Although he landed on the non-football injury list to begin training camp, Lions cornerback Darius Slay was still present as his teammates took the field today. Of course, one of the biggest questions that reporters had for him centered around his recent holdout.
“I was enjoying it. Spend more time with my family, enjoy my kids,” Slay told Mlive.com.
“It was cool. It wasn’t that big of a deal because I was here in Detroit. Guys came over to the house, hung out, chilled, cooked crab legs. It wasn’t nothing. It’s a business, so it’s all good.”
Although the holdout docked roughly $338,000 from his paycheck, he seems to be in good spirits. Selected in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft, Slay’s bank account has benefited greatly from his play on the field. Having already made at least $27.6 million, plus the $12.55 million coming his way this year, Slay is the 13th highest-paid cornerback in the NFL. Considering that he has made the Pro Bowl in back-to-back seasons, and has the second most interceptions in the NFL since the 2014 season, one could understand his frustration with his standing in that regard.
At the end of the day, however, it doesn’t seem that Slay expects the complications of business negotiations to change how he performs on the field.
“It won’t impact nothing,” Slay said. “I’m going out there to dominate. I come out, I play for the name on the back of my jersey and this organization and my teammates. So nothing’s going to stop me from what I’m going to do on the field.”
He also seems to be in agreement with the direction that the front office has taken the team’s secondary.
“They’re great, great guys,” Slay said. “More leadership, man. Little pressure off my shoulders because this is really my first year of stepping into the role of a leader with (Glover Quin) not being here, which I miss so much. It was hard to walk on the field without my dog today, but it’s good though. He’s chillin’. But other than that, it’s been good, man. Those guys do a good job of coaching the guys up, trying to make my job a lot easier.”
Whether he ultimately gets that contract extension will remain to be seen, but it seems that we can likely expect the best version of Darius Slay as possible to take the field this season.
