Over seven seasons with the Detroit Lions, Darius Slay became one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Fantasy football analysts, when looking at weekly matchups, would point out an opponents No. 1 wide receiver getting set go on on "Slay ride" that Sunday (as in, potentially be shut down).
But three straight Pro Bowl appearances from 2017-2019 was not enough to keep Slay in Detroit, as he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles for two draft picks in March of 2020. An argument could be made, in hindsight, that he would not have fit well at the start of the Lions' rebuild in 2021.
Slay went on to earn three more Pro Bowl nods over five seasons in Philadelphia, further highlighting the mistake the Lions' previous regime made. So as Kristopher Knox of Bleacher Report shaped his list of the worst trade each NFL team has made over the last 10 years, the Slay trade was an easy choice for the Lions.
"Then-GM Bob Quinn sent Slay to the Eagles in exchange for third- and fifth-round picks in the 2020 draft. The third-round pick was used to trade up for guard Jonah Jackson, while the fifth-round pick was used on wideout Quintez Cephus."
"While Jackson was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2021, neither he nor Cephus signed a second contract with Detroit. Slay, meanwhile, went on to start 73 regular-season games for Philadelphia make three Pro Bowl appearances as an Eagle and help win the Lombardi Trophy this past February."
"Not only did Detroit part with Slay before their playoff window opened, but it also sent him to a conference rival that twice did with Slay what the Lions never have—appear in a Super Bowl."
The primary culprit for Lions' Darius Slay trade should not be ignored
Right after the Lions traded him, Slay appeared on "The Mitch Albom Show" in Detroit to make it clear why he wanted out.
"Shoot, I didn’t have that much respect for Matty P as a person,” Slay said. “It was hard for me to play for him. That’s all that was. He told me I wasn’t elite. He told me I had no business working out with Richard Sherman and (Aqib) Talib because I wasn’t elite, and those guys are in the elite category and I was just good.”
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Of course "Matty P" is former Lions head coach Matt Patricia, who rubbed plenty of players the wrong way over less than three seasons at the helm. Slay is the headliner there though, and even if the hatchet was effectively buried when Patricia spent the 2023 season on the Eagles' coaching staff, he has carried Patricia's disrespect as motivation ever since.
Nothing Quinn did as Lions' general manager was done without Patricia's stamp of approval, as the duo fostered the easy and ultimately unflattering nickname "Quinntricia." Patricia couldn't muster any respect for Slay, and with the layer of Slay wanting to be paid what he was worth, Quinn traded him.
Quinn is not immune from criticism for the bad moves that were made during his tenure. But a failure to mention Patricia as the driving force for the Slay trade is also a failure to tell the whole story about it.