “But he is going to take some time away from football right now and decide in the next few days if he wants to keep playing.”
Because it’s after the trade deadline of Nov. 4, Slay is subject to the NFL’s waiver claim process, which awards a released player’s rights in reverse order of team record when there are multiple claims.
The Eagles have struggled to find a second outside cornerback since they cut ties with Slay. Kelee Ringo has started two games, Adoree’ Jackson has started six and in four others Cooper DeJean started at outside corner with the opposing offense in base defense.
Slay did not play particularly well during his short stint in Pittsburgh, but he helped the Eagles win a Super Bowl last year and has familiarity with the players and coaches here and could offer some consistency that they haven’t had at the CB2 spot so far.
According to Stathead’s analytics, Slay was targeted 40 times with Pittsburgh, allowing 30 completions for 337 yards and one touchdown. His 108.0 defensive passer rating this year ranks 81st out of 104 corners who’ve been targeted at least 20 times this year, his opposing completion percentage of 75 percent ranks 98th and his 8.4 yards per target ranks 88th.
For the sake of comparison, from 2021 through 2024, Slay had an opposing passer rating of 80.0, an opposing completion percentage of 58.3 percent and allowed 6.5 yards per target. Among 95 corners who were targeted at least 200 times during that four-year span, Slay had the 11th-best passer rating, 22nd-best completion percentage and 23rd-best yards per target.
Slay has 28 career interceptions, including a league-high eight in 2017 with Detroit. His 28 INTs are 3rd-most among active players behind two safeties – Harrison Smith of the Vikings (37) and former Eagles teammate Kevin Byard (35). He doesn’t have any INTs in his last 30 regular-season games, although he did pick off Jordan Love in the wild-card round last January.