By Max Harper
ESPN’s Adam Schefter is reporting that Eagles plan to release five-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay after they and Slay could not work out a restructured contract; he will be a free agent today at 4 p.m. ET today.
The Eagles also had allowed Slay’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, to seek a trade before deciding to release him.
The #Eagles will designate CB Darius Slay as a post-6/1 release, source says, which would push over $13 million of his cap hit into 2024. He'll count $8 million and change against the 2023 cap.
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) March 15, 2023
Slay, 32, was entering the final year of his three-year, $50 million deal. He is slated to make a base salary of $17 million in 2023 with a cap hit of over $26 million, per Spotrac.
The Eagles acquired Slay from the Detroit Lions in 2020 in exchange for a third- and a fifth-round pick. He has made the Pro Bowl each of the past two years and had three interceptions and 14 passes defensed this past season.
He was a key part of a defense that led the league in pass defense (179.8 yards per game), helping Philadelphia to a 14-3 regular season mark en route to an appearance in Super Bowl LVII.
The Eagles will have a completely new look on defense in 2023. Starters Javon Hargrave (San Francisco 49ers), T.J. Edwards (Chicago Bears) and Marcus Epps (Las Vegas Raiders) have agreed to sign elsewhere as free agents and they still have a number of contributors who are free agents, including defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and safety Chauncey Gardner-Johnson.
The Eagles did agree to re-sign starting cornerback James Bradberry and defensive end Brandon Graham, however.
