NFL free agency stops for no one. Even an unprecedented global pandemic isn’t powerful enough to stop talking heads and dorks in their undies with Flamin’ Hot Cheetos dust on their fingers (not me) from arguing about cap hits, compensatory picks, dead money, and most importantly…PFF grades!

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The Detroit Lions have hit the ground running in 2020 free agency (AKA the real season), as wheelin’ and dealin’ Bob Quinn has been working the phones. Most of the phones only dial out to Massachusettes, but we’ll get to that another time. This team is shaping up to look very different whenever it is they eventually return to the field. Let’s break down the biggest (and messiest) move, and the one that we all should have seen coming for months. 

Out – CB Darius Slay

Slay being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles is the big news in terms of team impact, emotional investment, and name brand. He was one of our own – a rare home-grown star and an absolute steal in the second round of the 2013 draft. Slay was one of the last remaining holdovers from the previous Lions regime prior to Bob Quinn taking over as GM in 2016, and it has been rumored for some time that Slay wasn’t a good culture fit for the so-called “Patriot Way” that Quinn and Matt Patricia were trying to install in Detroit (more on that coming). The trade rumors picked up steam at last season’s deadline, and turned from rumors to active plans in recent weeks. 

Slay took to Twitter to expedite the process on Wednesday with a barrage of “get me outta here” Tweets…

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It worked. Slay got what he wanted, which originally was just a contract extension and a hefty raise, but eventually grew to include “out of Detroit”. The recent trades/cuts of players such as Quandre Diggs, Golden Tate, and Glover Quin did a number on Slay’s attitude toward the organization, and newly leaked details of his rocky relationship with Matt Patricia are making it seem like this split was inevitable.

Quinn was never going to give Slay the bank-breaking extension he was seeking, as making a CB who will soon be on the wrong side of 30 the highest paid in the sport at his position – which is essentially what Philadelphia just agreed to do – is the opposite of how Quinn wants to do business. For better or worse, there is no loyalty bonus in the Patriot model. Once your pay exceeds your play, you have outgrown your stay.

“Big Play” Slay left some big plays on the field in 2019, which contributed to one of his worst years in Detroit and a league-worst pass defense for the Lions. Pro Football Focus ranked Slay 83rd among all corners last season, but he is obviously still a top-tier talent, given his previous track record of elite play and his reputation around the league. He was still pretty good in 2019 if you grade Slay on a curve, given his responsibility for shadowing the opponent’s No. 1 receiver and the fact that the Lions had a non-existent pass-rush, forcing Slay to cover said No. 1 receiver for days on end. But to get the big pay, you gotta make the big play. Just check the following clip for examples of big plays left on the table in 2019. It really doesn’t matter how tight the coverage is if you don’t finish the play.

If you read my Week 10 observations against the Cowboys, you might remember that the above clip where the ball sails through Slay’s hands and into those of Amari Cooper was one of back-to-back miscues by Slay in the 4th quarter of a one-score loss. Those are game-changing opportunities, and ones that Slay usually cashes in on. Revisiting my observations also gives you some pretty accurate foreshadowing of how the Slay saga would eventually play out. Looks like I’m finally putting my Psych degree to good use!

Slay’s departure could sting in 2020 if he returns to his usual level of play, but things look much better for 2021 and beyond after this trade. If we knew Slay would have showed up for work and played the final year of his Lions contract without making a stink, things could have played out differently. But a messy holdout of unknown length was undoubtedly coming, and Slay’s trade value would have only gone down as a mid-season rental for another team. There really wasn’t much leverage for the Lions to play hardball either, since you know Quinn and Patricia wanted 2020 draft picks in return, as that is all they are guaranteed in terms of their future in Detroit. The draft is currently set for April 23rd, which is right around the corner. Time was not on their side, and getting a deal done ASAP was beneficial for draft prep and/or flipping those picks in other potential deals.

In the end, the Lions settled on a 3rd and 5th round pick (No. 85 and No. 166) in the 2020 draft as an adequate return and are movin’ on. It sounds like an underwhelming haul, but things could have gotten much worse in a hurry from a compensation and PR perspective with Slay out there sending 100 Lions bashing Tweets per minute. For what it’s worth, the trade graders out there are generally treating this like a win or a parallel move. PFF is giving the Lions an “average” distinction for the trade, with the takeaway that the Lions “made the best of a bad situation”. I think that is a pretty good summary of the situation, but why that “bad situation” existed in the first place is a topic for debate.

