Broncos reportedly among top candidates to trade for Darius Slay

The Denver Broncos are reportedly among the top two targets to trade for Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay, who would fill a huge hole.

According to Tony Pauline of Pro Football Network, the Denver Broncos are among the top two teams right now vying for cornerback Darius Slay, who has been apparently made available in a trade by the Detroit Lions.

Pauline says in his report that the Broncos and Los Angeles Rams are the two teams ‘at the top of the pack’ to trade for Slay.

We’ve outlined why trading for Slay would make sense in detail here.

Aside from the Broncos’ obvious need at the cornerback position should Chris Harris Jr. be departing in free agency, Slay is a Pro Bowl caliber player with phenomenal production, pedigree, and a very favorable salary.

Slay is scheduled to make $10 million in 2020 base salary, a figure that is more than favorable to an acquiring team.

If the Broncos were to sign a top free agent cornerback, getting the player on a $10 million 2020 cap hit would be a huge victory.

Any potential trade for Slay would likely come along with a possible contract extension, and the rumor floating around is that Slay wants $15 million per season. I don’t know that the Broncos would give him that, but they might be willing to go up to $13-14 million.

Considering Slay is heading into his age 29 season, the Broncos would be wise to consider a shorter-term extension, maybe three years on top of this year including a club option for that fourth year.

If the Broncos acquire Slay via trade, does that take them out of the mix to re-sign their own free agent Chris Harris Jr.? More than likely yes, but perhaps not.

The Broncos so badly struggled with depth at cornerback last season that they might consider pouring their primary investments into the secondary. They could trade for Slay, re-sign Harris, and still use a higher draft choice (2nd-3rd round) on the position to really enhance a strength to go along with the young players they already feel have some potential.

Or, the Broncos could trade for Slay, let Harris walk and hope to recoup the third-rounder (presumably) they would trade for Slay in next year’s draft as a compensatory pick, provided the new CBA has the same or similar formula for awarding compensatory picks. In that way, the Broncos would be viewing a Darius Slay trade for a third-round pick as essentially:

• 2020 third-round pick for
• CB Darius Slay, 2021 compensatory pick

Since the Broncos have three third-round picks this year and a need at the cornerback position, it makes sense for the team to entertain the idea of trading that valuable of a selection for a player of Slay’s caliber.

We could perhaps see something happen sooner rather than later.