After months of silence, the Detroit Lions have finally locked up their shutdown cornerback just hours before the start of training camp. According to Adam Schefter, the Lions have agreed to a four-year contract extension with Darius Slay:
CB Darius Slay and Detroit Lions agreed to a 4-year extension worth $50.2N with $23M fully guaranteed at signing, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 29, 2016
Slay has been the leader of the Lions’ secondary since breaking out over the past two years. This was scheduled to be Slay’s last year on his rookie contract, so the Lions were wise to lock him up before he had a chance to hit free agency (see: Ndamukong Suh).
Earlier this offseason, Slay professed his desire to be paid like a top-seven cornerback in the league. As Kevin Patra of NFL.com points out, that’s exactly what he got:
Slay said he wanted to get paid like a top-7 CB. Extension APY ($12.55M) and guarantee $ all exactly 7th among CBs https://t.co/SG3YJHOw2r
— Kevin Patra (@kpatra) July 29, 2016
Slay will now remain the Lions’ top cornerback until at least 2020.
The Lions are also facing potential extensions for other key players like Ezekiel Ansah and Matthew Stafford in the near future. But for now, there’s one less player to worry about.