When the Philadelphia Eagles opted to move on from Darius Slay mere weeks after winning the Super Bowl, it left fans with mixed feelings.
On one hand, Slay was a defining player of the Eagles' Super Bowl run, an elite outside cornerback who helped to turn around an entire defense, and a leader in the locker room who brought passion on and off the field. And yet, his play did take a dip in 2024, with injuries stacking up and his availability becoming an increasing issue over an extended season.
Long celebrated as one of the more reliable players in the NFL, regardless of position, Slay played the fewest snaps of his career in 2024 since his rookie campaign in 2013, missing 19 percent of the Eagles' snaps during the regular season and 12.5 percent during the Super Bowl. His play was still solid, on par with his 2023 numbers according to Pro Football Focus, but the more snaps Iasaiah Rodgers had to fill as a spot-up starter, the more Howie Roseman and company seemingly wondered if Slay's play was going downhill fast.
Well, as it turns out, the Eagles were right. After waiving Slay, he signed a one-year $10 million deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers, only to be released a few months later, getting his walking papers on December 2 after being a healthy scratch for an ugly loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Expressing a desire to finish out the season playing for a contender, Slay will certainly have options if for nothing else than because of his name recognition, but if he wants the best opportunity to contribute to winning right away, he really only has one obvious option: Vic Fangio's defense opposite Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean.
The Eagles and Darius Slay are a match made in heaven.
After saying goodbye to Slay, the Eagles opted to replace him with another veteran cornerback with experience in multiple schemes: Adoree' Jackson.
On paper, the deal was a downgrade, but not by much, as Jackson is younger and has more on-field versatility inside and out. Unfortunately, football isn't played on paper, and as crazy as it may sound, Jackson has actually played worse for the Eagles than Slay played for the Steelers pre-release, with his PFF overall grade, 47.8, and coverage grade, 48.0, ranking in the bottom 10 out of 110 qualifying cornerbacks. Granted, Slay has been below average, too, with his overall grade and coverage grades at 58.3 and 58.6, but those numbers come in a new scheme, instead of the one he succeeded in last season.
While Jackson has remained the Eagles' starter at outside cornerback largely out of necessity, as Kelee Ringo has effectively proven he can't play cornerback up to Fangio's standards, Howie Roseman traded for two cornerbacks to help out the secondary before the 2025 NFL trade deadline, with Michael Carter II set to help with depth on the inside, and Jaire Alexander another Slay-style outside option on the perimeter.
MC2, to his credit, hasn't really been given too many chances to shine, with the Eagles using him in dime packages or as a slot option when DeJean kicks outside, but that look hasn't been overly explored because it takes one of the team's best players and removes him from his best position on the interior.
And as for Alexander? Well, he never actually played for the Eagles, having been placed on the reserve/retired list after announcing he would be stepping away from football.
Now sure, would it be weird for Slay to go back to a team that said, “It's not us, it's you?” Maybe, but both Darius and his wife, Jennifer, have been fairly open about their appreciation for the Eagles, leading one to believe there isn't too much bad blood for the organization that brought a Super Bowl ring to the Slay family. Considering the offers on the open market at this stage of the season will largely be similar, why not pursue a reunion in a scheme that Slay already knows as part of one of the best defenses in the NFL?
Is Slay the same Pro Bowl-caliber performer who headlined Fangio's defensive backfield? No, but with Mitchell and DeJean playing up to that level at their respective positions, he really doesn't need to be. If Slay can just outplay Jackson, he could immediately become the Eagles' CB3, with the USC product sliding into the swing corner role Rodgers filed last season. The Eagles' secondary would be unquestionably better, which, in turn, would make the defense better, and Slay would benefit too, as he wouldn't need to play in the base defense or certain big nickel packages and thus could preserve his legs for the playoffs. If Roseman liked the idea of giving up a late pick swap for Alexander, then adding Slay for free is a borderline no-brainer.
