Less than a year ago the Detroit Lions had two defensive stars with their hands out looking for more money. Defensive tackle Damon Harrison and cornerback Darius Slay both threatened holdouts and waged social media campaigns to capitalize on their great 2018 seasons. Represented by the same agency, Rosenhaus Sports, the defensive duo looked to strike while the iron was hot.
The Lions chose to pay Harrison instead of Slay. It was a controversial choice, and it proved to be the wrong one.
Harrison’s one-year extension paid him $11 million more above his existing contract from his days with the New York Giants. New York dealt him in part because they had no real interest in paying “Snacks” more. That looked foolish when Harrison almost singlehandedly transformed the Lions defense upon arrival. The 32nd-ranked run defense (yards per carry allowed) became the 3rd-best over the games Harrison played in Detroit in 2018. Just for good measure, he chipped in 3.5 sacks — a career-high and pleasant surprise.
Harrison was a top-50 player in both the NFL.com and Pro Football Focus preseason rankings. He earned PFF’s Run Defender of the Year title. Paying him, even at 31, made perfect sense. The short-term deal rewarding Harrison was almost universally lauded, even by most of the most critical elements of the Detroit media.
Alas, Harrison’s play fell off a proverbial cliff. A difficult offseason where he dealt with off-field issues impeded the big man, and he never got right. Lions Wire colleague Bryce Rossler created a graphic representation of just how dramatically “Snacks” plummeted in performance:
Damon Harrison's 2019 regression in GIF form. Up and right are good. He was one of the best run-stopping DTs from 2016-17 and still made a jump in 2018, a season in which he played 17 regular season games. This helps you see both why the Lions extended him and why they cut him. pic.twitter.com/Q82Jh2ve65
— Bryce Rossler (@btrossler) February 21, 2020
Nobody expected such a regression. But it happened, and it’s a cautionary warning for the Lions concerning Slay.
It’s not a straight line from Harrison to Slay’s current situation. It’s hard to ignore the parallels, however.
Slay is entering the final year of his deal. He’s 29 and coming off his worst season since his rookie campaign in 2013. The Pro Bowl cornerback has battled some injuries, too. Is he already showing the signs of a Harrison-like decline?
There’s no way of knowing that, of course. But the Lions have to be cognizant of the potential warning signs. Harrison’s flop has to factor into the decision whether to give Slay his much-desired contract extension. He wants to be the highest-paid CB in the NFL, after all.
Once bitten, twice shy…