What looked like a simple waiver move has turned into one of the strangest storylines of the Bills’ season. After Buffalo claimed Darius Slay on December 3, the veteran cornerback told the team he would not report and that he was weighing retirement. Slay later explained that at 34, he did not want to uproot his family again and wanted no part of “cold as hell” Buffalo.
He called the Bills a top organization with a franchise quarterback, but said the timing and the weather made it a bad fit for him, not a bad team.
So, what’s Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane going to do? His team claimed Slay after he was waived by the Steelers, only for the corner to refuse to come in while he mulled his future.
The Bills now hold his rights after placing him on the reserve/retired list, leaving them tied to a player who has never even walked into their locker room. For the moment, his status remains in limbo.
According to a New York Times story, the backdrop makes this even more awkward. Back in late February, while still under contract with the Eagles, Slay said on the “St. Brown Podcast” that he wanted to play one more year and that the only places he really envisioned that happening were Philadelphia or Detroit.
Less than a month later, the Eagles released him, Pittsburgh scooped him up, and now Buffalo is left holding a claim on a cornerback who publicly stated his heart was elsewhere.
The Bills’ response was to park him on the reserve/did not report list, retaining control of his rights.
Instead, they will keep competing without him, including a crucial matchup with the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 14, while Slay stays home and hints at retirement.
Hovering over all of this is the presence of his agent, Drew Rosenhaus. Slay is represented by the superagent, and as the New York Times noted, that alone changes the calculus.
With a Week 17 meeting against the Eagles looming, Buffalo has every incentive to “play nice” with Rosenhaus, preserve a working relationship, and keep the door cracked for Slay to change his mind, even if there is no guarantee he ever does.
