Eagles Set to Release Darius Slay

The five-time Pro Bowl cornerback will be released with a post-June 1 designation

The Eagles are set to release five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay.

Slay himself intimated the news via social media and an NFL source later confirmed the plan to SI Eagles Today on Wednesday.

Nothing but love Philly!! Lets see where we heading next..

— Darius Slay (@bigplay24slay) March 15, 2023

A team leader and captain, Slay, 32, spent three seasons in Philadelphia after being acquired from Detroit in 2020. He was a Pro Bowl selection after the 2021 and 2022 seasons but was coming up on the final year of his deal and was set to count over $26 million against the cap.

That number and Slay's age created a difficult situation, one in which the Eagles wanted to lower the cap number and Slay wanted a contract extension with a significant AAV.

The Eagles granted Slay's agent, Drew Rosenhaus, permission to seek a trade to better gauge the market for his services around the league but the tactic was not successful and Philadelphia made the decision to cut ties with Slay before the new league year starts at 4 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Philadelphia agreed to re-sign second-team All-Pro cornerback James Bradberry on Tuesday and it was always going to be difficult to pay two players at the position top-of-the-market money.

By putting a post-June 1 designation on the decision the Eagles will gain $17.5 in cap relief for 2023 vs. $3.7M if the organization completely wiped its hands prior to June 1. Philadelphia cannot utilize those savings until June 1, however.

Slay had an excellent season for the NFC champions in 2022-23 with three interceptions and 14 pass breakups but he did slip a bit in the second half which was viewed as a concern.

Overall, though, Slay was graded as the 21st-best CB in the NFL by Pro Football Focus last season while Bradberry was No. 27. Nickel back Avonte Maddox was in the middle at No. 25 and the trio as a whole was arguably the best in football. 

The Eagles have now lost five starters in the opening days of free agency off what was the No. 2 defense and the No. 1 passing defense in the NFL: Slay, DT Javon Hargrave, LBs T.J. Edwards and Kyzir White, and S Marcus Epps.

DT Fletcher Cox and S C.J. Gardner-Johnson remain free agents.

Philadelphia also lost its defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon, who is now the head coach in Arizona, and secondary coach Dennard Wilson, who decided to take that same job in Baltimore after getting bypassed to be DC with the Eagles in favor of Sean Desai.

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-John McMullen contributes Eagles coverage for SI.com's Eagles Today and is the NFL Insider for JAKIB Media. You can listen to John, alongside legendary sports-talk host Jody McDonald every morning from 8-10 on ‘Birds 365,” streaming live on YouTube. John is also the host of his own show "Football 24/7 and a daily contributor to ESPN South Jersey. You can reach him at jmcmullen44@gmail.com or on Twitter @JFMcMullen