ALLEN PARK, Mich. — Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay was still emotional two days after the franchise traded safety Quandre Diggs — unsure of why the club made the move and also what his future would be in Detroit.
“No matter how much you put in, at the end of the day it’s a business,” Slay said, “so that’s how I just look at it. Nobody’s safe, in my opinion.”
That might include Slay, who declined to commit to saying he wanted to keep playing in Detroit after next week’s trade deadline. Instead, the two-time Pro Bowl cornerback said he’d be OK playing anywhere and that he wouldn’t care whether he was moved or not.
When asked if he wanted to be here next week, Slay danced around the question.
“Do I want to? Be where else? I’m saying I’m here to play ball,” Slay said. “Like I said, it don’t matter if I’m here or not. That’s what I want to do. I just want to play ball.”
Asked specifically if he wanted to play ball for the Lions, he responded, “It don’t matter where I’m at, I just want to play ball. It don’t matter. That’s it.”
Slay, 28, has one season left on his contract after this season and missed spring workouts to try and get a new deal — one that he did not receive. Slay, who has been with the Lions since he was a second-round pick in 2013, said he wasn’t fearful of getting moved at the trade deadline.
“Nah, f— no,” Slay said. “That’s the last thing I’m worried about. I don’t give a damn, honestly. I don’t. So like I said, I just work. Doesn’t matter where I’m at. If I’m here, if I’m somewhere else, I just go to work.”
Slay’s emotional media session started when he was asked how he felt following the Diggs trade. “Like s—,” he responded. He said he wasn’t told of a reason for the deal — and that when he spoke to Diggs, that Diggs wasn’t as well.
He said he hadn’t spoken with general manager Bob Quinn or head coach Matt Patricia about the trade, either.
“I ain’t talking to neither one of them about that. That’s they problem,” Slay said. “I’m working. That’s all I do. I work. It’s not no kind of relationship or nothing like that. Just I’m here. I work here. It’s my job. I got to do my job.”
Slay said all he knows is that he’s in Detroit now. “I’m trying to win,” he said. “That’s it.”
Slay didn’t practice Wednesday or Thursday because of a hamstring injury that forced him from Sunday’s loss to Minnesota. He has 16 tackles, three passes defensed, a fumble recovery and an interception that sealed Detroit’s win over the Los Angeles Chargers. For his career, he has started 85 games for Detroit, made 18 interceptions and has 94 passes defended. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2017 and has been to the past two Pro Bowls.
Slay saw the trade of Diggs as another sign of a lack of loyalty in the NFL.
“Anybody can go,” Slay said. “So that’s it. You know, at the end of the day I just see it as there’s no loyalty to nothing. No matter how much you put in, they feel like it’s a little different, they can get rid of you.
“So I just play ball.”
Asked whether this was just in Detroit — which also traded starter and popular locker room presence Golden Tate at last year’s trade deadline — and he said no.
“That’s everywhere. It’s everywhere,” Slay said. “Just like you seen with Earl [Thomas]. That’s everywhere. It ain’t just here. It’s just how the business is.”