Detroit Lions: Will Bob Quinn pay Darius Slay or send him packing?
By Robert Jones
The problem, of course, doesn’t stop there. Drew Rosenhaus also happens to represent the Lions best player in their secondary, Darius Slay. After ‘Snacks’ jumped aboard the dreaded ship ‘Re-negotiate’, Blackbeard, I mean Rosenhaus, decided to let Slay know that perhaps he was a little underpaid himself. At which point the invasion of Allen Park took on a new light since both of the Lions best defenders from last season where now voluntary captives waiting to have Rosenhaus’ demands met.
For a team like the Lions whose own expectations are to make a run at the playoffs, it could be crippling to not have the services of Harrison and Slay. Which means that the pressure is on Quinn to either stand his ground and not allow a locker room contract mutiny or re-negotiate.
As of right now, all negotiations would seem to be either just preliminary talks or at a stalemate. Harrison is 30 years old and will turn 31 about mid-season. It is understandable that since he is now considered to be a player on the downside of his career he believes he has to score while he can, but Slay is 28 and won’t turn 29 until the end of next season. He is trying to make his final big score before he reaches the age of 30 at the end of this contract.
Now just to examine the other side of the coin, it is true that players under contracts are often waived or asked to take pay cuts, so the idea of getting a score on a contract isn’t just about getting a large multiple year deal, but is also about scoring while they can before they are kicked to the curb because they no longer fit the direction the team is going or no longer are playing at a level worthy of the numbers they’re being paid.
Athletes have a much smaller pay earning window then the rest of us, but they also are often paid more in a single season than many of the rest of us make in a lifetime. Which means instead of trying to see how much they can put in the bank while still living the ‘good’ life, maybe they should learn to budget like the rest of us. Even if it is on a larger scale.