We got you, Big Play. It’s Slay. Not Darius. After what you’ve done for us — pick any name that you want. We owe you at least that much.  Darius Slay can pick anything that he wants us to call him. Mr. Slay? Mr. Big Play? How about Super Bowl Champion Slay?

On Monday afternoon — the Eagles announced that they would be releasing Darius Slay. It’s an ode to the Eagles wanting to allow Big Play Slay every advantage that they can to test the market in order to find a new team as well as a vote of confidence in their two young cornerbacks who blanketed Pro Bowl caliber receivers all season long. It’s also an expectation that Cooper DeJean’s versatility will continue.

It recalls another aggressive move by Howie Roseman and the Eagles in March of 2020 — just two months before the Eagles drafted franchise quarterback Jalen Hurts —  Philadelphia completed a trade with the Detroit Lions exchanging third-round and fifth-round picks for Big Play Slay. Immediately after arriving in South Philly — he signed a three-year extension worth $50 Million and wore #24 in honor of Philadelphia native Kobe Bryant.

Slay arrived in Philly at just the right time.

He was a key piece in the re-tooling of the Eagles  —  who quickly re-vamped themselves in a Howie Roseman-led roster revitalization from the once-revered Doug Pederson and Carson Wentz era into the top team in the NFC and now the world. In his second season in Philly, the Eagles would be once again in the NFC Playoffs. By his third, they would be in the Super Bowl.

This season — after Philadelphia stunned the world by moving up to secure two of the top rookies to revamp their secondary — a defensive backfield loaded with talent was complete. When Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean arrived in Philadelphia, Slay was there to mentor them. That group of Eagles in the secondary — an amazing combination of veterans like Blankenship, C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and Slay perfectly paired with Mitchell and DeJean — provided a blanket of coverage that not only took away receiving options but propelled the Eagles to a Super Bowl Championship with the first ever pair of rookies starting at defensive back and finished with the only player in NFL history to return an interception for a touchdown on his birthday in the Super Bowl.

Darius Slay played five seasons for the Philadelphia Eagles. He would go to the Pro Bowl in 2021 and 2023. He would play 74 games with the Eagles bringing in nine interceptions, two NFC Championships and a Super Bowl victory to South Philly.

During the Super Bowl Parade, his first championship ever, he credited the two Eagles rookies that he had mentored all year before thanking Philadelphia. 

No, Big Play Slay: Thank you.

Michael Thomas Leibrandt is an Eagles Nation contributor and lives and works in Abington Township, Pennsylvania.