{"id":442362,"date":"2025-03-03T19:59:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T20:59:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=442362"},"modified":"2025-03-03T23:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-03T23:15:14","slug":"super-bowl-champion-axed-weeks-after-huge-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=442362","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl champion axed weeks after huge win"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/topic\/philadelphia-eagles-267x\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"The Philadelphia Eagles\">The Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> are set to release six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, a person familiar with the decision said.<\/p>\n<p>The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has not yet announced the decision. Slay was scheduled for a post-June 1 release.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReal tears,\u201d Slay&#x27;s wife, Jennifer, wrote on social media.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old cornerback spent five seasons with the Eagles and played a key role in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/super-bowl-2025-results-philadelphia-eagles-beat-kansas-city-chiefs-nfl-jordan-mailata-first-australian-20250210-p5layk.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"helping them win the Super Bowl just three weeks ago\">helping them win the Super Bowl just three weeks ago<\/a>. The move was expected to save the Eagles about $4.3 million next season against the salary cap.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-melbourne-storm-craig-bellamy-exclusive-billy-slater-cameron-smith-salary-cap-20250302-p5lgfr.html\"><strong>Bellamy reveals brutal Slater jibe during salary cap scandal<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/team-lists-round-one-2025-news-injuries-suspensions-20250303-p5lgih.html\"><strong>Bennett weighs up tough selection battle after star&#x27;s ban<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nine.com.au\/sport\/nrl\/news-2025-billy-slater-exclusive-cronulla-sharks-premiership-addin-fonua-blake-20250303-p5lgin.html\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"\"><strong>Slater&#x27;s blunt reality check amid grim Sharks trend<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Slay spent the first seven years of his career with the Detroit Lions before he was traded to the Eagles in March 2020 for third-round and fifth-round picks in that year&#x27;s draft. He had nine interceptions in the regular season over his career with the Eagles \u2014 and had one in this year&#x27;s postseason against Green Bay.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"1a16bdba-21c5-41b7-80ff-b62b59fd3efa\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/1a16bdba-21c5-41b7-80ff-b62b59fd3efa\" alt=\"\" data-width=\"5094\" data-height=\"3396\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Slay made three Pro Bowls with the Eagles and three with the Lions. He led the NFL with eight interceptions in 2017 and was named a first team All-Pro.<\/p>\n<p>Nicknamed \u201cBig Play\u201d Slay, he did not address the impending release directly on social media, though he reposted several messages acknowledging the decision.<\/p>\n<p>Slay seemed to understand the move was possible during an appearance last month on the St. Brown podcast.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got one more [year] &#8230; you know how that works,&quot; Slay said<\/p>\n<p>&quot;So whatever they want to do. I might re-sign back, hopefully. If I ain\u2019t, I got to see what we doing because I do want to play one more year, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for potential landing spots, Slay said he would gladly return to Detroit.<\/p>\n<p>With Slay moving on, the Eagles could start Cooper DeJean or Kelee Ringo in the CB role opposite Quinyon Mitchell.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"fcdb7cc4-b501-4784-a60a-d43a43097353\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/fcdb7cc4-b501-4784-a60a-d43a43097353-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - FEBRUARY 09: Kenneth Gainwell #14 and Avonte Maddox #29 of the Philadelphia Eagles celebrate after beating the Kansas City Chiefs 40-22 to win Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome on February 09, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Emilee Chinn\/Getty Images)\" data-width=\"3742\" data-height=\"2447\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Slay was an outsized personality in the locker room and widely considered a valuable team leader. He was voted team captain.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAny time you&#x27;re around Slay, he\u2019s got this energy, and this love for his teammates, and this love for football, and this love for life. That\u2019s infectious. There is a reason he continues to be voted a captain on this football team,\u201d Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou love having guys like that. We\u2019ve got a lot of guys like that here and Slay is definitely at the top of the list, just bringing that positive energy every day regardless of the circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Releasing Slay is just the first of what are expected to be several tough decisions this offseason for the Super Bowl champs. The Eagles have notable free agents that include linebacker Zack Baun, defensive linemen Josh Sweat and guard Mekhi Becton.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The Philadelphia Eagles are set to release six-time Pro Bowl cornerback Darius Slay, a person familiar with the decision said. The person spoke to The <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=442362\" title=\"Super Bowl champion axed weeks after huge win\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":442364,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442362"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=442362"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":442367,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442362\/revisions\/442367"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/442364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=442362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=442362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=442362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}