Detroit Lions CB Darius Slay: 'My goal is to be in the Hall of Fame'

Dave Birkett | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Darius Slay talks improvement at Lions minicamp Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay discusses his improvement during Day 2 of Lions minicamp on June 6, 2018, in Allen Park.

Detroit Lions cornerback Darius Slay is coming off the best season of his career.

He tied for the NFL lead in interceptions. He made his first Pro Bowl appearance. His peers even voted him one of the league’s 100 best players.

But Slay has bigger goals in mind for 2018 and beyond.

Much bigger.

“My individual goal is to be in the Hall of Fame one day,” Slay said after Day 2 of Lions minicamp Wednesday. “I mean, that’s everybody’s goal. Whose goal in the NFL is not to be in the Hall of Fame? That’s crazy.”

Slay, 27, has established himself as one of the best cornerbacks in the game. He had eight interceptions last season — two more than he had in his first four NFL seasons combined — and showed major growth as a player.

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But the colorful cover man has a long way to go to reach Canton, something he seemed to acknowledge as he walked off the practice field.

“I just (have to) continue to be me and keep growing as a player,” Slay said. “That’s just the ultimate goal as me as a kid growing up. Everybody wants to be in the Hall of Fame … It’s just be an honor to be in there, so it’s not like I’m saying I’m going to get in there. But that’s just my goal to reach as my personal self because I love the game so much that I want to work hard to be in there.”

Of the 26 defensive backs currently enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, just 14 are listed as cornerbacks, including former Lions Lem Barney, Dick LeBeau and Night Train Lane. Three other players, Ronnie Lott, Mel Renfro and Rod Woodson, split their time between cornerback and safety in their NFL careers.

Slay does not have the résumé yet to match any of those players — Lane had 68 interceptions, for instance, fourth all-time — and he said the only way to get there is “to just find a way to get better every day.”

For now, that means ensconcing himself in first-year coach Matt Patricia’s defense, where Slay said his responsibilities shouldn’t be that much different than they were in his breakout 2017 season.

Last year, the Lions sometimes traveled Slay with their opponent’s best receiver, and Slay responded by leading the NFL in passes defensed (34) by a wide margin (Casey Hayward was second with 26).

Patricia, who coached the likes of Darrelle Revis, Stephon Gilmore and Malcolm Butler at cornerback during his six seasons as the New England Patriots’ defensive coordinator, said he’s not sure whether teams will begin to shy away from Slay after his big season.

“I think with everybody, good years, bad years, last year really doesn’t matter,” Patricia said. “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t transfer, it doesn’t really have any application to this year. So we’re just trying to go out there and get better and he’s right in that ball park. He’s trying to get back into the rhythm.

"It’s not like — what happens in the offseason in the NFL is when the season ends you may be playing at one particular level. You don’t necessarily start at that level. Every single year you have to start over in the NFL and you have to improve, so that’s just the phase that he’s at right now.”

Slay said he’s not sure if he’ll have more play-making chances in the Lions’ new defense, and he insists he doesn’t much care.

While some NFL cornerbacks, like the New York Giants’ Janoris Jenkins, haven’t been shy about revealing their numerical goals for the 2018 season, Slay said his goal is just “to be a better player, that’s all.”

“He can do that,” Slay said. “He’s that type of player that can actually do that and I’m rooting for him. I hope he does. But me personally, I just go out here and my goal is to win. I want to win. I don’t care what my stats look like because if I’m playing that great, my team’s playing great, so I just want to go out here and win, really.”

Contact Dave Birkett: dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett. Download our Lions Xtra app for free on Apple and Android!