Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay clarified Saturday he has not asked for a trade and hopes to remain with the Eagles for the rest of his career.
The Eagles have granted Slay’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, permission to seek a trade as they work through a resolution to his contract situation. He is entering the final year of his current deal with a $17 million base salary and a cap hit of $26.1 million.
“I know what’s going on. I hear the rumors. I hear everything,” Slay said on Big Play Slay, via Dave Zangaro of NBCSportsPhiladelphia.com. “I see everything all over the globe, all over the internet, and I just want my fans to know Slay did not ask to be traded. But this is part of the business. There’s no bad blood against neither one of us, me or [General Manager] Howie [Roseman]. None of that. We all good, great understanding. It’s just the business part of it. A lot of guys go up for trades, you know. They got a lot of money involved in this situation, so it’s nothing big, nothing too serious. It’s just part of the business, man.
“I do want to finish my career as an Eagle, but we’ll see. We be looking forward to it, man. Got time here. But best believe, I do want to be an Eagle. But if my job requires me to go elsewhere, then I’ll go. . . . I got a lot of years left in this game and I love this game, man. So it’s only right for me to finish off strong.”
The Eagles want to lower Slay’s cap hit. Slay wants a contract extension. A trade before June 1 would save the Eagles only $3.7 million with a $22 million dead cap hit.
Rosenhaus, though, could get a better idea of Slay’s market by talking to other teams.
Three other players in the Eagles’ secondary — James Bradberry, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Marcus Epps — are scheduled to become free agents next week.
Slay also knows that he might not stay in Philadelphia, and to that end, he’s seen the recruiting that’s gone on around the NFL from other players.
“I appreciate my NFL brothers. I see all the love y’all showing me,” Slay said. “I appreciate it. It shows me y’all got a lot of respect for my game. Y’all believe I can come to y’all organization and help win. I appreciate that. Shout out to my boy Quandre [Diggs]. Shout out to Micah [Parsons], but I know about Dallas. Tough one. But shout out to everyone. Cordarrelle [Patterson], my draft mate, back at home, back in Georgia, Atlanta. That’s the crib. And my boy MVS [Chiefs receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling], man, we be having great battles up there in Green Bay. So I see you too little bro. I saw the tweet even though you beat us. I’m over it almost. But hey, man, I’m hoping for anything, any great opportunity to go out and help an organization win. I’m looking forward to seeing this. I’ve been here before and I end up as an Eagle. So we’ll see where I end up now.”