The Lions’ brass deserves some blame for their unabashedly cutthroat nature and for looking at their players mostly as assets instead of people. Slay, on the other hand, took things too personally and was oversensitive to the business side of sports. After all, he was the one who held out for a new deal in the summer of 2019 with two years remaining on his contract. That was a business decision, so it’s no surprise that the Lions would treat him (and others in his position) like little more than a chess piece.

It should be pointed out that, despite the whole personality-fit issue, Slay never really caused any problems that made their way onto the field. He always appeared to give max effort, and seemed to embrace the city and Lions fans until the bitter end. Contrast that with, say, the recently traded Andre Drummond of the Detroit Pistons, who never asked to be traded or caused any backstage tension but whose lack of effort and interest in the organization was painfully obvious, and this is why I can appreciate Darius Slay. When he was here, he was all-in. When he sensed the end was near, he was all-out. That’s real and refreshing. 

Now that the deal is done, Slay has sent out his classy goodbye message and love letter to the fans, as well as some parting shots regarding his relationship with Matt Patricia. I don’t doubt that Patricia rubbed Slay the wrong way and/or disrespected him over the course of their time together. But Slay’s comments contain too many contradictions for me to consider it a full-on indictment of Patricia. On one hand, Slay says their relationship was beyond repair from the start due to some disrespectful comments Patricia made early in the 2018 season, his first as head coach. Then Slay goes on to say that the “second year was no problem”. Slay also spent the better part of the last two years trying to pry a contract extension out of the Lions, which is a strange thing to do for someone who doesn’t “see eye to eye” with his head coach.

At the end of the day, Patricia and Slay both come out looking bad here. The difference is Patricia’s comments are in the past, while Slay is airing out his dirty laundry in real-time. Patricia was very publicly surly and difficult to get along with in 2018 with players and media, before scaling it back and loosening up in 2019. Granted, it may have been quite the culture shock for Slay to go from Jim Calwell as his coach to Matt Patricia and his potty-mouth, but this is a petty and weak move by Slay, a guy who now has everything he ever wanted. He could have rode off into the sunset as the highest-paid corner in the NFL on a team with Super Bowl potential. But instead, he takes a shot on his way out the door when he doesn’t have to face Patricia in person, he knows Patricia can’t respond, and the team is no longer signing his checks. Just another messy divorce. Come on, Big Play. It didn’t have to end like that. 

This story can still have a happy ending if Patricia can use this character slander as constructive criticism on how to deal with different personalities in the locker room. For Quinn, he needs to hit on at least one of these Philly picks (far from a given) and invest his Slay-vings wisely to make up for the loss of one of the best Lions of the past decade.

In – CB Desmond Trufant

Here is your Slay replacement. The Lions signed Trufant, a former first-round pick of the Atlanta Falcons in 2013, to a 2yr/$21 million contract. Signing Trufant allowed the Lions to expedite the Slay trade process, since he has been proven to be a king of consistency over the course of his seven-year career.

This guy appears to be the definition of high-floor, albeit without the high-ceiling a player like Slay can offer (though Trufant is a former Pro-Bowler in his own right). The following should be taken with a grain of salt, since we have already discussed Slay’s misleading rank among corners last season. But purely based on the numbers, Trufant has been better in every season of his career than Slay was in 2019, and he comes at a reasonable price. Trufant has four interceptions in his last eight games. Slay has one in his last 12 games. Man, does that shine a light on the lack of big plays lately or what? Trufant also comes free of the baggage Slay could no longer check at the gate. 

Let’s not mince words: At their best, Darius Slay is a better player than Desmond Trufant. But the Lions are in dire need of consistent, low-maintenance players who can be relied upon week in and week out. The variance in performance from players like as Slay, Justin Coleman, Jarrad Davis, and Snacks Harrison (among others) made the Lions defense wildly unstable in 2019. That unit had no business being one of the worst in the NFL given the level of talent they employed. The Lions needed a shakeup, and Trufant looks to be a solid addition. 

PFF gives the Trufant signing an “above-average” distinction. Combine this with the “average” Slay trade, and the Lions may have turned a profit with these moves, despite losing their star defender. Not to mention the fact that they could still draft Jeff Okudah at No. 3 to pair with Trufant. Of course, this is all just noise until the draft picks are made and then, sometime in the distant future (if we are all still here), actual football starts being played. But on paper, trading Slay and signing Trufant are two logical moves that allow the Lions to continue their roster overhaul in what could be Patricia and Quinn’s last hurrah.

If a player as consistent as Trufant sees his production tank in 2020 the way that Slay, Harrison, Davis, and others did, I think it’s time to wonder whether anyone can succeed defensively under this regime. Only time will tell. Here’s hoping this isn’t the latest case of the Lions doing the right things on paper but the wrong things on the field.

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