{"id":53578,"date":"2025-12-06T03:58:18","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:58:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/53578\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T03:58:18","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T03:58:18","slug":"darius-slay-explains-why-he-decided-to-leave-the-pittsburgh-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/53578\/","title":{"rendered":"Darius Slay explains why he decided to leave the Pittsburgh Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Pittsburgh Steelers <\/a>cornerback Darius Slay <\/a>decided to leave the team and very well may retire now after being claimed by the Buffalo Bills.<\/p>\n

So, why was it time for Slay to move on? The former Steelers cornerback said that he and head coach Mike Tomlin talked about it and figured it would be the best move for both parties to get satisfaction out of the rest of the year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a little mutual decision, man,\u201d Slay said<\/a> on the \u201cSpeakeasy\u201d podcast. \u201cMe and [Mike Tomlin] chopped it up. We just thought that was what\u2019s best for us. Much respect to Mike T. and that organization. It just didn\u2019t pan out as it needed to be. It was all good, though. No bad blood with it. He\u2019s a great dude, great coach. He did me the right way, and 13 years in, we had a great understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slay is continuing to decide if he would like to play and he won\u2019t go to Buffalo. Slay could instead to decide to retire. <\/p>\n

Slay and the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> reportedly had mutual interest, and the Eagles put in a claim to try and land Slay. <\/p>\n

Slay added there was a family element to his decision, too, and he did not want to keep missing out on his kids\u2019 lives to keep playing in a place where he was not getting playing time.<\/p>\n

A Super Bowl champion with the Eagles last season, Slay will find work with a scheme that could fit well with what he does at this point in his career if he wants to keep playing. He will turn 35 years old on January 1.<\/p>\n

Slay started out entrenched as a starting cornerback for the team, but a concussion opened the door for James Pierre, who stood out, to take his job. He did that, and then Asante Samuel Jr.<\/a> stood out against the Buffalo Bills. Samuel will be the team\u2019s top backup outside cornerback moving forward.<\/p>\n

Slay was a healthy inactive on Sunday. A source told PennLive that Samuel will be elevated to the active roster after Slay\u2019s release. <\/p>\n

Steelers moneyline<\/a> is +235 on DraftKings<\/a> for Sunday\u2019s game against Baltimore. Our DraftKings Sportsbook review<\/a> provides a guide on how to register and use their platform.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally it was less about Slay and more about getting a chance to see Asante Samuel,\u201d head coach Mike Tomlin said on Tuesday. \u201cHe\u2019s a global NFL starter type that\u2019s been on our practice squad…. it was about getting a look at a guy who has started a lot of guys in this league. And we did, and we liked some of things we saw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pierre remains in the concussion protocol and if he can not play, Samuel will be the likely starter against the Baltimore Ravens in what is a pivotal divisional game in the AFC North.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Pittsburgh Steelers cornerback Darius Slay decided to leave the team and very well may retire now after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[8177,73,75,74],"class_list":["post-53578","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-american-football","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}