It sounds like Detroit Lions star Darius Slay won’t have an easy road to getting a new deal.
According to Ian Rapoport in a video posted Tuesday night, it’ll be “tough sledding” for the star cornerback to get more money out of the team.
Slay missed the start of minicamp Tuesday, and it doesn’t sound like he has any intention of showing up. You can watch Rapoport’s full comments below.
From @NFLTotalAccess: The #Lions saw two of their best defensive players — Damon Harrison and Darius Slay — skip mandatory minicamp. A look at what it may be like to get a new deal… pic.twitter.com/VIB5ZREsz8
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 4, 2019
I know Tuesday I sounded hellbent on giving Slay more money and I do think we should do whatever is necessary to get him on the field. (RELATED: Detroit Lions Star Darius Slay Says He’s Not Going To Minicamp, Wants A New Deal)
He’s arguably our best defensive player, he’s one of the best defensive backs in the league and our defense certainly isn’t better off without him.
No team gets better when one of their stars, especially a cornerback, isn’t playing.
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However, the more I think about it, the more I’m starting to think Rapoport has a point when he says it’s going to be tough.
The Lions shouldn’t leverage much for one defensive player. Is he a star? Yes. Does he have a huge impact on the field? Yes, but there’s kind of a cap on what kind of impact guys on the defensive side of the ball have.
It’s not like he’s a star running back, quarterback or receiver. He’s also due to make more than $13 million this season. That should be enough to feed himself and one or two other people.
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I don’t know what the answer here is, but I’m not optimistic we’ll see Slay anytime soon. If he wants more money than what’s already coming his way, then the Lions might be in a standoff for awhile.
Let’s just hope like hell this is figured out by week one when we play Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals.