After 48 hours hanging in the balance, Darius Slay is officially staying with the Eagles.
After the team nearly released the Pro Bowl cornerback just a day earlier, the two sides came to an agreement Thursday evening on an extension that runs through 2025, according to league sources.
Slay’s new deal is worth up to $42 million and guarantees $23 million to the 32-year-old at signing, according to a source. The new contract should give the Eagles some immediate cap relief while giving Slay a long-term deal.
On Wednesday morning, Slay was destined to be cut once the new league year opened at 4 p.m. He had a cap hit of roughly $26 million for next season under his previous deal and the Eagles needed to clear some space with a restructured contract by converting his base salary into signing bonus. Slay wanted new money in an extension instead, so the Eagles gave the cornerback and his agent permission to seek a trade partner last week.
By Wednesday morning, the Eagles already re-signed Slay’s counterpart at cornerback, James Bradberry, to a three-year contract worth $38 million with $20 million guaranteed. They directed their attention to the 29-year-old All-Pro corner once it became apparent that they couldn’t meet Slay’s requests.
But even after Slay and his wife, Jennifer, thanked Eagles fans for their support in goodbye messages on social media, the move remained unofficial. The 4 o’ clock hour came and went without an official announcement and both sides, not ready to part, were brought back to the negotiating table, one source close to the situation said.
The finite details of Slay’s new deal will reveal just how much he gained in the new extension, but general manager Howie Roseman has found a way to keep both his starting outside cornerbacks and perhaps open up enough salary cap space to also retain safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson. A contract extension for tackle Lane Johnson may also help create more room.
The Eagles have lost starters at defensive tackle (Javon Hargrave), linebacker (T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White), and safety (Marcus Epps) through free agency, but they’ve been able to keep defensive tackle Fletcher Cox, defensive end Brandon Graham, and Bradberry so far.Slay would have been an unexpected loss since he remained under contract and performed well last season. He struggled at times in the second half of the year and notably in the Super Bowl. But he wasn’t the only Eagles player to perform poorly in the loss to the Chiefs in Arizona, and has been a vital part of the team’s success as a player and captain.
A year ago, Cox was released to clear cap space only to be brought back a day later with a new contract. Slay never got out of the door with the Eagles, but he was seemingly close and is now returning for a fourth season in Philadelphia.
