Darius Slay just doesn’t know what to do. He could join the Buffalo Bills and continue his 13-year NFL career and possibly even go on a deep playoff run. Or he could spend more time with his family.
Advertisement
Slay and the Pittsburgh Steelers, who signed the veteran CB on a one-year, $10 million deal this offseason, mutually agreed to part ways recently. That left the door open for Slay to sign anywhere he wanted to finish the season—unless someone claimed him off waivers. And that’s what the Bills did.
But not so fast. Because now that Slay has been claimed by the Bills—no doubt he was hoping to return to his self-proclaimed “second home” in Philly—he has decided not to report to the team just yet. The 34-year-old is now mulling retirement. He said a big factor weighing on him is his family. Specifically, his ability to go see his son play sports.
“I’m in Year 13. Honestly, my son is a senior in high school, he just finished football. I missed a lot of that. I had my child at 15, so now he’s 18. So I missed a lot of his football, I caught a couple of games, Mike [Tomlin] thank you for that. … I’ve been missing out on a lot of my kids activities. It’s mostly a family decision. I’m gonna take it day by day. I just left my son’s basketball game, and I ain’t ever seen him play basketball!”
Another of the reasons Slay gave is the most obvious: he’s “seen it all” in the NFL. Slay is a six-time Pro Bowler, one-time First-Team All-Pro, Super Bowl 59 champion, and 2017 NFL interception leader. He’s picked off 28 passes in his illustrious career overall.
“I ain’t complaining. You know, 13 [years]. I did ’em. I done seen it all. I’ve been at the very, very top, I’ve been one of the best in this game.”
Some of Slay’s reasons are compelling. But others seem a little suspect. He also said that he didn’t report to Buffalo because of how cold it is. Slay’s from the South, from Georgia, so it could have made sense. But during his near decade-and-a-half in the NFL, Slay has played in Detroit, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh. Not exactly the sunshine-iest places in the league. And the weather there was never a problem.
Either way, Darius Slay doesn’t really have anything to prove.
As he said, he’s been to the mountaintop as a Super Bowl champ, and he’s been the best in the world as a First-Team All-Pro. If he does join the Bills, it will be because he still has that competitive itch that these players often have such a tough time scratching without the NFL.
Those bleachers at the high school basketball game start looking really good when you start doing wind sprints at practice though.
