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If you read Friday’s notes, you know that Darius Slay was planning to spend the weekend giving back to the local community. He sent out a call on Instagram for any local high school defensive backs to reach out to him so that he could hold an impromptu minicamp for 10 lucky players:
High school or college it don’t matter.... pic.twitter.com/4ABs8DuYUv
— Darius Slay (@_bigplayslay23) June 19, 2019
Slay lived up to his promise, and along with Tracy Walker, Jamal Agnew and rookie Will Harris, the Lions defensive backs spent time putting in work at West Bloomfield High School:
Really cool for @Lions players @_bigplayslay23, @jwillofficial_ , @TracyWalkerIII and @jamalagnew to coach up some local DBs today at West Bloomfield High School. I had a good time watching them work! pic.twitter.com/754lbheXrq
— Brandon Brown (@BSB_Wolverine) June 22, 2019
But Slay’s generosity didn’t stop there. When a random fan reached out to him with a Hail Mary pitch: Be a guest at my graduation party, Slay delivered. Here’s how it unfolded on Twitter Saturday afternoon.
Kam Register notes that Slay responded to his request Friday night with “might pop up never know.”
Darius Slay said he might pull up to my grad party pic.twitter.com/KXxkmDQrHb
— Kam Register (@kamregister70) June 21, 2019
The next day, Slay did indeed pull up:
He pulled up pic.twitter.com/LvrKhx9fZN
— Kam Register (@kamregister70) June 22, 2019
Slay reportedly spent three hours at Register’s graduation party, took pictures with everybody, gave Register his gloves from the Pro Bowl and afterwards promised him tickets to the game of his choosing for the 2019 season.
ESPN’s Michael Rothstein caught up with Register about his wild Saturday.
“I was literally trying to take pictures and my hands were shaking,” Register said. “It was just the craziest thing.”
It’s these kind of gestures that make Darius Slay such a popular figure in Detroit, even in the midst of what could be a training camp holdout. However, if you like reading into things, perhaps it’s a good sign that Slay is offering up tickets for the 2019 season. Are negotiations going well? Does he have no intentions of holding out into the season?
Regardless, this is a pretty awesome gesture from a pretty good guy.