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Darius Slay struggled some as a rookie with the Lions, but improved down the stretch and will be working this offseason with Hall of Fame corner Rod Woodson. Better things are expected from Slay in his sophomore season. (Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- Darius Slay began his rookie season as a starting cornerback. He ended it with some wondering whether he was the Detroit Lions' latest second-round bust.

New defensive coordinator Teryl Austin is not one of those people. Nor is Hall of Fame cornerback Rod Woodson, who has become Slay's personal mentor over the past year.

Cornerback Rod Woodson, shown returning an interception during a 1999 game for Baltimore, finished with more picks than all but two players in NFL history. Now the 17-year veteran -- and Hall of Famer -- is mentoring young Lions cornerback Darius Slay.

Both men suggested Slay is talented enough that he could become a force by Year 3 with the right coaching.

"I think what's unfair to guys like Darius is they want him to play like a three-year or four-year vet, and he's not," Woodson told MLive in a recent phone interview. "Anytime you put a young guy on the field, even if he has tremendous talent, he's going to get beat.

"If he can correct all his negatives, by the third year, I think that's when you're going to see glimpses of greatness. I think you saw a couple glimpses his rookie year, I think next year you'll see a couple more, and then the third year you should see him break out."

Woodson knows that curve well.

He lived it.

"Heck, if ESPN and all that stuff was really working when I played, and there were all the outlets there are today, they probably would have said 'this guy is a bust' my first couple years," Woodson said, and all he did was go on to play 17 seasons, intercept more passes than all but two men and get inducted into the Hall of Fame.

But that first year was rough, as they often are for cornerbacks. And Slay was no exception.

Woodson has developed a mentorship role with Slay over the past year, and intends to help the young Lions corner maneuver through the growing pains that are inevitable his first couple years in the league.

That includes hosting Slay for several days at his Pleasanton, Calif., home sometime before training camp this offseason. They will work out at a field near Woodson's home, although the bulk of Slay's training will be spent dissecting film and talking Xs and Os with one of the best corners ever to play the game.

This won't be the first time Woodson has hosted Slay, either.

The cornerbacks' relationship began last winter through Eugene Parker, a longtime friend of Woodson who also is Slay's agent. They spoke on the phone before the 2013 combine, which isn't unusual for Woodson. He's consulted with several young cornerbacks through the years.

But he immediately took a liking to the affable and inquisitive Slay, and invited him to his home for some training, something he had never done with another player.

Darius Slay struggled early in his rookie season, especially during this game in Chicago.

Slay ended up staying in Woodson's home for five days.

"He's just a fun-loving guy," Woodson said. "I got five kids, and he fit right in with my family. My boys -- I have a 21 year old and a 15 year old -- they got to like him and they followed him last season. They played Madden and everything."

What did Woodson see in Slay during that visit? A massively talented player who has enough size to neutralize today's bigger receivers, paired with the foot speed of a smaller cornerback.

But Woodson also saw a corner who trailed his peers mentally because of the man-heavy scheme he played in at Mississippi State.

That system accentuated Slay's strength -- his terrific athleticism -- but didn't allow for him to learn the more complicated schemes that are found in the NFL. And now he's paying the price.

"I think the coaches had him doing some things that I don't think would work in the National Football League," Woodson said. "I think the biggest difference when you're at a school like Mississippi State in college, they run a lot of man. And I think you get used to your man eyes.

"That's what we used to talk about (last year). We talked about his man eyes and his zone eyes."

In man, the corner's eyes are locked on the receiver. But in zone, the corner has to be more aware of how he functions within the overall fabric of the defense, and that is where Slay has struggled.

"When a university asks you to do one thing all year long, and then you come into the league and you have to do multiple schemes, that's a big adjustment," Woodson said. "That's why I think he has so much upside, because I think he has a lot of untapped potential. He's still just learning to play the game. He's still learning the basics of playing the position.

"That's why when I looked at his college tape, I just really thought he was one of the best corners in the draft. I know quite a few coaches in the league who really wanted him."

Viewed through that prism, it is somewhat predictable that Slay incurred some struggles his rookie season.

He began the year as a starter, but was benched midway through the first two games and lost his spot permanently to Rashean Mathis in Week 3. He made two more spot starts due to injury, but was mostly relegated to a reserve role.

Slay was better down the stretch, and played extremely well in a Thanksgiving start against the Packers. But he had too many mental lapses overall and finished 92nd at the position according to ProFootballFocus.

"He has all the potential you could ever ask for," Woodson said, "but potential is not everything in this league. Everybody has potential coming into the National Football League, which is why they get drafted. What he has to do is keep learning, and that learning curve has to keep growing."

Woodson tracked Slay throughout last season, and occasionally texted him some advice. The pair will pour over Slay's tape in depth when they get together in California, but Woodson already knows some of the key points Slay must address.

Slay needs to work on what Woodson called "hash-split rules," which govern how a corner should position his body depending on the location of the receiver and ball. He needs to iron out his footwork, and must develop better anticipation for where a receiver could be headed out of his breaks.

"I'm just going to work on staying consistent. That's it," Slay told MLive. "I feel like I finished my last six weeks like I wanted to. I did pretty decent. With Green Bay I was on a hot streak at the end of the season, besides the injury.

"But I came out with no picks. Got to make more plays, and I know that."

Slay said he plans to run routes with Bears receiver Alshon Jefferey as part of his regimen -- they share the same agent -- as well as get in some base-line conditioning in Tampa and Atlanta. But it's when he returns to Woodson's place when he can really hone the cognitive aspects of his game.

And that more than anything else will determine how quickly he can be an effective every-down player for the Lions.

Austin sees the same kind of potential. The former Ravens secondary coach compared Slay to Jimmy Smith, who struggled to break into Baltimore's lineup his first two seasons before blowing up in -- you guessed it -- Year 3.

"(Jimmy) was a lot like Darius. He kind of flashed he had has some tremendous talent, but he didn't quite play as consistently as you'd like," Austin said. "But then he finally, like a lot of them, sometimes it just clicks. It takes reps, it takes time.

"We'll work on Darius. He's got a lot of talent, he's got a lot of room to improve and so we'll try to just kind of improve on this area and that area and keep working. Hopefully the improvement will show and he'll be able to play an important part for us this year."

Detroit has a need at cornerback, with Rashean Mathis set to become a free agent and Chris Houston struggling. The talk has been all about adding a corner via the draft, and that probably will happen.

But if Slay were to mature into a reliable player, the Lions might be better off trotting him out there in his second year than relying on another rookie at a position that can be unkind to the young.

Woodson knows this. That's why he says don't give up on Slay yet, and just wait for 2015.

"His upside is tremendous," Woodson said. "He has a quick burst, he's physical, he can run with any receiver in the NFL. He's physical enough to take anybody, and his contact-courage is up to par. Now the question is can he become one of the top-notch corners?

"I think he can be. Just give it some time."