Detroit Lions Darius Slay officially out
Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay (30) against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field. Mandatory Credit: Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
Detroit Lions rookie cornerback Darius Slay had mostly struggled in his first season in the league, and those struggles were to be expected out of the first-year corner from Mississippi State. But Slay had a monster performance on Thanksgiving (well, pretty much the whole team did) against the Green Bay Packers, and he was nearly flawless in coverage. Slay also came away with three passes defended, which was more than his season total coming into that game (two).
Sadly, Slay won’t be able to build on that positive momentum this week against Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles, as he suffered a freakish knee injury in Thursday’s practice. The initial prognosis wasn’t good, as the Lions ruled him doubtful for today’s game, and this was the first sign that he would be inactive today. Then, we learned that his knee injury is a torn meniscus, and now we know that he definitely won’t be playing today.
According to Lions official site beat writer Tim Twentyman, Darius Slay was unable to make the trip to Philadelphia and has been ruled out for today’s key clash. The Lions will start Chris Houston and veteran corner Rashean Mathis for this one, and it will be interesting to see when Slay returns. Although the Lions are clearly the best team in the NFC North and will almost certainly make the playoffs, they could place their rookie CB on the injured reserve if they feel like the injury is bad enough and they don’t want to risk anything. I don’t think that will happen, but it might be worth keeping in mind.