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Lions cornerback Darius Slay, left, cried on safety Glover Quin's shoulder after hearing Detroit's offer to keep him here.

(Mike Mulholland | MLive.com)

ALLEN PARK -- Darius Slay didn't have much growing up back in Brunswick, Ga. Certainly not money.

Then he found out his girlfriend was pregnant. He was a freshman in high school.

Life, you could say, was complicated.

"Coming from where I'm from, it's hard," the Detroit Lions cornerback said. "I had a rough life as a kid."

And that's what made that noon phone call Friday so emotional for him -- the one that told him the Lions were offering him a four-year extension worth $50.2 million to remain in Detroit. Money that would change his life, and his kids' lives, and his grandkids' lives.

His reaction was simple. He cried.

"I tried to hold my tears in," he said, "but I couldn't too long, just because of where I came from. I shed a couple tears, man. I cried on (Glover Quin's) shoulder for a second, because he sees me as a pup -- as a young guy -- and saw me coming up and doing this right now."

Slay was an athletic wonder when the Lions selected him in the second round of the 2013 draft, but he was a project as a football player. He didn't know much about playing zone and reading keys, and offenses chewed him up before he was benched in Week 3 of his rookie season.

But he didn't get discouraged.

Instead, he enlisted the help of anyone willing to offer it. Defensive coordinator Teryl Austin was a mentor, and so were his position coaches. Quin was huge. He went outside the organization too, seeking guidance from Hall of Famers such as Rod Woodson and Deion Sanders.

But perhaps no one spent more time with him than Rashean Mathis, a grizzled veteran who joined the club midway through Slay's rookie camp. The pair became inseparable the last couple years, with Mathis playing the role of mentor, and Slay the eager pupil.

"I'm Apollo Creed," Mathis once said, "and right now, he's Rocky. I'm training him to take the title."

On Friday, when Slay got that phone call -- the one that set up his family for generations, and made him the league's seventh highest paid cornerback -- it must have felt like he did.

"I called (Mathis) right when I got done," Slay said. "About 5 seconds out of the room, I called 'shean. Q was the first (to find out), 'shean was the second. I haven't even told my mom yet. She probably saw it on ESPN or something."

Slay also personally thanked owner Martha Firestone Ford, who attended Friday's practice.

"I told her I appreciate (the Fords) -- I love them," said Slay, before adding with a smile, "and that they need to adopt me."

It was a big day for Slay, now 25 and one of Detroit's biggest stars. He had his son, Darion -- the one he had when he was a teenager -- in attendance, and so was his girlfriend. This was a life-changing day, and he wanted the most important people in his life around him.

And he didn't disappoint. On the first series of 11-on-11s, Slay jumped a route to break up a Matthew Stafford pass intended for receiver Golden Tate. On the next snap, he closed quickly to knock a would-be reception out of the hands of tailback Theo Riddick.

Those are two of Detroit's best and surest-handed pass-catchers. And Slay beat both of them, making it easy to see where all that money was going.

Into an emerging shut-down cornerback who isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"I love the city, man," he said. "The city loves me, so I don't have no choice but to love the city. (There's) a lot of energy in Ford Field. I cannot wait to get in there. I have the most fun in there, and a lot of great moments.

"And I will continue to have more."