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Lions cornerback Darius Slay has blossomed into a star during his three-year career in Detroit. And now, he's being paid like it.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions thought Chris Houston was going to be a good corner for them. They gave him $25 million to stick around for five seasons.

A year later, they cut him.

Houston is just one of many failed experiments at the position for the Lions, who haven't had a Pro Bowl cornerback since Dre Bly in 2005, and a true shutdown corner since ... can anyone remember?

And that's why the Darius Slay deal -- four years, $50.2 million, with $23 million in guarantees -- makes so much sense for all parties involved.

For Slay, he now has long-term financial security for him and his family. And that was clearly a priority for him.

For the Lions, they finally get the shut-down cornerback they've sought for years -- and years, and years, and years, and you get the idea -- and they did it at a pretty reasonable rate. Slay will average $12.6 million per season under the deal, which ranks seventh at the position.

Not bad for a guy who ranked second in the league last year at his position according to ProFootballFocus.

Is Slay really the second-best cornerback in the league? No, and even he would admit that. He said earlier this offseason he thought he was a top-seven cornerback, and hey, he just got top-seven money.

It's sort of refreshing, in this era of big money and big egos, to see a player who knows what he's worth and is willing to take it even if he's leaving something on the table.

And the beautiful thing here is, there's a good chance Slay is only going to get better.

He's always had plus-plus athleticism. His 4.36-second 40-yard dash remains the second-fastest time by a defensive back at the last four combines. But he didn't know a thing about playing zone, or reading keys, when he got here.

Slay began his college career at junior college, then completed at Mississippi State, where the scheme basically boiled down to coaches telling Slay, "Hey, you see that guy there? Just run around with him."

So he was behind cognitively when the Lions took him in the second round of the 2013 draft, and just two weeks into the season, he was benched. He was in and out of the rotation the rest of the year, to mediocre results at best.

But the thing about Slay is he understood exactly what his problem was, and was proactive in every way imaginable about fixing it. He reached out to anybody who would listen about what he had to do to get better.

He talked to coaches. He lit up teammate Rashean Mathis' phone. And he reached outside the organization as well, seeking mentorship from legends like Deion Sanders and Rod Woodson. He even spent a week at Woodson's Northern California home, watching film and working out.

"If he can correct all his negatives, by the third year, I think that's when you're going to see glimpses of greatness," Woodson predicted to MLive after Slay's rookie season.

Greatness? Seemed far-fetched, given how much Slay had been beaten that season But, hey, here we are.

Three seasons in, Slay is a top-10 corner in the league -- and now being paid like one.

Every big-money deal like this one carries a risk, especially in a league with a 100-percent injury rate. There are no guarantees. But you also need good players to win, and guys like that cost money. So risks are a part of the deal, and it is the team's responsibility to manage those risks accordingly.

Given Slay's track record for getting better, for being coachable, this deal is about as good of a gamble as there is for new GM Bob Quinn. And he didn't have to pay him $114 million to do it either, like the Dolphins did when they wooed Ndamukong Suh away from Detroit.

In so many ways, Slay's approach was antithetical to Suh's two offseasons ago. At least one person directly involved in those negotiations believed Suh never bargained in good faith with Detroit, and always intended to hit the open market. Slay, on the other hand, wanted to stay put and secure long-term financial security now, even if he left some money on the table.

To each his own, and in this case, Detroit is better off for it.

"Darius earned this extension, and we are happy to reward him accordingly," Quinn said in a statement. "We also are pleased to have finalized this now so the team and Darius can focus on the start of training camp and preparation for the upcoming season."

Now the Lions are one step closer to locking up their young, talented nucleus, much of which is comprised of that stellar 2013 draft class. Next up will be tailback Theo Riddick and punter Sam Martin, with guard Larry Warford and defensive end Devin Taylor also starters who are entering contract years.

Not to mention, some decisions will have to be made after the season on star defensive end Ezekiel Ansah, who is playing out the fifth-year option on his rookie deal.

But those decisions are a lot easier to make without Suh on the payroll -- a departure that left a massive void in the interior of Detroit's defense, but now allows the club to move into the future by locking up young, talented players like Darius Slay.