According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, when the league’s new year begins on March 18th, the Jacksonville Jaguars will trade cornerback A.J. Bouye to the Denver Broncos for a 2020 fourth-round pick.
There are several parallels that can be drawn between Bouye’s situation and that of Detroit Lions’ own top cornerback Darius Slay. They are close in age and production — Slay is slightly older and more productive — and both are nearing the end of a large contract, Slay in his final year while Bouye has two remaining.
Slay has suggested he has high contract demands, which has caused the Lions some trepidation in handing over another big-money deal, after seeing their last big contract extension — to Damon Harrison — blow up in their face.
In turn, it should be no surprise that Lions general manager Bob Quinn privately told a group of local reporters that included our own Jeff Risdon, that the team was exploring trade possibilities for Slay — hoping to potentially get some value out of one of their best assets.
“I think what we’re trying to do is explore a trade,” Quinn said. “That’s not saying we are definitely trading him. We’ve had some conversations with other teams. Nothing to report right now. We’re very much in the information gather phase of this.”
Seeing the return on the Jaguars got for Bouye has almost assuredly left Quinn disappointed.
While there are parallels between Bouye and Slay, the Jaguars and the Lions are in two very different spots.
The Jaguars are very much in sell mode after entering the season with their salary cap in the red. The Bouye trade frees up around $11.5 million and they elected not to pick up stud defensive tackle Marcell Dareus’ option, giving them another $20+ million in space. The Jaguars have suggested they are clearing room to use the franchise tag on EDGE rusher Yannick Ngakoue — someone the Lions could be interested in — but he has said publicly he has asked to be allowed to leave. Bottom line, this was a move the Jaguars almost had to make.
Meanwhile, the Lions are sitting on roughly $50 million in cap space — including Slay’s current deal of $13.4 million — and are in no rush to give him away for less than an ideal return.
Slay has made the last three Pro Bowls and most believe he is still an upper-echelon player. I don’t believe the Lions would even entertain a Day 3 offer for his services, and local reporters have suggested it would likely take a late second round or multiple Day 2 picks in order to get a deal done.
The Bouye deal shows how veterans are devalued when it comes to offseason trades, especially when a team is feeling the pressure. The Lions, while under pressure to win, should be in no rush to make a decision on one of their top players unless the deal is too good to pass up.