Darius Slay appeared to be headed elsewhere this offseason after reports cited the Philadelphia Eagles were set to release the star cornerback. However, Philadelphia never actually cut Slay and the two sides then came to an agreement on a contract extension to keep him with the defending NFC champions.
Slay seemingly would have ended up with an AFC contender should he have departed Philadelphia.
“I was almost — this close — a Baltimore Raven,” Slay said on his “Big Play Slay” podcast, per ESPN. “This close (showing his fingers close together). But I wanted to be an Eagle. I stayed an Eagle because I know we were going to figure something out.”
Slay, who at the time was entering the final year of his contract, then agreed to a three-year, $42 million deal with the Eagles.
“The Baltimore Ravens were the first team that called,” Slay said. “They offered just what I wanted. I said, ‘If the Eagles do that, I’m going to stay an Eagle.’ It was nice now. I was almost a Raven.”
Slay would have been a nice veteran complement to Marlon Humphrey with fellow cornerback Marcus Peters still available on the open market. Peters played the past two-plus seasons in Baltimore.
Baltimore has bigger areas of concern, however. Lamar Jackson and the Ravens remain at odds about a contract and it feels like the star quarterback is closer and closer to leaving Baltimore with every day that passes.
